Reports: Music Industry

The definitive resource for music industry trends and metrics, including Global South, AI, future business models, forecasts, total addressable markets, market shares and much more

Cover image for Songwriters take the stage

Songwriters take the stage
A new playbook for a new era

Tatiana Cirisano and Fernanda Balzaretti

31 Jul 2024

Streaming Spotify music industry

The streaming era upended the already-fraught business of being a songwriter, pushing songwriters to secure new revenue streams and better deal terms. While the recorded music industry has responded to similar shifts with a flourishing artist services market, the same is not true for songwriters.

Cover image for MIDiA Research 2024-2031 global music publishing forecasts

MIDiA Research 2024-2031 global music publishing forecasts
Managed change

Mark Mulligan

29 Jul 2024

Business Strategy

Thus far, the 2020s has been a good decade for the music publishing industry. Revenues have continued to grow, streaming royalty rates have improved – spurred by favourable royalty rates board rulings in the US – and institutional investment has flowed into publishing catalogues, even after rising interest rates.

Cover image for The state of music AI

The state of music AI
The consumer opportunity lies in modification, not generation

Tatiana Cirisano and Hanna Kahlert

27 Jun 2024

Consumer behaviour music industry Music publishing

MIDiA previously predicted that generative artificial intelligence (gen AI) would accelerate music’s “Instagram moment”, where consumers could create and remix music as easily and often as they post photos and videos on social media. However, just because everyone can do these things does not mean everyone will want to.

Cover image for Sustainability from chaos

Sustainability from chaos
How today’s artists find sustainable success in a turbulent music industry

Mark Mulligan, Keith Jopling, Hanna Kahlert, Tatiana Cirisano, Sophia Oleksiyenko, Fernanda Balzaretti and Ula Kalkyte

10 Jun 2024

Free Report

Audience Insight

Success in the modern music industry has been transformed by the streaming era. Previous markers and methods, such as national charts and radio plays, have been replaced by streaming playlists and social platforms. Yet, while executives can look at high-level metrics across their portfolios, individual artists struggle with the increasingly persona...

Cover image for MIDiA Research 2024-2031 global music forecasts

MIDiA Research 2024-2031 global music forecasts
Rise of the Global South

Mark Mulligan, Tatiana Cirisano and Perry Gresham

23 May 2024

Business Strategy

The 2024 edition of MIDiA’s global music forecast captures a market at a crossroads. With limited streaming user growth remaining in the West, revenue growth will be fuelled by price rises and ARPU increases, as well as expansion in emerging markets, albeit at lower ARPU.

Cover image for State of the music video economy

State of the music video economy
Balancing act

Tatiana Cirisano and Fernanda Balzaretti

30 Apr 2024

Consumer behaviour music industry Music publishing

The rise of short-form video, and the resulting shift in value from music videos to music in videos, have upended the music video space. This report unpacks the growth of short-form, the resulting decline in YouTube weekly active user penetration, and the impact on both artist marketing and advertising revenue.

Cover image for Bifurcation theory

Bifurcation theory
How today’s music business will become two

Mark Mulligan and Tatiana Cirisano

18 Apr 2024

Business Strategy

The music business is bifurcating, with streaming emerging as the place for mainstream music and lean-back consumption, and social as the spiritual home of fandom and the creator economy. In this report we will explore how today’s music business challenges are setting in motion a new, bifurcated business.

Cover image for Recorded music market 2023

Recorded music market 2023
Back to life

Mark Mulligan

18 Mar 2024

Business Strategy

After a slower 2022, the global recorded music market returned to strong growth in 2023. It was, however, also the first year that the artists direct segment lost market share, with changes to the streaming ecosystem already beginning to take effect. This report presents recorded music market revenues by format as well as market shares for key labe...

Cover image for BE THE CHANGE

BE THE CHANGE
Gender equity in music

Hanna Kahlert, Tatiana Cirisano, Sophia Oleksiyenko, Ashleigh Millar, Samuel Griffin and Kazia Rothwell

8 Mar 2024

Free Report

Business Strategy Audience Insight

In many ways, women ruled the music industry in 2023. Women swept the 2024 Grammy Awards, winning all the “big four” categories. Taylor Swift and Beyoncé completed record-breaking tours and, according to the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, the share of women artists on Billboard’s US Hot 100 year-end chart reached a 12-year high of 35%.

Cover image for Music subscriber market shares Q3 2023

Music subscriber market shares Q3 2023
New momentum

Mark Mulligan

30 Jan 2024

Business Strategy

This report presents MIDiA’s music subscriber market shares report and various MIDiA consumer surveys. All music subscriber data in this report refers to third quarters of each respective year. Numbers are always in millions, unless otherwise stated.

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Independent label survey
Playing the volume game

Mark Mulligan, Kriss Thakrar and Tatiana Cirisano

16 Jan 2024

Audience Insight

This report presents data from the 2023 MIDiA Research Independent Record Label survey The survey was fielded across three months in H1 2023, closing in May2023, with a sample size of 142 Topics covered in the survey include revenue by source, concerns...

Cover image for Music and AI

Music and AI
Beyond the hype cycle

Tatiana Cirisano

19 Dec 2023

AI Business Strategy

As with any emerging technology, recent advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) have set in motion a flurry of excitement and investment, as well as fear and litigation. In this environment, it is crucial to parse what is hype and what is reality.

Cover image for Music industry earnings H1 2023

Music industry earnings H1 2023
Dawn of the post-streaming era

Tatiana Cirisano

21 Nov 2023

Business Strategy

The post-pandemic revenue bump is settling and challenges, including the cost-of-living crisis and a Russo-Ukrainian war, continue to complicate the global economic climate. This report considers the impact of these factors, and others, in analysing the revenues of leading music companies across recorded music, publishing, live, and streaming for t...

Cover image for Misaligned incentives

Misaligned incentives
The cost of a broken business

Tatiana Cirisano

29 Sep 2023

Business Strategy

Many of the music industry’s current woes can be traced back to misaligned incentives. Current streaming economics push record labels, streaming services, and artists in conflicting directions: Labels chase viral songs to grow market share, streaming services are motivated to lower the cost of licensing music, and artists must venture outside the...

Cover image for Artist subscriptions are the superfan opportunity

Artist subscriptions are the superfan opportunity

Mark Mulligan, Kriss Thakrar and Tatiana Cirisano

30 Aug 2023

Business Strategy

Streaming is at a tipping point. Revenue growth slowed to 6.0% in 2022, labels want new royalty systems, consumption is commodified, TikTok is diluting cultural capital, creators are questioning effort ROI, and AI is here. Music rightsholders need their next growth driver.

Cover image for MIDiA Research 2023-2030 global music forecasts

MIDiA Research 2023-2030 global music forecasts
Speed bump

Mark Mulligan

30 Jun 2023

Business Strategy

2022 was a tumultuous year for the global economy, with factors such as high rates of inflation, rising interest rates, a growing cost-of-living crisis, post-Covid supply chain issues, and the Russo-Ukrainian war causing economic dislocation.While the recorded music business was far less affected than many other industries, it was impacted, especia...

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Data briefing
South Korea music market

Mark Mulligan

1 Jun 2023

Business Strategy

This report presents key music market metrics for South Korea. All data is domestic SouthKorean data unless otherwise stated below. The datasets leveraged for this report include: Music company financials and market shares. This data refers to revenue generated by South Korean companies and thus includes both domestic and international revenue MIDi...

Cover image for Recorded music market 2022

Recorded music market 2022
Reality bites

Mark Mulligan

17 Mar 2023

TuneCore Music streaming Kobalt

Following a spectacular year of growth in 2021, global recorded music revenue growth slowed significantly in 2022, due to the combined impact of global economic headwinds and growth slowdown in mature streaming markets. Context, though, is everything – not many industries can deliver solid growth while the global economy is in turmoil, ad markets...

Cover image for Music industry earnings Q3 2022

Music industry earnings Q3 2022
Pre-recession growth

Mark Mulligan

20 Dec 2022

Spotify Pandora Slacker

The early 2020s saw an influx of capital into the music business, with the promise of music rights being an asset class that was uncorrelated with the wider economy. The irony is that as music catalogue investments slowed (due to rising costs of capital), the first nine months of 2022 saw the music business deliver a performance that suggests the i...

Cover image for Music subscriber market shares 2022

Music subscriber market shares 2022
Chinese Dragon

Mark Mulligan

5 Dec 2022

Business Strategy

As the world edges towards a recession, the music streaming market continues to stand strong. Despite indications of slowdown in some markets, the global music subscriber market remains buoyant. Growth, though, is uneven, with a number of leading streaming services outpacing the rest, especially the Chinese ones, which are now setting the global pa...

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