TikTok Music could change the game

Blog post by Mark Mulligan

14 Oct 2022

TikTok

Resso

Music

There has been talk for some time now of TikTok parent ByteDance launching a music streaming service in Western markets. It already has Resso in Indonesia, India, and Brazil, but has spiked interest recently...

Read more …

Is Microsoft the flywheel for Meta’s VR efforts?

Blog post by Karol Severin

13 Oct 2022

xbox

Meta

VR

Xbox and Meta announced a partnership bringing the Xbox Game Pass and cloud gaming experiences to Meta Quest 2 VR headsets. Meta Quest 2 users will be able to enjoy Xbox’s cloud gaming experience without...

Read more …

Are mobile game advertisements a legitimate trojan horse for podcast downloads?

Blog post by Annie Langston

12 Oct 2022

podcast downloads

game ads

real podcast listener

Podcast marketing is still somewhat new terrain in the digital audio market. Not only are podcasts a niche activity, but the market is fragmenting with the development of more shows. This oversaturation...

Read more …

Label executives: take this survey and receive a free MIDiA report

Blog post by Mark Mulligan

12 Oct 2022

Music

Product Strategy

MIDiA is fielding a survey exploring the changing role of music streaming services in today’s music business and we want to hear your opinions. Specifically, we want to hear the opinions of record label...

Read more …

User-centric versus feature-centric: the future of social platforms

Blog post by Hanna Kahlert

12 Oct 2022

Meta

snapchat

attention inflation

TikTok shook the social world two years ago by introducing its classic user-generated content (UGC) video feed and a suite of creator tools, thereby becoming a runaway success. Since then, innovation has...

Read more …

Why Samsung is pushing Tizen across the smart TV ecosystem

Blog post by Tim Mulligan

11 Oct 2022

Tizen

Samsung

smart tvs

Yesterday the world’s largest smart-TV manufacturer by market share announced partnerships with international original development manufacturing (ODM) companies to license its smart-TV operating system,...

Read more …

Vinyl now matters more to the music industry

Blog post by Keith Jopling

11 Oct 2022

Spotify

streaming music

Music

It is the final quarter of 2022 and almost time for Spotify Wrapped – that thrilling rush of data that knows more about your music listening habits than you do yourself. However, my Wrapped will be redundant...

Read more …

The fall of Stadia

Blog post by Perry Gresham

7 Oct 2022

stadia

games streaming

games subscriptions

Google’s game streaming service Stadia is shutting down in January 2023, just over three years into its life. What went wrong for such a promising technology with the backing of one of the largest corporations...

Read more …

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

Blog post by 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...

Read more …

The creator economy’s post-lockdown growth

Blog post by Mark Mulligan

6 Oct 2022

creator tools

creator economy

creators

The Covid pandemic created a unique catalyst for the music creator economy. More time on hands and more cash in pockets gave novices and veterans alike the opportunity to spend both more time and money...

Read more …

How podcast platforms are setting their sights on global expansion

Blog post by Annie Langston

5 Oct 2022

Podcasts

Spotify

distribution

The growth of podcast audiences requires a global effort. And while the market is primarily dominated by mostly Western platforms, such as Spotify and Apple, there are opportunities for new players to...

Read more …

How can entertainment reintroduce scarcity in a time of attention over-saturation?

Blog post by Hanna Kahlert

5 Oct 2022

scarcity

entertainment

Music

Spoiler alert, to the disappointment of some: it is not going to be NFTs. Scarcity, real or artificial, is what drives value. The diamond industry is perhaps the most obvious example of managed scarcity...

Read more …

Why Sky remains focused on Formula 1 as streaming TV remakes sports fandom

Blog post by Tim Mulligan

4 Oct 2022

Formula One

F1

Sky

Last Friday, Comcast-owned Sky announced that it had renewed its exclusive UK and Ireland coverage of Formula 1 (F1) until the end of 2029. Included in this deal are additional rights for Sky Italia and...

Read more …

Time to jump off the algorithm highway

Blog post by Mark Mulligan

30 Sep 2022

Music

Cultural Trends

marketing strategy

Life is perpetual change, so it is perhaps overdoing it to suggest that the music business is at a cultural pivot point. Yet, what comes next has the potential to be looked at, years from now, as a dividing...

Read more …

Quick take: Are Netflix’s games efforts still in line with the consumer needs of today?

Blog post by Karol Severin

29 Sep 2022

netflix

mobile gaming

games industry

It has been a year since Netflix announced its first games studio acquisition. Two days ago, it announced the launch of its own in-house gaming studio based in Finland, bringing a fourth gaming studio...

Read more …

What happens when the “relentless toll” of the music industry meets the creator economy in a cost-of-living crisis?

Blog post by Hanna Kahlert

29 Sep 2022

underground

cost of living

Music

The music industry is in a cultural crisis. It is more demanding than ever to be a successful artist, with the work required to meet the demands of social algorithms and to cut through the clutter being...

Read more …

Amazon touches down with a new streaming era for NFL… and a boost to Prime membership

Blog post by Tim Mulligan

27 Sep 2022

streaming tv

NFL

Thursday Night Football

On September 15th, Amazon Prime Video aired its first Thursday Night Football ( TNF ) match under its new $1 billion-per-year domestic broadcast rights deal. Amazon’s decision to become the exclusive...

Read more …

Grand Theft IP

Blog post by Perry Gresham

23 Sep 2022

grand theft auto

leak

intellectual property

This week gaming entered leak season, with large amounts of content unexpectedly released for two major upcoming titles: Grand Theft Auto VI (GTA) and Diablo IV. GTA developer Rockstar Games confirmed...

Read more …

YouTube's secret weapon for overtaking Spotify

Blog post by Tatiana Cirisano

22 Sep 2022

creator economy

Music creators

YouTube

YouTube has not been quiet about its ambitions to overtake Spotify as the music industry’s top revenue driver by 2025. The clock is ticking, and although YouTube is the most popular platform for music...

Read more …

Spotify launches audiobooks in the US – but you have to buy them

Blog post by Annie Langston

22 Sep 2022

Spotify

audiobooks

audience

Spotify has officially launched its audiobook vertical for US listeners. Spotify previewed this vertical at its Investor Day in June, in addition to announcing its purchase of Findaway , an audiobook distributor....

Read more …