Exclusive album releases have become one of the most interesting and controversial tactics that musicians and labels use to drive income and sales. While the music industry tries to maximize revenue, and participating music services hope to attract and retain subscribers, music-lovers who have shifted their consumption to on-demand streaming are left out. What is your response to music exclusives? Take the quick RAIN Poll. Continue Reading
We announce the results of RAIN Polls after one week. But we don’t shut down the polls after publishing the results. In some cases they remain active through search engines and social pointers. When that happens we revisit and update the results. Continue Reading
Recent news that Apple is pushing back to labels about licensing fees, with the possible intent of lowering the monthly subscription cost of Beats Music, sets the stage for this week’s RAIN Poll. We asked readers: Is Apple right? Would a lower subscription cost stimulate the subscription side of the streaming business? Or doesn’t it matter? The result was conclusive in an unexpected way Continue Reading
Recent news that Apple is pushing back to labels about licensing fees, with the possible intent of lowering the monthly subscription cost of Beats Music, sets the stage for this week’s RAIN Poll. Should on-demand music streaming cost less? Or, because the ad-supported listening model is preeminent, is is Apple’s initiative a non-starter? Continue Reading
Apple’s forced distribution of U2’s new album, Songs of Innocence, is widely regarded as a public relations catastrophe that damaged both brands. We asked RAIN readers what they thought about free music landing in their devices. Welcomed gift, or abhorred gaffe? The results are fairly definitive. Continue Reading
Apple’s universal distribution of U2’s new album — the controversy that won’t die. As the dust slowly settles, we’d like to know how it shakes out for you, whether you’re an Apple device user or not. Was the free (and forced) album a huge blunder? Or is all the complaining a waste of bandwidth? Vote your opinion! Leave a survey comment, too — as always, selected comments will be published with the poll results. Continue Reading
When an Internet station in Saint Louis picketed a newspaper for eliminating the station from a reader’s choice award of best radio stations, we decided to poll RAIN readers on the crucial question: Is Internet radio “real radio”? The results are definitive, with 70% of responses say: Yes, it is. Click through to see selected comments. Continue Reading
In today’s RAIN News we cover an Internet radio station in Saint Louis which was denied a “Best of Saint Louis” reader-survey award, despite having the votes, because “Internet radio is not real radio.” Is the Saint Louis newspaper which ran the contest correct? Or is Internet radio a legitimate form of “real” radio? Vote your opinion! Continue Reading
In our latest RAIN Poll, we surveyed readers with a single Yes-or-No question: Would you pay for a YouTube music service? Such a service is on the way, reportedly later this summer, offering ad-free listening/watching on some kind of YouTube-ish platform. The result of our informal poll was definite: NO. Eighty-three percent or respondents declared a negative vote on this question; 17% said they would pay. Click through to read selected comments. Continue Reading
Would you pay for a YouTube music service? That’s a choice YouTube users will have by the end of the summer, according to recent reports.
It’s an unusual value proposition, because YouTube is already the most popular music-listening (and watching) platform in the world, with over a billion users. We don’t know many details about the new subscription service Google will roll out for YouTube, but we know it will be ad-free.
Vote your choice, and leave a comment! Selected comments will be published with poll results. Continue Reading
When Pono Music completed its Kickstarter campaign with a whopping $6.2-million in crowdfunding, it motivated us to as readers whether hi-fi mobile music is important. On this site, the opinion stance has been that Pono and others are interesting ventures, but niche. Our poll results indicate stronger interest in sound quality than anticipated. Continue Reading
Pono Music completed a wildly successful Kickstarter funding campaign, raising nearly eight times the $800,000 goal. How important is high-quality music reproduction to you, when listening through a portable device? Important enough to carry a new gadget in addition to your phone? Vote your opinion! Continue Reading