Unreal! Nine Volt Audio going out of business!

[eDrummist]

zvenx, let me cut to the chase. My profession is marketing. Over 20 yrs experience, senior roles at three major global brands (Fortune 500 / Global 1000), consulting experience with many others and a strong knowledge of advertising/marketing laws to the point where I drafted the legal online marketing policies at two of those brands where I held sr roles, I'm also a writer and speaker on marketing, so this is my area of expertise (music is my love and once semi-profession). Beyond the ethically troubling practices of Nine Volt Audio's going out of business sales, they're actually a clear cut violation of US advertising law (regulations) deemed "deceptive advertising." From the FTC's statement for small business people (it avoids legalese, so the avg person can understand it) -- and ftr, US' advertising regulations tend to be a lot less strict and have less severe penalties than those of many European countries (e.g., Germany), as a lot of our laws are very heavily influenced by marketing and advertising associations:

"When can a company advertise a "going out of business sale"?
The short answer is: only when a store is going out of business. It would be deceptive to advertise a “going out of business sale” when a store is not going out of business. If a store in your area is advertising what looks to be a bogus “going out of business sale,” contact your state Attorney General’s office."
http://www.business.ftc.gov/documents/b ... l-business

I'm not saying Kyle is a bad guy. I don't know him. What I'm saying for certain is that he has exercised very poor judgement in this matter and my estimation is that he has damaged his business reputation (personally) for doing so and that will likely negatively impact his sales. As a consumer of libraries and someone who empathizes with other consumers of these type of products, I would like to see him adjust his practices and operate more ethically going forward. I hope he is paying attention.

[zvenx]

Appreciate your detailed point of view.
Like I said earlier, I consider Kyle a friend, so I can't be as objective as you most likely.
rsp

[Tricky-Loops]

Did he go out back into business?

[Numanoid]

Wow, this "back to life sale" is even featured on the front page, endorsed by KVR

[CableChannel]

What I'm saying for certain is that he has exercised very poor judgement in this matter and my estimation is that he has damaged his business reputation (personally) for doing so and that will likely negatively impact his sales.

I think the contrary. If wouldn't have done these out of biz sales if they wouldn't draw many dollars into his pockets. And people go more by the name of a company than the name of a dev. So if he opens a similar company with slightly different focus under a new name (@Tricky: which AFAIK is exactly what he did), nobody will think of the preceding history I assume.

[eDrummist]

Appreciate your detailed point of view.
Like I said earlier, I consider Kyle a friend, so I can't be as objective as you most likely.

I can respect that. I'm not making any judgement about your friend's character. I'm only looking at the specific business practices and business judgement, not anyone's heart or motives. My sincere desire was to articulate the problems with his business practices so that Kyle might see this dialogue and consider adjusting his future practices and even consider communicating with his customers and the public about the matter.

Peace.

[eDrummist]

What I'm saying for certain is that he has exercised very poor judgement in this matter and my estimation is that he has damaged his business reputation (personally) for doing so and that will likely negatively impact his sales.

I think the contrary. If wouldn't have done these out of biz sales if they wouldn't draw many dollars into his pockets. And people go more by the name of a company than the name of a dev. So if he opens a similar company with slightly different focus under a new name (@Tricky: which AFAIK is exactly what he did), nobody will think of the preceding history I assume.

I was thinking about how a reputation will follow a business person/dev, especially with a community like KVR where a KVRer is likely to remind you of a dev's past negative history. But yes, you make a good point, CableChannel. Still, I think because he'd be serving a significant portion of the same customers, his past reputation is more likely to follow him/come into play. Whereas, if he went to a completely different market, what you're describing is far more likely. And if you're merely looking at the short term, his techniques will certainly generate greater sales (revenue), but if you look longer term, they're likely to harm his sales (revenue). Additionally, you have to consider that many potential buyers of his current business will now be wondering if he might close that one the same way, discontinue support and greatly devalue their libraries as he did with his last business.

[tcollins]

I certainly don't believe that this was a marketing ploy. Until you have worked on a project for months or years, and had your work uploaded to a file sharing site and downloaded for free by thousands, before you have had the chance to sell nearly enough to make it worth the effort, you have no idea what he went through. It's devastating, and it takes a while to come to terms with. Honest, hard working, creative people do not understand how someone else can intentionally and callously cause them such harm.
I imagine Kyle decided that there are enough good people out there that it's worth another shot. That's it. Not some underhanded ploy.
Blame the pirates, not the man who has the guts to keep on going despite piracy!

[Krakatau]

Blame the pirates, not the man who has the guts to keep on going despite piracy!

+1 ...in the case

AFAIK, didn't nine volt audio reported here in detail how they have been spoiled by piracy ?

[whyterabbyt]

Anyone bothered by this should feel free to pay the full original price for this material....

[Ben H]

nvm

[Numanoid]

Instead of having a go out of business sale:

Which direct/indirect cost is there for a vendor to put the material on indefinite sale, putting the material to be automatically proceed by a service like for example payloadz?

If such services only charge the vendor when sale/download is made, it means no more work for the vendor, s/he will get income from the sales (minus payloadz cut), those interested in buying it will always have access to do that, no time limit.

[e@rs]

I think I'm gonna buy today. Anyone advice me not to?

[CableChannel]

Instead of having a go out of business sale:

Exactly. Going out of business is a big thing that you think about long and well and you do it once in a lifetime. But for some chaps it's like going on vacations, they have no problem doing it a dozen times.

In Germany the carpet dealers do out of biz sales on a regular basis and just open the store again a few weeks later. Accordingly the reputation of this branch is very low.

[Numanoid]

Exactly. Going out of business is a big thing that you think about long and well and you do it once in a lifetime. But for some chaps it's like going on vacations, they have no problem doing

As noted above recurring going-out-of-biz sales, in many areas it is an illegal way to operate, like in Georgia/USA:
http://consumer.georgia.gov/consumer-to ... ness-sales