The High Fidelity Pure Audio Industry Group was launched yesterday in Dolby’s headquarters in London to drive the development of Pure Audio. Produced directly from original studio master recordings, High Fidelity Pure Audio allows fans to enjoy music at a level of quality that has rarely been experienced outside of a recording studio and which can be played on any Blu-ray player or PS3 console.
Today’s launch featured companies from across the whole spectrum of music, recording, audio technology, production, manufacture, distribution and retail including Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, LSO (London Symphony Orchestra) Live, Dolby, Bang & Olufsen, Bose, QOL, Metropolis, Allainé Plastic and many more and follows a number of pilot releases of High Fidelity Pure Audio albums in France recently which have been very positively received for their unprecedented sound quality.
Jim Bottoms, who leads MESA Europe (Media and Entertainment Services Alliance) and who has recently been appointed to lead the Blu-ray Disc Association’s local and industry activities, will run the High Fidelity Pure Audio Industry Group and its marketing and promotional activity moving forward.
High Fidelity Pure Audio releases are created from studio master recordings at a minimum of 24bit/96kHz digital high definition, compared to 16bit/44kHz with CDs, and then encoded in three ultra high quality lossless formats – Uncompressed PCM, DTS HD Master Audio and Dolby® TrueHD.
Pictured at the launch of the High Fidelity Pure Audio Industry Group (from left to right): Laurent Villaume – Chairman, QOL; Olivier Robert Murphy – Global Head of New Business at Universal Music Group and Chairman of the High Fidelity Pure Audio Industry Group; Jonathan Jowitt – Evangelist, Dolby Content Solutions, EMEA; Jim Bottoms – Executive Director, High Fidelity Pure Audio Industry Group
Being compatible with any Blu-ray player or PS3 console High Fidelity Pure Audio discs are extremely simple to use, plus most discs offer an option to download the same content in either FLAC lossless or MP3 digital formats, giving consumers the ability to enjoy the music across all their devices and players. According to research undertaken by Universal Music Group’s Insight team last year the proportion of music consumers who said they were fairly, very or extremely likely to buy a high definition format audio product within the following six months was 21% in the UK, 28% in France, 31% in Germany and 32% in the US.
“We are very excited about the potential for High Fidelity Pure Audio, allowing music lovers to experience the work of artists in a way that has never before been possible,” says Olivier Robert Murphy, Global Head of New Business at Universal Music Group and Chairman of the new High Fidelity Pure Audio Industry Group. “Once you hear High Fidelity Pure Audio you can feel the full richness and depth of an artist’s vision. The enthusiastic reaction across the whole industry is very encouraging and we’re looking forward to welcoming many more members to this exciting industry group in the coming months.”
“We welcome the creation of the High Fidelity Pure Audio Industry Group,” said Jonathan Jowitt, Evangelist, Dolby Content Solutions, EMEA. “Dolby has always been passionate about audio quality and this means delivering an ‘authentic’ sound experience for the listener, which is true to the artist’s intent.”
The international roll out of Pure Audio releases will continue over the course of 2013 from various music labels, studios and other content owners around the world.
See more at: http://mesalliance.org/blog/2013/06/21/high-fidelity-pure-audio-industry-group-launches/#sthash.T8L9DtAh.dpuf