Dolby Atmos - Corporate Power Grab - Greed

Definite learning experience here...

"I'm going to start by saying that I have a Dolby Atmos studio that conforms to spec. From an audio perspective, I love Atmos. It opens up mixes and is like a breath of fresh air to a lot of catalog material being remixed. The audio itself is one subject. That being said, the marketing push (i.e. requirement now) from Apple and others regarding Atmos mixes is definitely a power grab, no question about it. Stereo was never "licensed". It was a natural outgrowth of the technology of the time. It became a "de-facto" standard. Musically, it is the most popular reproduction format and doesn't require additional subscriptions or licenses to listen. THIS is where it starts to get all "conspiracy". It's all about the licensing, and getting people to pay a subscription (of course) to listen to Atmos content on their devices. And this might be in the form of a software add on or update, or a different subscription you have to have, or whatever - but I believe that is the ultimate goal. 

Technically, you can deliver a stereo mix through an Atmos formatted deliverable. Just because you can send stuff to 12 speakers doesn't mean you have to. But that doesn't address the fact that Atmos deliverables are now being required no matter what, and you can't say shit about it. Dolby is becoming the Live Nation/Ticketmaster of audio, it seems. And what a shame, because Dolby used to have a more decent reputation than being basically acting like a mobster now." -Bill Vincent 

(YouTube Viewer)

"You know what Atmos folded down to two speakers is? Stereo.... And that's how 99.9% of consumers will experience it. The fact that Apple has said that their curated playlists will be Atmos only tells me everything I need to know. This is an attempt at gatekeeping. The majors are mad that a kid can produce and easily distribute a hit record from their bedroom." -joegac57 (YouTube Viewer)

"As someone who designs Atmos mixing rooms and private cinemas, I 100% agree with you. The experience of immersive music and soundtracks is honestly surreal when listenening in the right environment. However, you need to spend hundreds of thousands to get that experience and its only an option for the very wealthy or for production studios doing Film and TV. It's hard enough to get people to buy a nice set of stereo speakers, so its almost impossible to get consumers to go out and buy an atmos rig." -Durosai (YouTube Viewer)