Music fandom Reports from MIDiA Research

International success for local language artists
A strategic playbook

Cover image for International success for local language artists

Laura Fisher

June 2025

UK

France

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...

Music streaming consumer profile Q4 2024
Stabilisation and fandom slowdown

Mark Mulligan and Tatiana Cirisano

February 2025

Willingness to pay

Music consumers

Streaming

Consumer music behaviours are both stabilising and showing signs of coming change. Change that could be challenging for all music business stakeholders, especially with regards to fandom monetisation. This report presents data-focused visuals and impactful analysis of trends and anomalies that will inform your understanding of what is happening to ...

The state of music AI
The consumer opportunity lies in modification, not generation

Tatiana Cirisano and Hanna Kahlert

June 2024

Consumer behaviour

music industry

Music publishing

MIDiA previously predicted that generative artificial intelligence (gen AI) would accelerate music’s “Instagram moment”, where consumers could create and remix music as easily and often as they post photos and videos on social media. However, just because everyone can do these things does not mean everyone will want to.

State of the music video economy
Balancing act

Cover image for State of the music video economy

Tatiana Cirisano and Fernanda Balzaretti

April 2024

Consumer behaviour

music industry

Music publishing

The rise of short-form video, and the resulting shift in value from music videos to music in videos, have upended the music video space. This report unpacks the growth of short-form, the resulting decline in YouTube weekly active user penetration, and the impact on both artist marketing and advertising revenue.

The state and future of music fandom
Unleashing fan creativity

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Tatiana Cirisano

August 2023

Spotify

YouTube

SoundCloud

Streaming is buckling under the weight of new music being released every day, listenership is fragmenting, and artificial intelligence is poised to intensify these challenges. The music industry’s next era of growth lies in monetising fandom, not consumption.

Return to live
Post-pandemic music fans

Kriss Thakrar and Tatiana Cirisano

July 2023

Consumer behaviour

live music

Music creators

Today’s live music audience skews 45+, with rock concerts and theatres / concert halls dominating sales. Fandom is by far the strongest factor in purchasing tickets, eclipsing price, and location. So, despite challenges like inflation and scalping, most concertgoers plan to attend more or the same number of concerts going forward.

Music’s Instagram moment
The social music creation revolution

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Tatiana Cirisano

March 2023

Consumer behaviour

Apple

Spotify

Social media has steadily integrated music, and music creation tools have steadily become more social. These trends are converging, accelerated by shifts in consumer behaviour and artificial intelligence (AI). The result could be a new set of music creation and re-creation tools, integrated within social platforms and geared towards casual consumer...

A field of all levels
Strategizing music’s attention economy

Tatiana Cirisano

November 2022

Consumer behaviour

Music creators

Record labels

Over roughly the past decade, each stage in the evolution of the attention economy accelerated the pace of fragmentation and oversaturation in music, unearthing new challenges for each micro-generation of artists. With all these generations now competing in the same playing field, artist strategy depends strongly on the era in which they rose to pr...

Music IP as video content
Why music fandom is strategically important for D2C

Cover image for Music IP as video content

Tim Mulligan

July 2022

Spotify

Vevo

Netflix

Music rightsholders are keen to leverage artist IP in an increasingly competitive direct-to-consumer video landscape, where appealing to silver streamers is a strategic play to minimise churn in an era of peak video subscriptions. The monetisable emerging long tail of video streaming, combined with the transformation of music IP into a content asse...

Music Marketing
Niche is the New Mainstream

Mark Mulligan

May 2019

Streaming

Streaming Music

Spotify

Streaming personalisation and falling radio audiences are combining to rewrite the music marketing rulebook, ushering in a whole new marketing paradigm. Hits used to be cultural moments; artist brands built by traditional mass media. This fire-hydrant approach to marketing lacked both accountability and effective targeting.

On Demand In Demand
Meeting The Needs Of The On Demand Fan

Mark Mulligan

June 2015

Subscriptions

Streaming

US

2014 was undoubtedly streaming’s biggest year yet, growing by 39% and accounting for nearly a third of all digital revenues. But the market is a long distance yet from being in a position where it can be considered established. While free streaming, YouTube in particular, is booming, subscriptions remain confined to niche audiences.

Reports: Music fandom