Well, to be fair: the people who vote for Best Immersive Album are a select group of peer-nominated engineers who know whereof they speak, not the full Academy--and they wouldn't have listened to any of the nominees on an Amazon Echo. (Reportedly they get together and listen to all of them in the same room, on the same system.) I mean, yeah: it sucks that the
public can't hear the winner as Michael Romanowski intended for it to be heard--yet. But you gotta hope it'll show up in Atmos on Apple Music eventually, as
most other Sony 360 content has.
From the Grammy
Rules and Guidelines:
ELIGIBILITY PERIOD
Recordings must be available to the public as stand-alone, audio-only purchases or streams, (
exceptions: opera,
immersive audio album, and music video/music film) beginning on any date within the eligibility year to be GRAMMY-eligible.
STREAMING REQUIREMENTS FOR GRAMMY ENTRIES
Academy members and media companies are required to provide several eligible streaming links 16 for each entry they make
with the exception of a few in Craft: Immersive Audio Album, Recording Package, Boxed/Special Limited Edition, Album Notes, and Historical Album.
CRAFT NOMINATING COMMITTEE GUIDELINES
Craft categories recognize excellence in highly specialized crafts. Craft Committee members must be Voting Members of the Academy in the membership class which corresponds to the Craft they are being submitted to judge. Each must fill out a Documentation Form listing six tracks or albums for which they have the nomination-eligible credit corresponding to the Craft they are being submitted to judge. The credits must be for recordings released in the previous five years. The form remains on file at the National Office of the Recording Academy and is valid for five years.
Populating the Craft Committees. Each Chapter’s Executive Director works in concert with the Chapter Nominating Committee and Chapter President to develop a slate of recommendations. These recommendations are narrowed, if necessary, by the President/CEO and National Chair in consultation with the Chief Awards Officer. The final slate is submitted to the National Board of Trustees for ratification.
Furthermore, craft committee members are solicited for their recommendations of appropriate committee members, and no person should serve for more than five consecutive years without a break. If deemed necessary to the process, a committee member selected to chair may serve up to an additional three consecutive years. Nominations in Craft categories are determined by National, Regional, or Chapter Craft Committees as described below.
Immersive Audio Album: Nominations in the Best Immersive Audio Album category are selected by a committee of Voting Members. To be eligible to serve on this committee, one must be a Voting Member of the Academy, in good dues standing, and must meet certain qualifications in the Engineering or Producing Fields and be approved by the Trustees. The committee consists of 20–25 members. They review all Immersive Audio Album entries in their meeting and vote for the final five nominees in the category.
BEST IMMERSIVE AUDIO ALBUM
FOR ALBUMS VOCAL OR INSTRUMENTAL ALL GENRES SCREENING CRITERIA
This category recognizes excellence in multichannel immersive audio recordings. Eligible recordings must be commercially released for sale or streaming on a consumer format/configuration (DVD-Video, DVD-Audio, SACD, Blu-Ray, Atmos, Auro-3D, immersive download, etc.) that provides an original immersive mix (not electronically re-purposed) of four or more channels. On releases that include multiple distinct mixes, entrants will be prompted to choose which immersive mix they are entering for GRAMMY consideration. Only one mix per album will be eligible.
Like a gorilla can play a saxophone.
