MeldaProduction

secretkillerofnames · Sat Feb 21, 2015 10:21 pm

For music production I think subscription is a bad thing.

Imagine you develop a bunch of perhaps signature effects over time and then due to a dip in financial circumstances can't access them.
By contrast I think subscription makes more sense for Multimedia stuff like Adobe. My institution paid for a yearly subscription on the Adobe cloud since I use Photoshop, Illustrator and Premiere in lesson preparation and Audition sometimes in workshops. Not sure if this will continue though and I doubt I could justify it if I was paying for it.

I think the subscriptions for stuff like Max/MSP and Ohm Studio in an educational context isn't a bad idea. Students don't need to commit too many $$$ to something they may only use for a learning and assessment.

For Melda I think a subscription on the Total Bundle would benefit you as a dev/company if you could advertise to project studios that are more likely to buy a bunch of subs than a more expensive site licence. Is Waves or UAD going this way - I think they would be your competition?

Touch The Universe · Post by **Touch The Universe** » Sat Feb 21, 2015 10:24 pm

^operating phrase would be over a period of time. Once you pay off in full after about a year its yours and you'll never loose access to it. Did you even read this thread?

secretkillerofnames · Sat Feb 21, 2015 10:36 pm

Tjgoa wrote:^operating phrase would be over a period of time. Once you pay off in full after about a year its yours and you'll never loose access to it. Did you even read this thread?

If you're talking to me then no... I did not read the entire thread. I am following up on an email with my opinion.

Paying off over time is not a subscription... it's a "Flex-pay" arrangement or layby. The context of the email and voting don't indicate anything close to your definition.

Damusic1 · Post by **Damusic1** » Sat Feb 21, 2015 10:43 pm

Many of us don't like to have our studio computers connected to the Internet . One reason is because we don't like to have anti virus software installed on our studio computers as it can sometime cause problems.

Tricky-Loops · Post by **Tricky-Loops** » Sat Feb 21, 2015 10:47 pm

Tjgoa wrote:Once you pay off in full after about a year its yours and you'll never loose access to it.

Where did Vojtech state that? The poll is about a fee of max. 199 EUR a year, so you'd need (at least) a few years to pay it off...

[rant]Damn Internet connection with 20 kbps and break-downs every few minutes, I needed 30 minutes to edit my post!!! [/rant]

Ch00rD · Post by **Ch00rD** » Sat Feb 21, 2015 10:58 pm

An important point that I have missed in this discussion so far (perhaps I overlooked it): with a purchase, consumers have the right to resell their license (in the EU, at least), implying an ability to recoup a significant amount of the money they spent on the purchase.

But with a rental, consumers don't have that right. Money spent = money gone.

(NB: A scheme that *only* offers subscriptions can also be framed as an evasion of consumer protection law.)

Touch The Universe · Post by **Touch The Universe** » Sat Feb 21, 2015 11:21 pm

Okay it seems I had the wrong idea

I'm familiar with sonars subscription and mistakenly thought it'd be similar. Please disregard my comments.

hopikiva · Post by **hopikiva** » Sat Feb 21, 2015 11:34 pm

You people make great stuff and it is much loved and respected in the audio world...

please don't screw up your reputation by trying to follow the footsteps of a couple other companies that are not so loved.

you already offer some free tools... that should be enough for people to get a sense of your work and decide if they want to buy in for more.

secretkillerofnames · Sat Feb 21, 2015 11:45 pm

Damusic1 wrote:Many of us don't like to have our studio computers connected to the Internet . One reason is because we don't like to have anti virus software installed on our studio computers as it can sometime cause problems.

This is a good point. For many having a self-contained ecosystem with no wireless intrusions is an important part of the setup. Many guides to system stability for musical application indicate turning wireless internet off as one of the first suggestions.

rrichard63 · Post by **rrichard63** » Sat Feb 21, 2015 11:56 pm

secretkillerofnames wrote:
Damusic1 wrote:Many of us don't like to have our studio computers connected to the Internet . One reason is because we don't like to have anti virus software installed on our studio computers as it can sometime cause problems.
This is a good point. For many having a self-contained ecosystem with no wireless intrusions is an important part of the setup. Many guides to system stability for musical application indicate turning wireless internet off as one of the first suggestions.

My music computer has an internet connection, but I only turn it on when I need it. The rest of the time it's not running.

kelvyn · Post by **kelvyn** » Sun Feb 22, 2015 12:21 am

If more companies adopt a subscription policy then we could potentially be expected to pay hundreds of dollars a month or year.
Truth is there's never been a worse time for musicians with regards to making an income that one can live on comfortably. I only know of a few professional musicians that can count on a regular monthly income... it fluctuates all the time. When I can afford a new plugin or hardware I buy it but there are many months where it's a decision between taking a chance on splurging hoping that next month will be better or not.
Spotify, Samples and loops, Technology , an over abundance of talented hobbyists, clients expecting everything for hardly anything, TV companies unwilling to pay for music up front and using the fact that we receive mechanicals as a reason for not paying up front (Yup! It's true), The decline of record companies, Anyone under the age of twenty that expects to get music from the internet for nothing... all these reasons and more make paying a regular subscription fee very, very daunting.
Sonar
Slate
Avid
Waves... I know! But obsoleting the native versions also seems like another ploy.
Please keep all options open.

ibanguitar · Post by **ibanguitar** » Sun Feb 22, 2015 12:53 am

I'm not a big fan of the subscription model myself. However, if there are no changes to the current model (discounts, free for life updates) I think it would be fine. If the developer can make more money and spend more time and resources making great plugins I look at it as a plus.

rrichard63 · Post by **rrichard63** » Sun Feb 22, 2015 1:08 am

Here's another possible formula, that might be relatively easy to administer. A subscriber who converts to a lifetime license receives credit for a percentage (for example, 50%) of his/her subscription cost to date. What the percentage is would have to be based on some idea of the average length of time people would be subscribers before converting.

stereolost · Post by **stereolost** » Sun Feb 22, 2015 1:09 am

I don't think it will work for a company like Melda.
My point is that your plugins are 1) pretty deep 2) not so fancy-looking

So these plugins take some production experience to truly appreciate, love and tame. Anyone with that experience probably already owns quite some plugins from other vendors, which for him makes part of MTotalBundle replaceable. So he will think "why would i pay monthly for a good bundle, when half of what it does i can do with other plug-ins i already own forever?"

I can expect many beginners jumping to rent Slate's stuff, cause it looks analog:) and the hype is hypey. But not Melda.

I see many people think that it's getting hard for you to maintain these "lifetime" upgrades. Love your stuff, want you happy and would totally understand if you made these updates reasonably paid.

beatdriver408 · Post by **beatdriver408** » Sun Feb 22, 2015 1:43 am

I'm an MTotalBundle owner and I have mixed feelings on a rental model. I think in a nutshell, as long as free-for-lifetime updates keep happening, and that the "owning," is the premium standard, not the renting (like it is with adobe etc) then I'm fine with it. Though I think you might have a bigger market if you offer monthly rental instead of annual terms.

I'm for anything that gets your plugins out there and in the hands of more people. It means more people to collaborate with, a constant revenue stream.

I think you should also consider that you already bend over backwards to work with people and offer upgrades and deals and license transfers that are more generous than the industry norm.

If I were you, given that MPowerSynthesizer and MDrummer are already excluded, you might want to consider developing more things that don't fit in the MTotalBundle area (though since mix/master/tools is covered, I think it might just be instruments) and keeping that separate.

Ultimately I think it's a business decision and you need to do what's best for MeldaProductions.

Have you seen the plugin alliance model? Basically they have an interest-free 12 month program, and there is an online license check each month to ensure your paid, then when you have paid in full they cut a different key and you have a perpetual license.

Also, I prefer your licensing model but I don't hate ilok as many do, I just haven't had any problems with it except for with melodyne.

MeldaProduction

KVR Audio

How about yearly subscription pricing for MTotalBundle?

What do you think?