Dolby has kicked off a campaign to promote Dolby Atmos Music, hailing it as “the future of music” and a way for fans to get “closer” to their favourite artists and musicians. Put in less breathy language, you can now listen to some of your favourite tracks in Dolby’s 360 audio format.
If you want to listen at home you’ll need to have Dolby Atmos friendly hardware lying around. At the moment, the only device listed as compatible is Amazon’s Echo Studio smart speaker. And you’ll need a subscription to Amazon Music HD to stream the newly formatted tunes too.
Related: What is Dolby Atmos?
Back in September, there were around 50 tracks available in Dolby on Amazon HD Music, but the catalogue has recently exploded with new Dolby tracks available from Warner Music Group artists. Universal Music Group has also announced plans to release some of its tracks in Dolby Atmos, so Amazon’s HD musical offerings should (eventually) be fairly formidable.
One key name who has been confirmed for the new format is Lizzo. Her performance at the recent American Music Awards was given in Dolby Atmos, and a short featurette was screened there to show her working and recording with Dolby.
If you’re keen to ‘get closer’ to your favourite artists and, ahem, ‘feel the realness,’ you can watch her video here. Dolby has promised more of these behind-the-scenes videos with different artists.
When we experienced Dolby Atmos Music earlier in the year, we felt that some tracks translated better than others to the format. It will be interesting to see if the finished, expansive Dolby catalogue feels the same, or if they’ve tackled those issues.
Related: Amazon Echo Studio
The one thing that could hold the project back from becoming super-popular is the restrictions on the hardware. We were fairly smitten with the Echo Studio smart speaker when we reviewed it earlier this month, but it’s hard to see it becoming a standard piece of furniture in the UK household.
Anyone who wants to experience Dolby Atmos Music, but doesn’t want to splash out on a new speaker, could try getting their hands on a specially-released Blu-Ray album.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
