Immersive Music Streaming: A Fistful of Nothing?

On Tuesday, October 15, in New York, Sony, together with four music streaming services and an important number of music industry partners promoted a press event to announce the new 360 Reality Audio music ecosystem. This follows the presentations made early at CES 2019 and a repeat of the demonstrations at IFA 2019 in Berlin. At this event, Sony announced the upcoming commercial availability of 360 Reality Audio, an immersive audio experience utilizing object-based spatial audio technology.

When both Amazon and Microsoft promoted their own designs and vision for the true wireless earbuds category, what I found most interesting about Microsoft's Surface Earbuds was the design itself. Yes, they have that big round surface that will confer a distinct "iconic" look to the user - just like the AirPods do in a different way - but inside they also use the loose-fit design that Apple adopted since the EarPods (and which Bose pioneered). Just like Apple's design, they do not go inside the ear and do not completely block the ear canal.

While I visited the exhibits at the excellent Colorado Convention Center during the 2019 CEDIA Expo in Denver, I was frequently asked about my impressions of the show - but often it was as if people were asking me to validate their own negative impressions - because "this industry has seen better days...", and "the show is smaller than ever." I saw the show in a different perspective, which I will address in this report.

Amazon announced the launch of Amazon Music HD, a new tier of "higher quality" lossless streaming, promising "more than 50 million songs in High Definition," and "millions of songs in Ultra High Definition," a designation akin to TV services that Amazon thinks consumers will understand better than High Resolution Audio (HRA). The first tier of the service "High Definition" is in fact a CD-quality FLAC lossless streaming, while the "Ultra HD" tier defines FLAC streaming of 24-bit and a sample rate up to 192 kHz, or HRA.

Yes, it was strange to fly to Denver, CO so early in September while most of the industry was on the way to Berlin, Germany for another edition of the International Funkausstellung (IFA), the gigantic consumer electronics and appliance show, which rivals CES in visitor numbers. But the fact is, I don’t regret it in the least. Since the 2019 edition of the Rocky Mountain International Audio Fest (RMAF) changed dates to September 6-8, and the CEDIA Expo takes place shortly after also in Denver, it was a great incentive to opt for Colorado instead.

Like the previous conference that was held in 2016 in Aalborg, Denmark, the Audio Engineering Society (AES) Headphone Technology Conference in San Francisco, was a very successful and insightful event for all the participants. The Presidio park venue was also idyllic with the usual crisp waterfront weather. Perhaps too successful, as the event was sold out before it opened.

It all started with an article from Billboard that stated: "On Wednesday (August 7) Apple Music announced the launch of Apple Digital Masters, a new initiative by the streaming giant that combines all of its "Mastered for iTunes" offerings into one global catalog. This is the company's first public acknowledgement of the initiative, which it has been quietly unveiling for some time." And suddenly the story was all over the place. But Apple didn't actually announce anything. Or at least, there was no official press release from Apple to be found confirming the story.

There's so much an audio brand can do in terms of effective promotion (that all important "P" in the marketing mix). And it all starts with the humble but mighty press release. It is amazing how so many "grown-up" people in the audio industry - including many consumer audio, and almost all high-end audio and hi-fi companies - completely ignore what a press release is about, what it is used for, or simply disregard the fact that when they actually "release" a new product, they need to tell the press, which will help tell the world about it.

The recent return of Gibson is one of those great case-studies for any marketing professional and a story that I am certain will be taught for years in marketing schools. How to “Clean Up Your Act” and restore the value of a brand that has been on a slow-burning destructive process for decades. Gibson is a legendary company, an American icon, and possibly one of the world's most valuable brands. I mean, it is hard to accept that someone could possible break a valuable business and a valuable brand like Gibson.

An interesting research was unveiled last week by Valve, an entertainment software and gaming technology company founded in 1996 and based in Bellevue, WA. In 2016, Valve launched SteamVR, a platform for distribution of virtual reality (VR) products, which lead the company to develop its own VR headset - the Valve Index. In the development process leading to the company's new VR headset, Valve has made significant progress not only in the display, lens, and field of view aspect of VR goggles, but also on the aural side. Emily Ridgway, audio researcher at Valve Software, describes the company's take on what they call "off-ear headphones" or "ear-speakers."