(04-06-2018, 02:06 AM)Michael Willis Wrote: Wow, that's wild. I never thought I'd see this happen. I know a forum that I could troll with this link to see how quickly the discussion devolves into an argument about the definition of "free".
Kek kek kek...
To be honest, I don't know how I feel about this. While it's great to see "new" free software, something like this coming from a "big" organization (by comparison to all the little guys out there like me) typically means one of several things-
1. It's going to be discontinued or integrated into their existing products.
2. They're just using it to get suckers to join their e-mail list/membership so they can get them to buy whatever else they're selling.
3. They have some other 'angle' on it as to how to make it profitable (typically ads, microtransactions, add-ons).
Not that I'm paranoid, I just don't see how this can be profitable for them yet. Some folks have suggested to me that they may try to sell their VST's or whatever, but I don't know how much of that they can really do.
Garritan, for example, only net MakeMusic $1M in 2012, out of a total of almost $18M split almost evenly between Finale and SmartMusic. Keep in mind GPO was a marginally more worthwhile deal back then (it was still the era of EWQL SO; Spitfire was just starting to get noticed), but still, for a company that sells several $150-ish soundware products (Garritan) versus one which sells a singular $400 piece of software and a few discounted versions (Finale), it's clear which is more profitable! Granted as well that the DAW market is much more competitive than notation, but still- compare something like the excellent but extremely niche Harrison Mixbus to Reaper to ProTools. It's obvious one of those three is making money hand over fist while the other two almost look like "hobbies" by comparison, just because one is vastly more expensive than the other! There is a great deal of reputation with price, and a free DAW, even one with the pedigree of Sonar, is still going to turn the noses of every audio snob from VI-Control to Gearslutz.
In my experience, soundware and plugins are simply not profitable enough to support a company with dozens of employees, unless you have a massive and well regarded catalog you sell for large amounts of money. All the "major" bundles from the larger plugin dealers (e.g. Waves, Izotope, etc.) are about $1,000 in price; all the "major" bundles from the larger soundware dealers (e.g. EW, Spitfire, Berlin series) are about $500-800 in price. If these guys are thinking they can make a company with some little $15 apps or that $100 interface they're planning or whatever the heck they're selling, good luck, but I don't see the profitability in that.
Maybe if they do a subscription, but then again, they need a big catalog (like EW does...). Soundcloud has set the model for "the music social network" these guys want to make and their subscription plan has been a continuous and utter failure to generate profit. Hearing that Soundcloud is about to go down the drain yet again is like hearing that Elon Musk is about to release another insane but awesome product- so frequent it is starting to have little effect.
Sample library developer, composer, and amateur organologist at Versilian Studios.