Blog: Music discovery

Read our latest daily deep dives, hot takes, and exciting updates about the entertainment world. Check out the latest insight from your favourite analyst, or search by coverage areas - music, entertainment and fandom, creator economy and social.

Music discovery is not dead, just evolving – the industry needs to evolve with it

Olivia Jones

9 May 2025

Audience Insight

Music streaming

Social media

Music streaming algorithms have changed the way we listen to music – for better and for worse. While the radio used to be the main way to find new music, streaming and social algorithms now drive discovery as listeners crave (and have come to expect) more personalised recommendations.

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The music industry’s weakest link: Getting from A to B

Tatiana Cirisano

20 Mar 2025

Business Strategy

Fandom

Artists

Key insights from this blog: The music industry is missing a key step when it comes to supporting and growing artists As the landscape of the industry has changed, most notably a loss of a mainstream monoculture, the traditional ways of discovery and promotion no longer work for new and smaller arti...

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Live and direct: lessons for streamers from the appeal of online radio

Laura Fisher

20 Mar 2025

Audience Insight

Music

Audio

Key insights from this blog: Online radio has a growing audience, with further opportunity to capitalise on what is missing from music streaming We explore why online radio is gaining popularity – covering the elements of loyalty, dynamism, and humanity – and explain how this connects to MIDiA's...

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Social came for music streaming’s lunch – now is the time for streaming to bite back

Tatiana Cirisano

27 Feb 2025

Audience Insight

Spotify

Facebook

In the battle of music streaming versus social, the major (at least Western) music streaming services have never fully committed to implementing social features. Spotify has come the closest: an early version offered direct messaging, and the company even acquired a handful of social media-related s...

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Instagram and the download-delete cycle: a cultural shift for social platforms

Hanna Kahlert

13 Aug 2024

Social

analogue revival

ecommerce

Forget the tech-centric sci-fi future promised by the early 2000’s; the new aspiration is going offline. Analogue is the new ‘cool’, and it is not just about nostalgia. Audiences are searching for authenticity, connection, novelty, experience, and tangible ownership of the things they love, al...

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Artists are speaking out about the content treadmill — is it too late to slow down?

Tatiana Cirisano

14 Dec 2023

burnout

music industry

Music creators

If you were on the music industry bubble of X this week, you probably caught wind of Bethany Cosentino’s honest reflection of her solo album release. For the uninitiated, the frontwoman of cult California rock duo Best Coast released her first solo album, Natural Disaster , in July, but it did not...

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How live music will change in the next decade

Tatiana Cirisano

20 Jul 2023

live music

touring

live audiences

The pandemic sent shock waves through the live music industry — a historic, catastrophic disruption to a decades-old business. But just because touring is back, does not mean that we are in the clear.

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Spotify’s vertical feed could change music discovery, but not for the reason you think

Tatiana Cirisano

9 Mar 2023

Music streaming

Spotify

SoundCloud

Just a few years ago, Spotify’s Rap Caviar playlist was a harbinger for culture. But a lot has changed. Artists want (and need) to build deeper relationships with fans, and gen Z consumers want more active content experiences.

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Music discovery in 2023 is about the journey, not the moment

Tatiana Cirisano

12 Jan 2023

Music streaming

Spotify

TikTok

Oversaturation was among the hottest music industry topics of 2022. By now, we have all read — and maybe gasped at — the recent estimate that more than 100,000 new songs hit streaming services daily.

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As Apple hits 100 million songs, the future of music discovery gets complicated

Tatiana Cirisano

6 Oct 2022

Music streaming

Music discovery

Music creators

Apple Music celebrated the milestone of hitting 100 million songs this week — “more music than you can listen to in a lifetime, or several lifetimes”, global head of editorial, Rachel Newman, wrote in the announcement .

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Games-video crossovers are coming of age

Samuel Griffin

8 Sep 2022

games video

Entertainment

Music discovery

Video and games crossover content is becoming mainstream. The Emmy winning Arcane, a live action remake of The Last of Us, indicated that games-inspired video is trailblazing at the core of entertainment fandom.

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Streaming Services Are Going to Have to Change Their MO

Mark Mulligan

17 Apr 2020

coronavirus

Covid-19

New music is the fuel in the streaming engine, creating a virtuous circle of increased label and artist output to meet DSP-stimulated user demand. Now though, with COVID-19 disrupting the production of music, everything is set to change.

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MIDiA Chart Of The Week: Music Discovery

Mark Mulligan

30 Nov 2015

Chart Of The Week

Discovery

free Streaming

When YouTube first starting rising to prominence streaming music was still in its infancy. Thus even though royalty payments were far form setting the world alight, there was a clear case for YouTube views driving discovery which then led to sales.

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MIDiA Data Point Of The Day: Shazam

Mark Mulligan

4 Nov 2015

Data Point Of The Day

Mobile content

Music

Shazam has become part of the digital music marketplace furniture but is seeking out a new business model now as there's no money in the affiliate sales model for streams, not that there was ever that much in the download sales affiliate model either.

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