Blog: Taylor Swift

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Online culture is fragmenting: Why White Lotus spoilers are not flooding the internet

Cover image for Online culture is fragmenting: Why White Lotus spoilers are not flooding the internet
Hanna Kahlert
Key takeaways from this blog: Audience fragmentation is growing, with platforms like TikTok losing influence and shows like White Lotus thriving in niche, offline conversations Oversaturation of content is making it hard for entertainment to create shared cultural moments As MIDiA explores in our 'Analogue revival' report , Culture is moving offline, as people seek real-world connections and entertainment companies need to adapt to a fragmented digital landscape White Lotus is not the internet viral darling that shows like Tiger King or Game of Thrones (GoT) once were.
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Bringing fandom to life: the rise of IRL superfan experiences

Cover image for Bringing fandom to life: the rise of IRL superfan experiences
Olivia Jones
Much of the recent discussion around music superfan monetisation has focused on online superfans, especially as more superstars join fan platforms like Weverse. These monetisation strategies capitalise on fans’ growing desire for artist-fan interaction but often rely on artists’ active participation, adding yet another task to their ever-growing list of marketing responsibilities.
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How big can music merch get? MIDiA’s latest report charts the course to $16B by 2030

Cover image for How big can music merch get? MIDiA’s latest report charts the course to $16B by 2030
Tatiana Cirisano
Over the weekend, Billie Eilish launched a pop-up merchandise shop in SoHo, New York, where fans could choose from items like a $20 pair of shoelaces, $30 belt, $30 necktie, and $60 necklace. Partnered with American Express , the experience, which previously opened in Tokyo, also included a photobooth, hangout area, and larger-than-life statue of Eilish’s “blohsh” mascot.
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Mainstream is the new niche

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Mark Mulligan
Five years ago, we made the call that ‘niche is the new mainstream’ . Today, this dynamic is so fundamental to music and culture that we are firmly in the stage of second order consequences. Superstars are getting smaller, the long tail is getting longer, and rightsholders are bringing in earnings thresholds to keep that growing long tail at bay.
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Audience agency and the value of social media: the rise of the “digitine”

Cover image for Audience agency and the value of social media: the rise of the “digitine”
Hanna Kahlert
“Let them eat cake,” declared model and influencer Haley Kalil , dressed for the $75,000-per-ticket Met Gala in an unironically Marie Antoinette-style dress, in a viral TikTok video last weekend. Somehow, this did not go down very well among audiences on social media, tens (if not hundreds) of thousands of whom are currently struggling to remain encamped in University campuses or taking to the streets in protest worldwide.
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How Taylor Swift has ushered in an era of direct distribution for media fusion

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Tim Mulligan
Cinematic releases of music concerts are nothing new, with the likes of the Beatles Help! film of 1965 ushering in a new era of mass participation for global fanbases beyond the concert arena. When Covid shut down the live music scene in 2020-2021, there was a brief flurry of interest in delivering virtual concerts for fans seeking a proxy for the live experience that went on hiatus.
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Swift and Healy set the tone for live music in the 2020s

Cover image for Swift and Healy set the tone for live music in the 2020s
Ashleigh Millar
When P!nk released her Greatest Hits…So Far! album back in 2010, radio show presenters were quick to respond by discussing what they believed would become the death of her career. According to them, greatest hits albums were essentially the nail in the coffin for music artists; a struggling attempt to stay relevant, unlikely to escape the ‘grand finale’ effect of the project.
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Music is not a level playing field — it is a field of all levels

Cover image for Music is not a level playing field — it is a field of all levels
Tatiana Cirisano
We have heard it (and said it) many times before: the music industry has never been as competitive as it is today. But the challenge is not just that today’s landscape is ultra-competitive, it is also that new artists chasing success are competing against artists who came up before the landscape became so fragmented , as well as the entire history of music — not just that which is new.
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