Blog

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.

Calling all Artists!

Mark Mulligan

14 Mar 2019

Amuse artist income Artist survey

In partnership with independent distribution company Amuse, MIDiA Research is undertaking a detailed study of the music artist landscape. We are fielding a survey to the artist community , exploring issues such as: What success looks like to you Career aspirations The importance of signing to a reco...

2 min read

Preparing for the Post-Album Music Industry

Keith Jopling

14 Mar 2019

Strategy Games

This is a follow-up piece to What’s Next In Playlist Innovation ... Every week I’m excited to check out the latest album releases. They are the gift that keeps on giving. But that gift feels different these days, more like receiving flowers or chocolate and less like anything you might receive a...

9 min read

2018 Global Label Market Share: Stream Engine

Mark Mulligan

13 Mar 2019

Artists direct DIY DIY artists

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.

3 min read

Cover image for 2018 Global Label Market Share: Stream Engine

Here’s How Spotify Can Fix Its Songwriter Woes (Hint: It’s All About Pricing)

Mark Mulligan

11 Mar 2019

Copyright Royalty Board music publishers Netflix

Songwriter royalties have always been a pain point for streaming, especially in the US where statutory rates determine much of how songwriters get paid. The current debate over Spotify, Amazon, Pandora and Google challenging the Copyright Royalty Board’s proposed 44% increase illustrates jus...

4 min read

Cover image for Here’s How Spotify Can Fix Its Songwriter Woes (Hint: It’s All About Pricing)

Can the NBA Capture the ‘Cord-Nevers’?

Alistair Taylor

8 Mar 2019

Audience engagement cable providers Clippers CourtVision

NBA commissioner Adam Silver, speaking at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics conference in Boston last week, explained his vision of the league’s games, which will look “dramatically different” in five years’ time.

4 min read

Cover image for Can the NBA Capture the ‘Cord-Nevers’?

Music Publishing as an Asset Class Could Be the Recorded Industry’s Next Big Growth Story, But How Will it Impact the Overall Business?

Zach Fuller

7 Mar 2019

‘ Money doesn’t talk, it swears’ – Bob Dylan, 1965 For most of their history, music royalties have operated under a nebulous framework of rights owners and collection societies with staggered payments and general lack of transparency largely attributable to the technology available.

4 min read

Netflix is Now Running Faster to Stand Still

Tim Mulligan

7 Mar 2019

Netflix peak attention economy streaming peaks

If a week is a long time in politics what must three years be in streaming video? In the case of Netflix, it turns out not a lot…in one key metric- domestic engagement. On other metrics Netflix has been surging ahead.

3 min read

Cover image for Netflix is Now Running Faster to Stand Still

Kobalt is a Major Label Waiting to Happen

Mark Mulligan

6 Mar 2019

artist contracts Artists AWAL

Disclaimer: Kobalt is a label, a publisher, as well as a Performing Rights Organisation (PRO). This post focuses on its label business, but does not presume to overlook its other aspects. News has emerged of Kobalt potentially looking to raise an additional $100 million of investment , following a 2...

6 min read

TV Ad Round-Up – How the New Video Landscape Competes For Ad Dollars

Georgia Meyer

6 Mar 2019

Media and Marketing

The past ten years of video content, and media content more generally, has been characterised by debates on subscription verus ad-supported revenue models. For a while, Netflix’s subscription model was the envy of the media landscape, suggesting subscription models were the most sustainable means ...

4 min read

What’s Next For Playlist Innovation?

Keith Jopling

4 Mar 2019

playlisting playlists product innovation

In this era of access to all music and everything about it, I do enjoy reading artist interviews, and pay attention to artists’ views on the modern music industry. What caught me recently were Mark Ronson’s remarks on songwriting in the age of the playlist in The Guardian: “Everything has to b...

7 min read

Sampling and Streaming: De La Soul’s Catalogue Disputes and Streaming Economics

Zach Fuller

28 Feb 2019

Critical Developments

De La Soul’s seminal early albums, including 3 Feet High and Rising and De La Soul is Dead , have been among the more notable holdouts from streaming services. Major artists such as Prince and Led Zeppelin also held off for years but eventually ceded, acknowledging the impact that not appearing on...

3 min read

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

Mark Mulligan

28 Feb 2019

emerging markets India 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.

5 min read

What The New Season Of Game Of Thrones Tells Us About YouTube Engagement

Tim Mulligan

26 Feb 2019

YouTube has been notoriously coy about its user growth, with the official PR line for the company still stating that it has ‘Over one billion users.’ For a company that has been the driving force behind online video consumption for the last 12 years, YouTube has been both derided for the superfi...

3 min read

Why LaVar Ball Has Chosen Facebook For His Family Reality TV Series

Tim Mulligan

26 Feb 2019

Facebook has commissioned LaVar Ball for a docu-series, which revolves around his basketball superstar sons - Lonzo, Liangelo, LaMelo and their fast-rising careers in the second most widely viewed sport in the US.

3 min read

MIDiA Research Predictions 2018: Post-Peak Economics

Mark Mulligan

26 Feb 2019

In this report MIDiA Research analysts present their predictions for what will be the big trends in digital media and tech across music, video, media in 2018. Key Predictions Competition for time and attention will define the coming years for digital content; growth will come often at the expense of...

2 min read

Fandom Overlap – Cannibalisation risks for games and SVOD releases

Karol Severin

26 Feb 2019

October 27 was one of the busiest days in terms of major games releases in 2017. On that day, Super Mario Odyssey, Assassin’s Creed and Wolfenstein II were released, attracting gamers across the genre spectrum.

3 min read

Cover image for Fandom Overlap – Cannibalisation risks for games and SVOD releases

No Title

Karol Severin

26 Feb 2019

Media and Marketing

I have written about the journey of the network-level adblocker Shine numerous times. The company has come into the public eye due to its disruptive effort of offering adblocking at the network level to carriers.

4 min read

Twitter Lite Is Now Available In Google Play Store In 24 More Countries

Karol Severin

26 Feb 2019

Media and Marketing

Twitter has launched Twitter Lite on Google Play store in 24 countries. The move comes after successful testing in the Philippines. Users in countries where mobile data is expensive, and perhaps disposable income is relatively low, will welcome the Lite version.

3 min read

Netflix Finally Brings Home the Oscars And Leaves Hollywood Wondering What Next?

Tim Mulligan

25 Feb 2019

film industry Films Hollywood

Last night at the Oscars Netflix finally won its first Academy Award, and then a second one, and then a third one. Like London buses, Netflix had spent a long time waiting and then suddenly three came along at once.

3 min read

Direct Distribution: Breakthrough or Bust for SoundCloud?

Zach Fuller

22 Feb 2019

It has been a strange few years for SoundCloud. Since its emergence out of the Berlin tech scene of the late 2000s, it struggled to convert its popularity with creators into a commercially viable business, despite courting $1 billion-plus valuations and mooted acquisitions from Spotify back in 2016.

3 min read

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