Reports

Cover image for The future of music streaming

The future of music streaming
Change or be changed

Mark Mulligan and Tatiana Cirisano

13 Oct 2025

Streaming Music streaming Business Strategy

This report presents MIDiA’s vision for the long-term future of music streaming. While there are clearly pressing, near-term priorities, these are sustaining innovations aimed at optimising the existing model. In this report, we shift perspectives to the long view, identifying the challenges of today that must be met in order to secure a vibrant ...

Cover image for The winning formula for Grand Theft Auto VI

The winning formula for Grand Theft Auto VI
Games pricing strategy

Brandon Sutton and Perry Gresham

9 Oct 2025

Willingness to pay Willingness to pay pricing

With anticipation for the long-awaited release of Grand Theft Auto VI (GTA VI) at an all-time high, speculation around various aspects of the game, particularly its price point, has become widespread. Since the game’s announcement, speculation has suggested a base edition price of $100, sparking industry-wide debate about the future of AAA game p...

Cover image for Creators as IP

Creators as IP
A 'personal brand' is an investment opportunity

Hanna Kahlert

3 Oct 2025

Creators investment Global

Success as a creator now exists beyond any single piece of work or any one platform. The creator persona is now the IP. As a result, the creator must be able to transcend and translate between platforms and mediums, building a business strategy across and beyond platforms and viral moments.

Cover image for H1 2025 music metrics

H1 2025 music metrics
Mixed fortunes

Olivia Jones and Mark Mulligan

26 Sep 2025

Labels Streaming live

The first six months of 2025 marked the fourth successive year of slowing H1 growth rates for the music industry companies tracked by MIDiA. There are big shifts beneath the surface, including a widening gap between label and DSP revenue growth, and Asian labels continuing to diverge from Western major labels in their income mix.

Cover image for All eyes, no ears

All eyes, no ears
Why virality is not building fandom

Mark Mulligan, Hanna Kahlert, Kriss Thakrar, Tatiana Cirisano and Olivia Jones

16 Sep 2025

Free Report

Music discovery Business Strategy

Over the last five years, labels and artists have invested in social media, betting that a steady stream of artist content and influencer campaigns will engineer virality. The theory is simple: virality leads to streams, streams lead to fandom, and fandom leads to long-term, sustainable artist careers.

Cover image for Defining entertainment superfans

Defining entertainment superfans
Characteristics, categories, and commercial impact

Olivia Jones and Laura Fisher

15 Sep 2025

France Australia Spotify

Superfans represent a highly valuable yet consistently underleveraged audience segment for the entertainment industry. What drives this disconnect is the fact that – despite frequent anecdotal use of the term – a standardised, empirical definition remains absent, preventing companies from systematically identifying, nurturing, and monetising th...

Cover image for Beyond the screen

Beyond the screen
How and why gaming merch and collectibles fuel fandom

Brandon Sutton

3 Sep 2025

Marketing Digital Fandom

The physical gaming merchandise and collectibles market is a multibillion-dollar industry that serves as both organic marketing and a way to strengthen community engagement. However, the space has grown increasingly complex due to a surge in fan-made merch, a crowded field of game properties, and economic pressures like the rising cost of living.

Cover image for The new Hollywood

The new Hollywood
Tactics for YouTube’s TV takeover

Ben Woods

26 Aug 2025

Creators Streaming YouTube

YouTube is consolidating its takeover of the living room TV set. What began in the US is now becoming a global phenomenon. With younger audiences increasingly spending more time watching social video on the TV, broadcasters and streaming TV services must find a way to respond.

Cover image for MIDiA Research 2025-2032 global music publishing forecasts

MIDiA Research 2025-2032 global music publishing forecasts
A changing market

Mark Mulligan

18 Aug 2025

Music creators Music creators Music publishing

Throughout the 2020s the music publishing market has outperformed that of the labels, though total revenues remain significantly smaller. The origins of this disparity lie in streaming royalty splits but publishers and CMOs have fought hard to increase their share and to start from a better position with the emerging formats that will shape tomorro...

Cover image for Social as the home of online scenes

Social as the home of online scenes
Going beyond viral moments

Hanna Kahlert

14 Aug 2025

Creators Creators France

In a fragmented digital environment, scenes are becoming important tools for connecting with and mobilising fans. Social platforms can be useful for finding, understanding, and engaging with scenes. However, not all social moments are created equal. This report reveals how social is only part of the bigger picture, and dives deep to show that the c...

Cover image for Streaming strongholds

Streaming strongholds
High-potential markets for global music players

Perry Gresham

11 Aug 2025

ARPU Labels Streaming

While the balance of music streamers continues to tip towards global south markets, their smaller ARPU rates limit their revenues. Meanwhile, periodic price-rises and the advent of supremium will reinforce the contributions from the West. This report highlights streaming strongholds, those markets which, underscored by high music engagement and his...

Cover image for The future of creator apps

The future of creator apps
Fuelling engagement with fandom

Ben Woods

29 Jul 2025

Creators Spotify Artists

The AI boom has unleashed a wave of creator tools, but some are struggling to make the transition from interesting and experimental to compulsive and essential. Fandom offers a solution by tying creation to a consumer’s personal passion, appetite for community engagement and a desire to have a stake in the entertainment they love.

Cover image for Music consumer behaviour Q1 2025

Music consumer behaviour Q1 2025
Mixed signals

Mark Mulligan

17 Jul 2025

Consumer behaviour Streaming France

This report presents MIDiA Research consumer data for music. Data covered includes weekly active users, streaming music behaviour, non-streaming behaviour, fandom activity, and audio consumption. All data is from MIDiA’s Q1 2025 survey, with data for US, UK, Australia, Canada, France, Poland, Spain, Colombia, Japan, n = 9,023.

Cover image for Is in-game advertising the next frontier for PC and console games?

Is in-game advertising the next frontier for PC and console games?

Rhys Elliott

15 Jul 2025

Apple YouTube Netflix

In-game advertising (IGA) in AAA console and PC titles is experiencing a resurgence. Advancements in technology, shifting consumer behaviours, evolving monetisation strategies, and a now-mature games market have reignited interest. With AAA publishers adopting free-to-play models and hybrid monetisation – mirroring mobile gaming’s success – a...

Cover image for Songwriter survey 2025

Songwriter survey 2025
Reinvention

Tatiana Cirisano and Olivia Jones

10 Jul 2025

songwriters songwriters Audience Insight

Songwriters face many of the same issues as artists – and are often doubly impacted by them. The struggle to earn meaningful streaming income is chief among these challenges, yet songwriters do not have the same fallback options, such as merchandise and touring, as artists do.

Cover image for Beyond the hype

Beyond the hype
AI music creation in 2025

Ben Woods

3 Jul 2025

Creators France Australia

Generative AI tools are forging a new type of creator and shifting music creator workflows. While creators and consumers alike are interested in AI tools as they emerge, converting users is still an evident challenge. Music fandom has its foot in the door to increasing AI-assisted consumer creation and could pave the way for niche AI tools.

Cover image for MIDiA Research 2025-2032 global music forecasts

MIDiA Research 2025-2032 global music forecasts
Recalibration

Mark Mulligan, Tatiana Cirisano, Perry Gresham and Mark Qi

30 Jun 2025

Global Business Strategy global music forecasts

This report presents the key figures, trends, and drivers of MIDiA’s music forecast model. The figures presented in this report are both retail and label trade values, and they are in billions of US dollars – unless otherwise stated. An Excel file posted alongside this report provides complete country-level data, including DSP market shares and...

Cover image for The fandom eclipse

The fandom eclipse
How fan content is competing with IP

Tatiana Cirisano and Ben Woods

25 Jun 2025

superfan YouTube Netflix

Fan-made content is evolving from a support act to a fully-fledged competitor to entertainment IP. This is creating tension between IP holders and the fan community. Both parties want the IP they love to thrive in a saturated entertainment landscape. This report will unpack whether entertainment IP holders should view fan content creation as an opp...

Cover image for International success for local language artists

International success for local language artists
A strategic playbook

Laura Fisher

24 Jun 2025

UK France Spotify

The music industry is undergoing a paradigm shift. Success once required artists to fit the traditional industry model where anglicisation and relocation to traditional hubs like Los Angeles, New York, or London were prerequisites. Streaming platforms have democratised access, enabling artists to achieve international fame while remaining culturall...

Cover image for India market focus

India market focus
A fandom and AI-forward online population

Hanna Kahlert

12 Jun 2025

YouTube Facebook Fandom

Online Indian consumers are expected to be early movers. They are high entertainment consumers, AI enthusiasts, and high spenders – especially on fandom. This report explores a population that is an early adopter, format-agnostic, mobile-first audience, with huge growth potential.

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