Over the last decade, there has been an intense focus on the long-term value of music copyrights with more than $5 billion spent on acquisitions in 2021 alone. But as the media focus on the big numbers, the companies powering the industry have expertly developed technology and personnel capabilities to service both the high end of the market and the proliferation of mid and long-tail creators.

While the market for copyright acquisitions continues to hold steady, is it this relatively new slate of service businesses that controls the future of the industry? And as they become more attractive to investors, offering growth and profitability, how will injection of capital support the next generation of creators?

Music is becoming a background activity; more and more artists are realizing they will never reach the scale needed to benefit from streaming economics; and younger generations are seeking out active, participatory experiences with music. The combination of these catalysts is driving both artists and fans towards platforms like TikTok and Twitch to fulfill their needs, rather than traditional DSPs and industry stakeholders. In turn, these platforms are expanding their reach to offer more ‘traditional’ music industry functions, with TikTok’s distribution tool as one example. The result is the rise of a music industry ‘counterculture’ that monetizes brand in addition to music, differentiates between levels of fandom, and depends on the artist-fan relationship. MIDiA will present the data underpinning this shift and explore how it will impact the established industry. MIDiA's Mark Mulligan joins us virtually from London in conversation with Tatiana Cirisano, in-person at The Williamsburg Hotel in NYC.