Product Strategy | MIDiA Research

Spotify chose audio over music, but bigger decisions lie ahead

Mark Mulligan

27 Jan 2022

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,...

min read

Hybrid futures
MIDiA 2022 predictions

Mark Mulligan, Tim Mulligan, Karol Severin, Hanna Kahlert, Srishti Das, Kriss Thakrar and Tatiana Cirisano

January 2022

Free Report

social media

Business Strategy

MIDiA Research Predictions

MIDiA analysts dive into our 2022 predictions, and why we believe it will be ' the year of the creator '. Watch the webinar here ....

How relevant are awards in the age of Spotify Wrapped?

Keith Jopling

12 Jan 2022

Streaming

Netflix

Spotify

Are awards ceremonies relevant in today's entertainment landscape? The widespread boycott by major movie stars of this year’s Golden Globes is more than a temporary protest and will lead to a major period...

min read

Fandom drivers
From fan psychology to NFT demand

Mark Mulligan, Karol Severin, Srishti Das and Tatiana Cirisano

January 2022

superfan

Spotify

merchandise

Fandom is entertainment’s growth currency, yet it remains both under-valued and poorly understood. While other entertainment currencies can be accurately measured (number of streams, number of sales,...

2022 will be a reckoning point for cultural value in digital entertainment

Hanna Kahlert

5 Jan 2022

NFT

niche

publishing

The turn of the year has kicked off with a bang for digital entertainment – well in keeping with the 20’s so far. $2.2 million worth of ape jpegs have been stolen . Vinyl sales were reported to have...

min read

Why UK Christmas number ones are the current charity of choice

Ashleigh Millar

23 Dec 2021

Christmas streams

Music Charts

youtube music

It is the most wonderful time of year… we get to watch (and influence) the fight for the Official Charts’ UK Christmas number one. And in the lead for, arguably, the most coveted spot in UK music is...

min read

Formula One’s rise of the creators shines a ray of hope on the future of the sport

Srishti Das

22 Dec 2021

Formula One

Super Max

Creator Economy

Last week marked the end of an eventful year for Formula One with the tight championship fight between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton. The hue and cry over the International Automobile Federation (FIA)...

min read

Fandom and lean-in culture are reshaping video

Hanna Kahlert

December 2021

Apple

Spotify

YouTube

To compete in the new hyper-saturated attention economy, entertainment propositions must tap into audience sentiment to generate fandom and understand where they fit in the lives and habits of audiences....

Why the NFT hype will inevitably reach a (painful) normalisation point

Hanna Kahlert

17 Dec 2021

NFT

cryptocurrency

bitcoin

Few conversations are safe from the inevitable NFT mention these days, with everything from complimentary digital badges from events , to art sale authentication , to the whopping $25 million in music...

min read

The creator economy has a sustainability problem

Tatiana Cirisano

10 Dec 2021

Online video

social media

creator tools

Last week, The Washington Post published a profile of Twitch gaming streamer, Tyler Steinkamp, a 26-year-old self-made millionaire who daydreams about “how blissful it must be to work in a cubicle”....

min read

The internationalisation of content: What it means when local goes global

Hanna Kahlert

8 Dec 2021

internationalisation

content

podcast

Digital-first life has broken down cultural borders, allowing content and fans from all over the world to spread far and wide on both a niche and mainstream level. It is now possible for small independent...

min read

Web 3.0 will be social-first

Hanna Kahlert

6 Dec 2021

web 3.0

social medi

social

Fame has now been replaced by one-hit overnight viral sensations, niche can now be of more strategic value than mainstream , and 16-19-year-old males are buying high fashion on Fortnite. Digital-first...

min read

MIDiA Consulting looks forward to 2022

Keith Jopling

2 Dec 2021

Streaming

Strategy

Marketing

Our Consulting Director Keith Jopling reflects on how MIDiA's consulting capability has developed over the past few years. Back when MIDiA first formed, the music industry’s future was still hanging...

min read

Quick take: Bridging IRL and digital – the next phase of entertainment consumption

Karol Severin

19 Nov 2021

IRl

consumption habits

consumer trends

We are entering a new phase in the evolution of consumption. Traditionally, IRL dominated entertainment consumption. With the advent of the internet, smartphones and other technological innovations, companies...

min read

Why Bored Ape and other NFTs need music (not just the other way around)

Tatiana Cirisano

17 Nov 2021

NFT

cryptocurrency

Universal Music Group

The popular NFT collection-turned-collective Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) entered the music industry this week, as Universal Music Group (UMG) and Timbaland both announced plans to turn the brand’s trendy...

min read

Entertainment has an important role to play in the climate crisis

Hanna Kahlert

12 Nov 2021

climate crisis

Climate Change

COP26

Friday the 12th November marks the last day of the COP26 summit, aimed at setting climate goals for the next year to address the ecological crisis that is set to disrupt the future of humanity – which,...

min read

Tribes are the future of fandom (and that may or may not be a good thing)

Mark Mulligan

12 Nov 2021

Fandom

Tribes

Media and Marketing

At MIDiA, we spend a lot of time exploring the fan economy and how new forms of fandom are redefining media businesses. The most significant underlying dynamic is the fragmentation of fandom: the dynamic...

min read

Can music rights expand to drive the new music creator economy?

Kriss Thakrar

11 Nov 2021

rights acquisition

music publishing

music catalogue M+A

The investment that is pouring into music rights has exploded in recent years, hitting $10 billion at the time of writing and set to increase much further. Many rights acquisitions deals have been based...

min read

Why a VR metaverse is not the future of digital

Hanna Kahlert

5 Nov 2021

metaverse

consumer insight

Amid a perfect storm of government scrutiny, potential anti-trust legislation, a whistle-blower, and social media disruption at the hands of burgeoning creator tools (like TikTok), Facebook – sorry,...

min read

Facebook is about to disrupt itself out of existence…again

Mark Mulligan

29 Oct 2021

Cultural Trends