New Sound and Music Design and Production Agency WithFeeling Launches in Dubai

New sound & music design and production agency WithFeeling launches in Dubai. The agency was founded by Chris Atkins and Joe Dickinson who previously led the sound and audio strategy and experiences of Expo 2020 Dubai, including the well-loved theme song 'This is Our Time'. The studio will specialise in sonic branding, original music compositions and sound design while also supporting music rights best practices.

The team is looking to build on the learnings from Expo 2020 Dubai and continue to paint other amazing spaces with great audio and sound, original compositions and exciting sonic identities worldwide. 

WithFeeling believes that the future of brands is through experiences that engage people beyond traditional storytelling and product advertising. It uses sound as a powerful language to tell a story and to design spaces that build memorable connections between people and brands. 

Co-founder and managing director Chris Atkins explains that “through our collective experience and recent work for Expo 2020 and previous audio post-production work with leading brands globally we have become ever more convinced that people respond to brave work that touches hearts, minds and sounds. We want to bring ‘feeling’ into everything we do and we believe it makes a real difference to brands, organisations, events and attractions.”

The WithFeeling seasoned team of sound and experienced professionals is also looking to bring best practices into the complex areas of talent and rights management. 

Co-founder and composer Joe Dickinson said, “The world of music composition, intellectual property and talent is hard to navigate. While creating original music signature for our clients, we also help them ensure that the intellectual property and royalties for the artists and rights owners are managed.”

WithFeeling is also actively supported by a truly diverse professional team across media, advertising and marketing, including Emirati media personality and voice talent Safia Al Shehi; former Expo 2020 senior VP of visitor experience Dr Federica Busa; and creative director and novelist Tom Callaghan. In addition, WithFeeling has entered into a global multi-year agreement with Abu Dhabi-based music publisher PopArabia, and an affiliation with Gulf rights organisation ESMAA to manage and collect royalties due to music creators.

PopArabia and ESMAA founder Spek commented, “Chris and I have known and worked together for over 15 years, most recently on the EXPO project. We look forward to working with the team at WithFeeling to ensure their music copyrights are managed and protected appropriately – while providing music licensing services on projects where needed”

Board member and advisor Dr Federica Busa said, “without sound, music and voices an experience would not be complete. With Chris and Joe, we have come to believe that there is such a thing as the ‘right sound’ for a place or an experience – namely one that relies on real research and understanding of a brand and of a culture. Sound and audio are a whole new dimension of experiences that are still full of opportunities to experiment for both artists and brands.”

For Safia Al Shehi, “It was a proud moment to be the official voice of Expo 2020 Dubai, where I truly felt my voice helped bring a sense of pride and place to the site, so when they asked me to come on board as an advisor at WithFeeling it was a very easy decision to make. I’m excited to help build WithFeeling into a fantastic experiential agency.”