The long-anticipated Spotify rival Beats Music features a combination of human and computer curation to provide subscribers with playlists that can be time- or mood-specific, "just for you", or compiled by respected music publications.

You’ve gotten hold of an Apple Watch, but what do you do with it? That’s the question for brands eyeing up the next big tech platform. Do people want to read on it? And if so, how do you tell a story on a screen barely bigger than a 50 pence piece?The New York Timescould have the answer.

Using data to cut through the noise, Next Big Sound is an analytics company that’s able to predict album sales with a degree of accuracy that’s never been seen before. Now, brands are getting in on the action, signing up to guarantee that the song they use on their next ad is a number one.

With the launch of its paid-for subscription service, which features 'expert curation' and a free 24-hour radio station, Apple is getting serious about music. With a pool of 800 million iTunes accounts to potentially convert from, Apple Music could very quickly become the market leader.