Music to our Ears!

RATE MUSIC FOR REWARDS

Today's article has a musical theme. A couple of survey sites out there bring music to our ears, quite literally. They ask us to listen to tunes, and rate them. Others, if we may extend the musical theme, reward us with CDs and the like, for taking surveys on all sorts of topics. I'll explore the second category in my next article, next month. For today though, I'd like to fill you in on three of the most active companies that offer rewards or prizes, for doing what many of us love to do anyway- talking about songs and all things musical!

Song People

One of the most active sites that offers rewards for giving our opinions on latest releases, would have to be Song People, which is open internationally. You enter the site by clicking on your country's flag, and are taken to a page that includes a registration link. Although they say at the site that members might also be asked to rate videos, I have only ever been asked to rate songs there, but I receive an email asking me to do so, quite regularly.

Each survey requires us to rate 15 songs in a row. You're asked to listen to a series of song segments, and, whilst listening, to answer questions about them. You're asked if you know the song, if you'd change radio stations if you heard it, and if you'd like to write a comment about it. I'm stuck in the seventies (musically speaking!) so find rating that many modern lively tunes a bit long..but that might be music or survey heaven, for many of you. And the rewards, I hear you asking? They vary, but in the past have included checks for 10-15 pounds (that's 14-21 USD, when converted),MTV CDs, and lately, RIO600 MP3 players. The management of this site impressed me, which I guess is one reason why I like them. Another nice touch is that at the end of each survey, we're told the names of the musicians behind the tunes we've rated. Nice one.

RatetheMusic.com Music Advisory Panel

Although Rate the Music's Panel is also open internationally, though their main page does include the word "national". Their surveys come in spurts. The pattern for me has been to receive lots of survey invitations, followed by no surveys for a few months, followed by lots of surveys once more. The surveys are really enjoyable, too. You only need to listen to short segments of tunes, and only then if you don't already know of them. Then you just click to give the songs your ratings. Artists listed include Celine, Elton, Billy Joel, Mariah and more of the big and not so big names around. I haven't won there, but they do offer cash prizes. They also give away 100 t-shirts each week, to new panelists!

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