[MLA] Buddy

[Grimm | Eelco]

Hi everybody,

I didn't have a chance to update all of you about my meeting with Buddy. We had a very relaxed dinner. One of our topics of course was loudness normalization. It turned out that the full technical team is very much behind us to turn normalization on by default. Tom Holman is even very strongly pushing it. My 'Tidal' report, recommending album normalization always, has also found much support, lowering some of the last resistance. The problem however is the higher management (not the highest, but the in between levels). Like with all large companies, these guys fly in from other departments or companies, stay short and have little connection to the actual team on the floor. They are very hard to convince, it just depends on their mood of the day. The fact that AppleMusic Radio is turned on by default was apparantly an unnoticed accident. Buddy told me about some internal stuff - typically large company troubles - that I cannot share with you, but the effect is that Buddy is considering to move to another department. If he does I will make sure to be introduced to his successor.

There was also good news. The fact that Tidal now also will turn normalization on by default has more impact on the management than the internal pressure. Apple has become a follower not a leader. So they will probably be the last to join. Perhaps it is best to focus our efforts on SoundCloud and Google first. At a certain moment the external pressure will become too big for Apple.

Cheers,
Eelco