There are endless articles explaining immersive mixing, Dobly Atmos, and the ever-changing landscape of music consumption so I’m not going to write anything about that here.
I’m going to answer what I get asked multiple time a week by artists…
“Is releasing my project in an immersive format going to help my career in a tangible way that will make it worth the money to do?”
That’s not exactly what they say, but it’s what artists are asking.
Here’s what I tell my production clients to consider:
Playlisting
-Every major playlist is ONLY including immersive mixes. Many sync opportunities are favoring immersive songs. I expect this to continue!
It’s the ‘blue check’ of music (right now)
-Remember when you had to basically be a celebrity to get a blue check on Instagram? (I know you can buy them now….) Maybe not even a celebrity, but definitely ‘somebody’..? That’s what ‘Dobly Atmos’ on your release looks like. It’s a high tier of assumed quality. You can still find really terrible music that has been converted into the immersive world (I’m not naming anybody but I think we just thought of the same album…) but there’s certainly LESS that makes it past that point because of the expense.
Who are your listeners?
-If most of your audience is older, they are not going to have immersive headphones to go to the gym in. They’re not connecting their AirPods to their phone to get a premium listening experience. They certainly didn’t spend thousands of dollars to create a listening room that is Dolby Atmos Certified. Stick with stereo mixes and use that money to buy merch you can sell.
If your listenership skews young… well that’s obvious isn’t it? This is the audience that is going to be watching the show, listening to the playlist, putting in the AirPods for a run that will listen in the immersive format.
Where are you at in your career as an artist… really.
-I mean no disrespect here. But if you’re asking me, and you are in a way because you’ve read this far… You need to be honest with yourself about what has connected with an audience, if anything. If this is your first song ever. Your $500 to get your song into Atmos-land is going to be better spent on a dozen other things. (and I know… I’m talking myself out of work here!). Oppositely, if you’re playing dozens of dates a year, connecting with your fans, and want to provide a ‘deeper’ listening experience for the fans already paying attention to you, that’s a ‘yes’ from me.
Ultimately, you will have to decide this for yourself.
I’m not a manager. I’m a record producer and musician.
YOU, the artists, will have to make that decisions yourself.
And whatever you decide - I’d love to help.
Peace,
PB
(P.S. it all starts with great writing being turned into a great song… if you don’t have that already on your tracks, none of what I wrote is going to matter.)