artists blog by MIDiA Research

Blog: artists

How Bandcamp could really fix the music business

Blog post by Mark Mulligan

25 Jun 2021

“A thought: has streaming become the place to address consumers and the likes of Bandcamp the places to engage fans? i.e., fans and fandom inherently matter less on streaming because it/they are a minority.” …

Songs are the golden eggs in music catalogues, but who is looking after the goose?

Blog post by Keith Jopling

20 Jan 2021

Strategy

music catalogue

Marketing

Marketing Long Read Part 1: Catalogue & Song Management It will not have escaped your attention that music catalogues are changing hands for serious sums of money. The race to acquire the songwriters’…

The live versus streaming demographic paradox

Blog post by Hanna Kahlert

5 Jan 2021

artists

demographic

insight

As we begin 2021 with a vaccine on the near horizon, live venue businesses are holding on with whitening knuckles through the intermediate stricter lockdowns. However, the world has changed much in the…

Streaming’s remuneration model cannot be ‘fixed’

Blog post by Mark Mulligan

12 Aug 2020

Music

streaming

remuneration

The #brokenrecord debate continues to build momentum and new models such as user-centric are getting increased attention, including at governmental level in the UK. But as Mat Dryhurst correctly observes…

Time to stop playing the velocity game

Blog post by Mark Mulligan

3 Jul 2020

Music

streaming

music marketing

We all know that streaming has transformed consumption and business models alike, but this is not a ‘now-completed’ process. Instead it is one that continues to evolve at pace, and the dynamic of pace…

Artists are Learning How it Feels to be a Songwriter

Blog post by Mark Mulligan

8 Jun 2020

artist income

artists

broken record

The ‘broken record’ streaming debate that continues to rage on is a natural consequence of the instantaneous collapse of live music revenue following lockdown. As soon as it was clear that live was…

Artists – Have Your Voice Heard

Blog post by Mark Mulligan

12 May 2020

Artist survey

artists

midia artist survey

MIDiA is fielding its third biannual Artist Survey. Our two surveys last year were very successful and got hundreds of artist responses. MIDiA’s artist surveys takes the pulse of the artist community…

Travis Scott has Only Scratched the Surface of Music Games Tie Ups

Blog post by Mark Mulligan

1 May 2020

artists

coronavirus

Covid-19

In February 2019 Marshmello caused ripples of almost tidal proportions across the music business when 10.7 million Fortnite fans watched him perform a ‘concert’ in the game. Then in April 2020 …

Welcome to the Age of the Artist

Blog post by Mark Mulligan

27 Feb 2020

age of the artist

artist distribution

artists

As it enters the third decade of the millennium, the recorded music business is in rude health. Revenues are about to enter the second half of a decade of annual growth, streaming is booming and investment…

The Future of Music: A Vision of Post-Format

Blog post by Mark Mulligan

18 Sep 2019

adele

artists

Edison

Formats have shaped and dictated the evolution of recorded music. The constraints that formats set have, in turn, become the creative frameworks within which music has operated. Now, in the internet era,…

Independent Artists: The Age of Empowerment

Blog post by Mark Mulligan

11 Jul 2019

Amuse

artist careers

Artist survey

MIDiA is proud to announce an exclusive new report in conjunction with Amuse – Independent Artists: The Age of Empowerment . The report is based on a global survey of independent artists that we conducted…

The Artist Marketing Playbook Needs Rewriting

Blog post by Mark Mulligan

5 Jul 2019

artist marketing

artist streams

artists

The whole essence of fandom is being turned upside down. An emerging crop of streaming-native artists is finding its audience in a much more targeted and efficient way than via the traditional music marketing.…

Playlist Malfeasance Will Create a Streaming Crisis

Blog post by Mark Mulligan

9 May 2019

artists

labels

per stream rates

Streaming economics are facing a potential crisis. The problem does not lie in the market itself; after all, in Q1 2019 streaming revenue became more than half of the recorded music business and Spotify…

Creator Support: A New Take on User Centric Licensing

Blog post by Mark Mulligan

26 Apr 2019

Amuse

artist streaming income

artists

User-centric licensing (i.e. stream pay-outs based on sharing the royalty income of an individual user split across the music they listen to) has stimulated a lot of debate. I first explored the…

Last Call for Our Artist Survey

Blog post by Mark Mulligan

15 Apr 2019

Amuse

Artist survey

artists

This is your last chance to take part in our global artist survey - we are closing the survey this Friday (19th April). As a reminder: In partnership with independent distribution company Amuse, MIDiA…

Calling all Artists!

Blog post by 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…

Kobalt is a Major Label Waiting to Happen

Blog post by 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…

Do Not Assume We Have Arrived At Our Destination

Blog post by Mark Mulligan

15 Jun 2017

artist income

artists

Drake

Forbes has released its annual Celebrity 100, its list of the top earning media stars. The healthy share of music artists hints at the continued ability to build highly successful music careers. The presence…

YouTube Just Broke The Chart’s Back

Blog post by Mark Mulligan

3 Feb 2016

artists

charts

Music

Or rather the music industry just broke the chart’s back with YouTube, although it doesn’t realise it yet. And here’s why… It is normal when switching between old and new worlds to use equivalents,…