Mark Mulligan of MIDiA Research reflects on the two Spotify developments that dominated yesterday’s headlines. First, the streaming service has taken its first strides toward launching a direct listing. Second, Spotify was sued by music publisher Wixen. Is the listing in trouble? Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Mark Mulligan looks ahead to 2018. SoundCloud CEO is still serious about the company’s roots. The experts weigh in on podcast discoverability. Continue Reading
Mark Mulligan of MIDiA Research reviews developments centered on video content that appeared in headlines this week. Both music videos and music-related videos look to be strong categories. Continue Reading
Mark Mulligan of MIDiA Research delved into the recent milestone of 100 million subscribers accumulated by the streaming music industry. His latest blog post explores the significance of the achievement and what it might mean for the coming year. Continue Reading
Midia Research founder Mark Mulligan explored the broader context of the quarterly financial reports for the three major labels. Each of the majors reported increased revenue from streaming, but those data points don’t tell the complete story about where the money really comes from. Continue Reading
Spotify’s recently released 2015 financials created an interesting story: strong revenue growth and market domination, along with widening losses at the bottom line. Midia Research founder Mark Mulligan peels back the layers to analyze underlying dynamics. “Rights costs are the Spotify’s Achilles Heel.” Can scaling audience growth give Spotify enough leverage to gain better label rates? If not, the outcome might be unwelcome to those rights-holders. This guest column is a must-read. Continue Reading
Guest columnist Mark Mulligan projects the pace of disruption as consumers fade back from purchasing music downloads. “When new formats race to the fore it is easy to make the mistake of taking an eye off the legacy formats. This is risky because they usually still account for very large portions of existing revenue.” But a “download collapse” will happen to the iTunes Music Store. Continue Reading
Midia Research released a new data report called State of the Streaming Nation, a comprehensive analysis of the audience and economics of streaming music globally. The report positions itself at a pivotal point in the evolution of streaming, marking 2015 as “the year in which streaming music came of age.” At the same time, the conclusion fleshes out a cautionary reality. Continue Reading
Spotify just changed the rules of the game, raising an unprecedented $1 billion in convertible debt. Guest columnist Mark Mulligan analyzes — what is Spotify’s strategy, and where will growth come from. One key: “The 9.99 subscription model is incredibly difficult (perhaps impossible) to run profitably at scale.” Continue Reading
Guest contributor Mark Mulligan reacts to the RIAA’s decision to add YouTube music streaming metrics into the organization’s sales calculations and bestowal of Gold and Platinum album awards. But is streaming the same as buying? Here, the key difference. Continue Reading
Guest contributor Mark Mulligan analyzes just-released U.K. music industry figures for 2015, which show a return to growth. Adele had a lot to do with it, but not (only) in the way you expect. Also, the “Transition Triangle” maps consumer migration to streaming. Continue Reading
Guest contributor Mark Mulligan suggests that full-catalog music services cater to a top layer of music aficionados. Smaller online music services, serving specialized audiences, could bring streaming music deeper into the mainstream. Continue Reading