Blog: Warner Music

Read our latest daily deep dives, hot takes, and exciting updates about the entertainment world. Check out the latest insight from your favourite analyst, or search by coverage areas - music, entertainment and fandom, creator economy and social.

Everyone wants to monetise fandom – but we must fix fan data first

Cover image for Everyone wants to monetise fandom – but we must fix fan data first

Olivia Jones

4 Apr 2025

Key takeaways from this blog: Fandom monetisation is booming, with MIDiA data showing how expanded rights is growing, driving labels to prioritise direct control over fan data instead of relying on third-party platforms.

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Warner’s acquisition of DIVO showcases its focus on growing authentic local music cultures

Cover image for Warner’s acquisition of DIVO showcases its focus on growing authentic local music cultures

Srishti Das

17 Feb 2023

A year ago, Warner Music Group (WMG) acquired a South African independent distribution company, Africori , which focused on distributing local scenes from Africa. Now, it has acquired a majority stake in DIVO, an Indian distribution and digital music company focused on South Indian music.

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DAZN’s belated UK launch: Can it avoid Eleven Sports’ 'mistake’?

Cover image for DAZN’s belated UK launch: Can it avoid Eleven Sports’ 'mistake’?

Alistair Taylor

24 Jul 2020

Media & Marketing

DAZN, the anointed ‘Netflix of Sport’, has announced plans to resume launching its services globally via a beta service covering boxing bouts In July and August, for users who have registered their interest, free of charge, ahead of DAZN’s revamped imminent global rollout.

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Just what is Tencent’s Endgame?

Cover image for Just what is Tencent’s Endgame?

Mark Mulligan

16 Jun 2020

Tencent’s combined $200 million investment in WMG follows on the heels of its $3.6 billion joint investment in Universal Music. It is hardly Tencent’s first investments in music, having spent $6.2 billion on music investments since 2016.

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What UMG’s IPO Means for the Business of Music

Mark Mulligan

14 Feb 2020

Access Industries

music as an asset class

Finishing 2019 on $6.4 billion, Universal Music is to go to IPO hot on the heels of Warner Music’s announcement to do the same. This of course also follows the Tencent-led agreement to acquire 10% of UMG for $3 billion with an option to acquire another 10%.

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2018 Global Label Market Share: Stream Engine

Cover image for 2018 Global Label Market Share: Stream Engine

Mark Mulligan

13 Mar 2019

Recorded music revenues grew in 2018 for the fourth consecutive year, reaching $18.8 billion, up $2.2 billion from 2017. Streaming was the engine room of growth, up 30% year on year to reach $9.6 billion.

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Why India Matters to Spotify, and Why it May Not Deliver

Mark Mulligan

28 Feb 2019

emerging markets

india streaming

Warner Music and Spotify have been involved in a rather unseemly and very public spat this week over Spotify’s India launch . I’ll leave for someone else, the discussions of the potential implications of a blanket license for songwriter rights in India for an on-demand streaming service.

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Just Who Would Buy Universal Music?

Cover image for Just Who Would Buy Universal Music?

Mark Mulligan

14 Jan 2019

Access Industries

Vivendi continues to look for a buyer for a portion of Universal Music . Though the process has been running officially since May 2018 , the transaction (or transactions) may not close until 2020. In many instances, dragging out a sale could reflect badly, suggesting that the seller is struggling to find suitable buyers.

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Could Spotify Buy Universal?

Mark Mulligan

11 May 2018

Vivendi is reported to be proposing to its board a plan for spinning out Universal Music. It is certainly the right time for a spin off (always sell before the peak), but a full divestment would leave Vivendi unbalanced and a shell of its former self.

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Announcing MIDiA’s State Of The Streaming Nation 2 Report

Cover image for Announcing MIDiA’s State Of The Streaming Nation 2 Report

Mark Mulligan

5 Jun 2017

2016 was the year that streaming turned the recorded music business into a good news story, with revenue growth so strong that it drove nearly a billion dollars of total growth. Leading streaming services spent the year competing with ever more impressive metrics while playlisting and streaming exclusives became cornerstones of the wider music market both culturally and commercially.

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Who’s Leading The Streaming Music Pack?

Cover image for Who’s Leading The Streaming Music Pack?

Mark Mulligan

25 May 2017

Google Play Music All Access

At MIDiA Research we are currently in the final stages of producing the update to our annual landmark report: The State Of The Streaming Nation, a report which compiles every streaming market data point you could possibly need.

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Welcome To The Post-DIY Era

Mark Mulligan

20 Mar 2017

I recently took part in the True Music Forum in Madrid, an event organized by Boiler Room. I was on a panel that explored whether DIY is now coming of age with a host of high profile artists, most of them urban artists, bypassing or twisting the traditional label model and still achieving stand-out success.

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Global Recorded Market Music Market Shares 2016

Mark Mulligan

26 Feb 2017

MIDiA and Music Business Worldwide have been tracking record label and publisher financial releases throughout 2016. In addition MIDIA has conducted market sizing work on the publishing sector and research for the Worldwide Independent Network’s (WIN) indie label market share project.

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Watch Out Access, Liberty Media Is Building A Full Stack Music Company

Cover image for Watch Out Access, Liberty Media Is Building A Full Stack Music Company

Mark Mulligan

7 Sep 2016

Access Industries

Access Industries’ full stack music company has, ahem, company: Liberty Media. With a combined market market cap of $37 billion, John Malone’s Liberty group of companies is by anyone’s standards a serious player.

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Full Stack Or Media-Tech Conglomerate? Just What Kind Of Empire Is Access Industries Building?

Mark Mulligan

21 Jan 2016

Access Industries

Deezer announced yesterday that it had closed a further €100 million investment round led by existing investors Access Industries and French telco Orange. There is no doubt Deezer needs the growth capital to re-establish momentum in a market where Apple Music has almost instantly shunted it into third place.

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