For many, the days of setting foot in a music store and walking out with a physical CD seem to be long gone. Yet in Japan – the world’s second biggest music market – people still love to buy compact discs, with around 6,000 music stores feeding into this demand.

The Japanese are firmly rooted offline when it comes to music consumption; previous attempts to open up the digital market have been met with limited success. But Google is trying to change this by publicising its Google Play streaming service with a giant, interactive, music-playing billboard.

With the arrival of Apple Music, continued growth of Spotify, and a vinyl revival, it’s clear that the music business is in a state of flux. So how will the way we find, play and share music change in the future? In the first of two reports we see how Spotify and vinyl are shaping the industry.

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.