Mark is MIDiA’s founder and part of the music analyst team. He covers everything from market shares, to forecasts, to business models and product strategy across the music value chain.

Why Spotify’s TAM is only part of the story

Blog post by Mark Mulligan

9 Jun 2022

TAM

addressable audience

Spotify

Spotify just held an investor day in which it ran through its vision for growth. Spotify has long touted the concept of its total addressable market (TAM), its path to a billion users and the role of emerging...

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The Attention Recession
How inflation and the pandemic are reshaping entertainment

Report by Mark Mulligan, Tim Mulligan, Karol Severin, Hanna Kahlert, Tatiana Cirisano and Annie Langston

27 May 2022

Free Report

Video

Music

Games

With the recent announcement of the 0.2 million subscriber drop in Netflix’s Q1 2022 figures, and Spotify seeing slower paid user growth, MIDiA’s predicted attention recession has come into fruition....

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The Attention Recession: How inflation and the pandemic are reshaping entertainment

Blog post by Mark Mulligan

25 May 2022

attention recession

attention economy

Media and Marketing

Netflix and Meta were the canaries in the proverbial mine for the attention recession and it is looking increasingly likely that difficult times lie ahead. If the attention crunch was not enough on its...

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How the iPod changed everything

Blog post by Mark Mulligan

10 May 2022

ipod

iPhone

ipad

Apple just announced that it is finally ending production of the iPod . At 21 years of age, it outlived many of the dramatic changes it witnessed and triggered. In this age, dominated by streaming (and...

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Music industry earnings 2021: Riding the wave

Blog post by Mark Mulligan

6 May 2022

Streaming Music

record labels

live music

Universal music’s Q1 2022 earnings showed continued growth but a noticeable slowdown in streaming growth, with streaming revenues up 12% year-on-year (YoY) in USD term compared to a growth of 35% one...

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The attention recession has hit Spotify too

Blog post by Mark Mulligan

27 Apr 2022

Video

Music

Media and Marketing

Spotify added two million subscribers in Q1 2022. Yes, this incorporates the impact of 1.5 million lost Russian subscribers and is set against Netflix having lost 0.2 million subscribers over the same...

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Music industry earnings 2021
Riding the wave

Report by Mark Mulligan

24 Apr 2022

£5,000.00 excl. VAT

Streaming Music

earnings

music earnings

In this report MIDiA presents, contrasts and analyses headline financial metrics of 12 leading music industry companies across labels, publishers, streaming and live. The companies tracked represent more...

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Forget peak Netflix, this is the attention recession

Blog post by Mark Mulligan

20 Apr 2022

peak attention economy

Peak Attention

attention economy

Forget peak Netflix, this is the attention recession Netflix’s Q1 2022 results caused a stir, with subscriber numbers down by 0.2 million from one quarter earlier. Some are calling this ‘peak Netflix’,...

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Fake artists are what happens when fandom dies

Blog post by Mark Mulligan

7 Apr 2022

Music

Cultural Trends

The topic of ‘fake artists’ refuses to go away . For those who have been on Mars for the last couple of years, fake artists refer to artists who release under a streaming pen name but do not build...

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Did independents really do three times worse than the majors in 2021?

Blog post by Mark Mulligan

22 Mar 2022

Music

Business Strategy

Today, the IFPI released its estimates for the global recorded music market, with reported revenues of $25.9 billion. Last year, the IFPI estimated global revenues to be $21.6 billion (note that the IFPI...

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Recorded music market shares 2021 – Red letter year

Blog post by Mark Mulligan

18 Mar 2022

Record music market

global music revenues

label trade revenues 2021

We suggested back in 2020, that 2021 was going to be a strong year for the recorded music market. As it turns out, 2021 was the fastest growing year in living memory, with growth across most formats, contrasting...

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Recorded music market 2021
Red letter year

Report by Mark Mulligan

17 Mar 2022

£5,000.00 excl. VAT

Music

recorded music 2021

recorded music

The 20,000 foot view MIDiA suggested in 2020 that 2021 was going to be a strong year for the recorded music market. Indeed, 2021 turned out to be the fastest-growing year in living memory, with growth...

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Why Dolly Parton may want to wait before selling her catalogue

Blog post by Mark Mulligan

10 Mar 2022

Music

Cultural Trends

In a recent interview with the BBC, Dolly Parton said that she is considering selling her publishing catalogue, stating that she would simply launch a new publishing company and start all over again. On...

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Epic Games, Bandcamp, and fandom for the ‘me’ generation

Blog post by Mark Mulligan

3 Mar 2022

Music

Games

Cultural Trends

Honestly, it has been a struggle to find the inspiration to write a blog post about the music industry, considering what is going on in the world at the moment. But along came this story, which is eye...

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Audio audiences
Steady change

Report by Mark Mulligan, Tatiana Cirisano and Annie Langston

28 Feb 2022

£3,000.00 excl. VAT

Creaudio

audio audiences

audio consumers

This report is the first preview of our new research vertical for Audio, to be formally launched later this year. Podcasts reinvigorated the audio market, bringing with it the promise of a ‘Netflix...

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Music creators – we want your insight!

Blog post by Mark Mulligan

22 Feb 2022

Music

Audience Insight

Beyond our role in analysing, reporting, predicting, and consulting within music and media, MIDiA is a team of people - many of us creators too - who are committed to making a fairer, more sustainable...

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Music creators
Slicing the funnel

Report by Mark Mulligan, Kriss Thakrar and Tatiana Cirisano

18 Feb 2022

£5,000.00 excl. VAT

Music

Avid

AWAL

Streaming enabled the rise of the independent artist and then the rise of the music creator. The promise of the long tail finally appeared to be realised. But the pandemic’s disruption of live music...

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Why Spotify cannot afford to make it three out of three with podcasts

Blog post by Mark Mulligan

10 Feb 2022

Spotify

Podcasts

Joe Rogan

It has been a couple of weeks that Spotify would be glad to forget – if it could. Although many of the arguments have been emotionally charged and the debate says as much about people’s political beliefs...

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From binging to burnout: the creator economy’s fault line

Blog post by Mark Mulligan

8 Feb 2022

Music

Cultural Trends

The streaming revolution has been built upon audience choice and control, replacing linear with on-demand and in turn opening whole new consumption paradigms. No user behaviour better encapsulates this...

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Spotify chose audio over music, but bigger decisions lie ahead

Blog post by Mark Mulligan

27 Jan 2022

Spotify

Podcasts

Joe Rogan

The symbolism behind Spotify’s support of Neil Young removing his music from the platform, rather than Joe Rogan’s podcast being removed for peddling vaccine misinformation was inescapable. For many,...

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