Reports: Creator Economy

Browse all of our reports, featuring our analysts' expert insights and analysis of audience segmentation, emerging trends and technologies, value chains, market shares, predictions and more – backed by our proprietary survey data and bespoke models & forecasts. Become a subscriber to get new ones every month, or just pick one to get started.

Artists direct
Focus on passion, not professionalism

Cover image for Artists direct
Tatiana Cirisano
Spotify
Spotify
SoundCloud
All eyes of the music business are on artists direct, the fastest-growing segment of the industry. But the 6.4 million artists in this segment are far from a unified group, and have varied aspirations, challenges, and needs. MIDiA’s 2023 creator survey reflects that the two largest sub-segments of artists direct are those who seek full-time music careers; and those who are passionate about music, but not seeking a full-time career.
Read more …

Bridging the creator gap
Monetising social video’s micro-communities

Cover image for Bridging the creator gap
Samuel Griffin and Ben Woods
Subscriptions
YouTube
Twitch
The pandemic-induced boom in content creation has saturated social video platforms at a time when creators are battling a downturn in digital advertising revenues. These dual pressures of less exposure and dwindling financial returns have put pressure on mid-tier creators; the community that derives all their creator income from advertising, subscriptions, and donations, but have subscale audience to superstar creators.
Read more …

State of the music creator economy
Post-lockdown growth

Cover image for State of the music creator economy
Mark Mulligan, Kriss Thakrar and Tatiana Cirisano
Apple
Spotify
live
The Covid pandemic created a unique catalyst for the music creator economy. More time on hands and more cash in pockets gave novices and veterans alike the opportunity to spend both more time and money making music. Though the pandemic was a peak, it also marked the start of a new era for the music creator economy across every one of its aspects, from revenue to creation to remuneration.
Read more …

Re-creating the creator economy

Cover image for Re-creating the creator economy
Mark Mulligan, Tim Mulligan, Karol Severin, Hanna Kahlert, Srishti Das, Kriss Thakrar, Ashleigh Millar, Tatiana Cirisano, Annie Langston and Richard Broadhurst
Apple
Spotify
YouTube
Streaming first democratised the means of consumption, then distribution, and now production. Though the promise of the long tail may not have materialised quite as expected, long-tail and mid-tail creators are now a central component of the digital-entertainment economy.
Read more …

Music creator survey, Q4 2021
Redefining success

Cover image for Music creator survey, Q4 2021
Tatiana Cirisano
Creators
Spotify
artist income
As the barriers to music creation continue to lower, more creators enter the field, yet it is becoming harder than ever to earn a living through music, with a finite amount of revenue being split ever more ways. The majority of professional music creators do not earn meaningful income through their craft and must cobble together income from a diverse mix of sources to make ends meet.
Read more …

Consumers as creators
The artist / audience line is blurring

Cover image for Consumers as creators
Hanna Kahlert
Consumer behaviour
Apple
Netflix
The growing independent artists sector, the rise of user-generated content (UGC), and the proliferation of basic creator tools on social platforms are all interlinked parts of the same cultural trend: creativity as a product. Enabled by intuitive creative tools, platforms to share on, and direct, easy ways to engage with creators, the barrier between artist and audience has been dramatically lowered.
Read more …

Growth from transparency
Reframing the value of music through creator rights

Cover image for Growth from transparency
Mark Mulligan, Keith Jopling, Srishti Das and Kriss Thakrar
Free Report
Creators
Streaming
Business Strategy
The music industry has been through an unprecedented period of change over the past five years.Innovations in live streaming, games, user-generated content (UGC), digital art, and trading of rights represent welcome new opportunities for music creators - opportunities that will require creators to adapt in order to take full advantage.
Read more …

Creator hubs
Creator tools’ next growth driver

Cover image for Creator hubs
Mark Mulligan and Kriss Thakrar
Creators
Spotify
Artists
The emerging competitive dynamic between insurgents and incumbents is the catalyst for an unprecedented period of innovation in the music creator tools space. However, because this dynamic is underpinned by substantial institutional investment and strong market growth, the second order effect is the further fragmentation of an already congested and oversupplied marketplace.
Read more …

YouTubers Go Mainstream
How YouTubers Are Spreading Their Social Wings

Cover image for YouTubers Go Mainstream
Tim Mulligan
YouTube
YouTube Channels
short form video
Views of the top 100 YouTube channels doubled from 184 billion in February 2015 to 372 billion in October 2015. At the same time, the number of subscribers to the top 100 channels doubled to 1.4 billion. Despite Google sticking with its 2013 official statement of one billion monthly unique users for YouTube, it is clear that it is exploding in popularity.
Read more …

Themes

Verticals