Multi-format downloads are here!
Promo recipients can now download tracks in WAV, AIF, FLAC & MP3 format.
As of today, FATdrop promos support multi-format downloads. That means promos can be downloaded as lossless files (WAV, AIF or FLAC) for DJs and audiophiles that want higher quality — and MP3 for those who like their audio in smaller packages.
Just click the download cog in any FATdrop promo to see the options. If you select MP3, your downloads will all be in that format. If you choose a lossless option (WAV, WAV compat, AIF or FLAC) your downloads will be in that format for any campaigns that have lossless downloads enabled. Note: This is at the discretion of the label or PR company that sent you the promo.
Meta-data (Tags) in lossless files
WAV files downloaded from FATdrop will now contain meta-data, which can be seen in a number of industry-standard programs including Traktor, Rekordbox and Serato.
We tested every conceivable way to add meta-data to WAV files to find the best one to implement. However, none of them were perfect in all software. Notably, both Rekordbox and Serato don’t handle certain characters in the meta-data well. With that in mind, and to improve the experience for people that use either of those, we’ve added a special “WAV compat” mode which will optimise meta-data to be more readable in Rekordbox and Serato.
More Details for Clients
Lossless files and bandwidth
We want DJs and other tastemakers to have the absolute best experience with FATdrop promos, and our bandwidth pricing model, although fair, has the effect of discouraging clients from servicing higher quality files. That was something we wanted to address with this feature release — so we decided to cap all download bandwidth. In other words, it doesn’t cost any more to send a lossless campaign than it does to send an MP3 campaign. This also means clients who regularly service lossless files are likely to see their bandwidth use go down significantly.
Standardising the lossless experience
A lot of the audio uploaded to FATdrop is straight from mastering engineers, and can be in very high quality formats (eg. 24bit 96khz) which results in really big file sizes, incompatibility with some players, and is generally not what DJs are looking for with lossless. With that in mind, we’ve added smart defaults to convert audio to CD quality (16bit 44.1khz) on upload. Of course, for clients that want to send super-high quality tracks, we’ve left the option to disable this processing. Just uncheck the checkbox before uploading if that’s what you want.
As always, we hope you like the new features and welcome any feedback.
