In March 2015, a little-known boutique music streaming service became the most talked about thing in the music press. Jay Z’s acquisition and relaunch of Tidal was met with ambivalence at best, ridicule at worst. Yet beyond the uproar, Tidal provides clues about how people like their music.

Joining the ranks of paid-for streaming services, SoundCloud Go intends to put unknown artists right alongside megastars. But can the Swedish start-up offer more than bedroom covers of Beatles tracks and wannabe MCs to truly compete with the likes of Spotify and Apple Music?

As the world’s largest online retailer, Amazon sells pretty much everything. It's now expanding its repertoire into the music sphere with Amazon Music Unlimited, a streaming subscription service that offers up a catalogue of ad-free tracks and curated playlists.

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. And with the music industry in flux, that's exactly what Beyoncé has done. Visual albumLemonadedebuted on HBO, before being released exclusively on Tidal, seeing sign-ups surge accordingly. Is this what the future of the album launch looks like?