The "NEW" Plugin Alliance?

[plexuss]

Another bad thing happening right now. Apparently Dirk turned off commenting on the heavily discussed posts in their group.
This is not a good sign for me and does not convince me to trust in their company any longer.

It was pretty amazing to watch. The people in PA's Facebook group are invariably bizarrely evangelical, and this was just 250 comments (not even counting the replies to each comment) of bile before the lock. I've never seen the mood of an FB community turn so completely.

D*rk banned me from it because someone asked about why some people are skeptical about PA. I talked about some of the issues with pricing, the NFR debacle and how I was slagged as a customer in private internal emails which were accidentally sent to me. All true. I didn't rant and rave, just stated the facts. ban!

I have all the PA plugins, except these new ones.

I don't do subscriptions because it doesn't make economical sense to me. And, I will pass on the 6 new ones for now because even at the current discount it works out to $65 each - I'll wait to get them cheaper, or not get them at all. I'm feeling "done" with PA unless there is something I feel will benefit me. But at this point, with all the other devs and products out there, probably not. Enjoy!

[perpetual3]

As bmanic, said, unless you’re a pro, it’s hard to see the value.

As I’ve stated elsewhere, since it’s unlikely that anyone will every use all those tools due to redundancy, the value is illusory. In my opinion, PA is playing nearly everyone, and some people justify their move simply because they can afford it. That’s not what determines a product or services value. Everyone wants to make a profit, but it’s best to let the market and product / service determine the value, rather than using manipulative marketing and pricing schemes.

It’s called “race to the bottom” for a reason too, and in the end mostly large well established companies whose income and revenue are not beholden to steady sales of plugins will survive.

[martinjuenke]

Offloading PA plugins in the second hand market for ever cheaper prices catches up ...

[GNXT]

I haven't seen this point made yet, but the thing I'm curious about is: what will happen with the Plugin Alliance sales in the future? If the constant "$29 plugin" sales stop, it'll be to push people towards subs. From what I recall, Slate used to regularly do deep discounts on the entire product line and cut way back on sales after the subscription bundles began. I could see PA doing the same thing.

That said, I have no interest in subbing and I have no interest in spending $199 on the MC77 either. Their email from a few weeks ago about how the plugin market has changed dramatically and prices were being lowered said all the right words, but there was no real follow through. Price reductions needed to happen across the board, particularly with the Bx stuff, but the only reductions I saw were with the smaller developers (Unfiltered Audio). So at this point, if Plugin Alliance wants my money, the only way they'll get it are with the big sales they've made me accustomed to. I won't be signing up for a sub or paying anywhere near the regular prices for some of their plugins.

We have said this before: we are not stopping to sell perpetual licenses. But we also can’t guarantee that we will be sending out 24H Flash Sale vouchers forever and every day, if that’s just not what we look at as a sustainable business anymore. After all, as a company we also have a responsibility towards 30+ employees, plus 28 partner companies and their employees and families.

- Dirk (FB)

[dermage]

I haven't seen this point made yet, but the thing I'm curious about is: what will happen with the Plugin Alliance sales in the future? If the constant "$29 plugin" sales stop, it'll be to push people towards subs. From what I recall, Slate used to regularly do deep discounts on the entire product line and cut way back on sales after the subscription bundles began. I could see PA doing the same thing.

That said, I have no interest in subbing and I have no interest in spending $199 on the MC77 either. Their email from a few weeks ago about how the plugin market has changed dramatically and prices were being lowered said all the right words, but there was no real follow through. Price reductions needed to happen across the board, particularly with the Bx stuff, but the only reductions I saw were with the smaller developers (Unfiltered Audio). So at this point, if Plugin Alliance wants my money, the only way they'll get it are with the big sales they've made me accustomed to. I won't be signing up for a sub or paying anywhere near the regular prices for some of their plugins.

We have said this before: we are not stopping to sell perpetual licenses. But we also can’t guarantee that we will be sending out 24H Flash Sale vouchers forever and every day, if that’s just not what we look at as a sustainable business anymore. After all, as a company we also have a responsibility towards 30+ employees, plus 28 partner companies and their employees and families.

- Dirk (FB)

What I think is clearly not measured in is, that it's a whole other business model. It's not only having less super flash sales, but cutting the whole intro-sales and heavy hitter vouchers, so that nothing but the subscription makes sense. At least for "normal" buyers as we are.
This "support our families" is a a low stab imo and aims at our emotions.

I'd happily support their older models pre-flash sales for years to come, but not like that. I'm sorry, I have a family, too.

[DJErmac]

Wow !!
As a heavy hitter, owning almost every PA plugin, with a $50 monthly voucher, I can get
- Shadow Hills for $199
- DSM v3 for $199

This is the deal of my life !! I'm going to... pass...

So their new model is : subscribe or pay each plugin the price of the subscription.

I love the NEW Plugin Alliance, where plugins and humor meet and dance together.

[yehboy1]

I just talked to my family about PA’s families. We decided to buy a family subscription. Just doing our part.

[perpetual3]

I haven't seen this point made yet, but the thing I'm curious about is: what will happen with the Plugin Alliance sales in the future? If the constant "$29 plugin" sales stop, it'll be to push people towards subs. From what I recall, Slate used to regularly do deep discounts on the entire product line and cut way back on sales after the subscription bundles began. I could see PA doing the same thing.

That said, I have no interest in subbing and I have no interest in spending $199 on the MC77 either. Their email from a few weeks ago about how the plugin market has changed dramatically and prices were being lowered said all the right words, but there was no real follow through. Price reductions needed to happen across the board, particularly with the Bx stuff, but the only reductions I saw were with the smaller developers (Unfiltered Audio). So at this point, if Plugin Alliance wants my money, the only way they'll get it are with the big sales they've made me accustomed to. I won't be signing up for a sub or paying anywhere near the regular prices for some of their plugins.

We have said this before: we are not stopping to sell perpetual licenses. But we also can’t guarantee that we will be sending out 24H Flash Sale vouchers forever and every day, if that’s just not what we look at as a sustainable business anymore. After all, as a company we also have a responsibility towards 30+ employees, plus 28 partner companies and their employees and families.

- Dirk (FB)

This simply means:

The plugin market is not a sustainable business for a 30+ employee company and its 28 partner companies.

PA “raced to the bottom” and now they’re trying to climb their way back to the top. But that’s not how it works. You can increase the value in a product or service after its been devalued.

Sorry, Dirk, but appealing to emotions by leveraging the “needs” of your employees doesn’t justify your piss poor business acumen.

PA employees: it’s time to at least consider an exit from an inevitably failing business. The number one cost of a business is salaries. Your jobs will be cut in order to reduce costs. It’s simple math to calculate how many annual subscriptions per year must be made and maintained in order to generate a middle class salary. This is not considering non-employment overhead.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

We have said this before: we are not stopping to sell perpetual licenses. But we also can’t guarantee that we will be sending out 24H Flash Sale vouchers forever and every day, if that’s just not what we look at as a sustainable business anymore. After all, as a company we also have a responsibility towards 30+ employees, plus 28 partner companies and their employees and families.

- Dirk (FB)

Thanks for reposting that GNXT. My response to Dirk's post would be: the reason you had to do so many flash sales in the first place because the market is saturated and there are many products out there at equal or better quality at lower prices. The root cause problem-solving solution to that would be to offer a better value at regular prices, with fewer deep discount sales. For example: if the MC-77 sold for $99 regular price, it's still at the "premium" end of the spectrum. If I could pick it up for $99 minus a $25 voucher, that's a purchase I'd make and $75 out of my wallet and into Plugin Alliance's coffers. Instead, they'll be getting $0 from me for the foreseeable future. The market has changed. People expect higher quality at lower price points. Not $249-$349 plugins.

The subscription may work out great for them [seems like a rocky start, but complaining on the internet doesn't always reflect reality], but it's not a solution to the problem of why they had to do Flash Sales so regularly.

[Von Naphoven]

I'm glad I picked the cream of the crop during the last two rounds of mega sales if the dramatic flash sales are indeed a thing of the past. Considering I already own pretty much all the PA plugins I'm interested in, spending extra money on a subscription for stuff that never tempted me in the first place and which I will most likely never use seems foolish. Hopefully there'll still be good discounts every once in a while to hoover up some of the few interesting new plugins like LION.

[exmatproton]

Wow !!
As a heavy hitter, owning almost every PA plugin, with a $50 monthly voucher, I can get
- Shadow Hills for $199
- DSM v3 for $199

This is the deal of my life !! I'm going to... pass...

So their new model is : subscribe or pay each plugin the price of the subscription.

I love the NEW Plugin Alliance, where plugins and humor meet and dance together.

This is actually a huge step in the wrong direction if you ask me...

Rent-to-own is (imho) the best way to "get" plugins AND provide dev's with a "long-time" income. Too bad they removed PPP

[Daimonicon]

So, their new business model seems to be: completely overprice individual plugins, so that their subscription bundle which covers all of the plugins appears to be inexpensive?

Honestly, who needs +100 plugins anyway? I find it rather inefficient to have too many options available. Most productive workflows center around having a limited number of carefully chosen tools at hand that one knows in and out.

We had the same thoughts. And Dirk talkes about lowered prices. So $199 for the new compressor MC77 is a low price? What a joke. The better I got at mixing the less plugins I started to use. If I would buy a plugin today it would becuase it did something that what I already have don't do. I don't need another compressor. I've countless seen pro's using Waves SSL channelstrip. A plugin many here on kvr complain is outdated and there are better. Sure. But can they mix as good as the pro's do?

[perpetual3]

So, their new business model seems to be: completely overprice individual plugins, so that their subscription bundle which covers all of the plugins appears to be inexpensive?

Honestly, who needs +100 plugins anyway? I find it rather inefficient to have too many options available. Most productive workflows center around having a limited number of carefully chosen tools at hand that one knows in and out.

We had the same thoughts. And Dirk talkes about lowered prices. So $199 for the new compressor MC77 is a low price? What a joke. The better I got at mixing the less plugins I started to use. If I would buy a plugin today it would becuase it did something that what I already have don't do. I don't need another compressor. I've countless seen pro's using Waves SSL channelstrip. A plugin many here on kvr complain is outdated and there are better. Sure. But can they mix as good as the pro's do?

It’s all novelty and hype. Just like people ponying up the cash for a new iPhone of Galaxy or whatever because there is more screen or the terrible cell phone camera is a little less terrible. (If you really need a new phone or whatever, then by all means get the best you can afford, but that’s different than spending money on hype).

[dermage]

Really, that makes me think: If he'd told this story before everything. If he had been open about their problems. That would have justified upping the prices slightly without doing flash sales.

BUT: doing this now 2 weeks after 2 mega sales with super low prices and talking about the great prices they do etc, and then suddenly it's not sustainable anymore 2 weeks after that and they have to think of their families when continuing like that....

Come on!

[Unaspected]

Rent to own does indeed make so much more sense. Allow for the whole bundle and then give a voucher for spending on a product of your choice at every $50. That way you're either short or over most of the time and locked in but also getting some value for money...

Or you would be if the plugins or subscription were fairly priced. Indeed, with rent to own, there should be options for different pay grades each month so that you can get your voucher sooner or later; the less you pay the higher the voucher value and longer you have to wait.

This marketing strategy could have been formulated to actually appeal to people rather than turning everyone off.

Incentive < Word of the day. PA should look up the meaning.