Poll

Fun with music surveys, studies, and polls

[This was my weekly column for GlobalNews.ca. – AC]

I’m a curious fellow when it comes to music and how the world interacts with it. This makes me a sucker for press releases touting brand-new information about music and … well, it could be anything.

Usually, it’s the results of a study commissioned by an ad agency on behalf of a client (often a gambling site but it could also be anything from a mortgage broker to a sex toy company) to stealthily get some clicks and attention. The British are particularly good at camouflaging an ad by cloaking it with the aura of serious research.

Other times, though, it’s a report on some legitimate but quirky scientific work. The Daily Mail loves this sort of stuff. Here is a, er, survey of recent surveys. studies, and polls that caught my attention.

The Best Cities for Music Lovers

This one, conducted for a secondary ticket seller called SeatPick, claimed to have measured the levels of love given to music by the citizens of cities around the world. It annoyed me greatly. According to their analysis, London is the greatest city for music, something I cannot dispute. But if you go through the top 50 survey cities, there’s not a single mention of Canada, a country that punches far, far, above its weight on the international stage. I don’t think they even bothered.

Credibility rating: 0 out of 10.

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Alan Cross

is an internationally known broadcaster, interviewer, writer, consultant, blogger and speaker. In his 40+ years in the music business, Alan has interviewed the biggest names in rock, from David Bowie and U2 to Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters. He’s also known as a musicologist and documentarian through programs like The Ongoing History of New Music.

Alan Cross has 39154 posts and counting. See all posts by Alan Cross

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