Why are most of these companies European?

[telecode]

I don't know if this has already been discussed, but does anyone know if there are any market analysis papers explaining why does it seem that most of the companies in the music software business are European and usually based out of Germany, France, Sweden? Is there a relationship between government incentives and funding in those countries towards companies what are in that sort of entrepreneurial sector?

I know here in Canada, the old "Canada is built by miners and lumberjacks" pretty much stands true. Most of the government initiatives are earmarked towards companies that are mainly in the business of exploiting natural resources.

[chk071]

Well... we gotta be good at something, don't we?

But, good question. I always wondered why many audio software companies come from Germany, for example. It's a bit strange considering that many of the general software companies come from the U.S.

[mgw38]

That is a very interesting question. I would search the answer in the history of computer art and electronic music. It is probably a combination of talent that grew out of the european demoscene mixed with a strong affinity to electronic music. I doubt it has anything to do with governmental incentives.

[telecode]

That is a very interesting question. I would search the answer in the history of computer art and electronic music. It is probably a combination of talent that grew out of the european demoscene mixed with a strong affinity to electronic music. I doubt it has anything to do with governmental incentives.

The link could be between the humanities-centic tertiary education sector and the type of local talent it produces in those countries. I can't really see the Tata consulting guys in India who focus on cheap labor in automated business processes spending ridiculous amounts of time and energy comping up with a new creative ways to create a software version of a 70s compressor or synth. They would think its a big old waste of time.

[Aloysius]

Maybe they're just better at it. Not everything is a conspiracy.

[chk071]

Considering how many of the devs come to actual coding (some of them self taught), I doubt that you can easily explain it with educational, or socialized reasons.

[mgw38]

As an educator who spent many years teaching in Europe I agree. This has nothing to do with the educational system. It is deeply embedded within the youth culture.

[e-crooner]

At the same time Europe has no major hardware synth makers. They are all Japanese and US-American.

Traditionally programming is not exactly a strength of Europeans, which explains why there are few big software companies from Europe, except for SAP. But there are more and more software companies now as more and more people learn how to program.

Music software is a niche compared to other software. Not sure why Europeans like that niche so much. There are also Dutch companies (for instance LennarDigital (Sylenth1), Toneboosters), even Belgian ones (MuTools). Spire is from Russia.

There is a (closed) thread on the lack of Chinese music software companies. Not sure what music young Chinese people listen to.
China's software industry is growing rapidly, but there is no synth tradition in China. So, people might simply lack the combination of programming and tech/physics know-how.

[chk071]

At the same time Europe has no major hardware synth makers. They are all Japanese and US-American.

Waldorf. Ok, you can argue about "major".

[mladi]

Access
Behringer
Doepfer
Hartmann
PPG
Quasimidi

[.jon]

Novation
Arturia
Elektron
Dreadbox
Clavia
Alesis
Vermona
EMS

[VladK]

I guess this is a niche market too small to attact big players able to not just offer a product but to build an ecosystem around it. Such big names as Adobe who might enter this market easily if they saw enough profit, prefer to concentrate on web, video, and marketing, and just tweak Audition for their video production needs. And American startups see much bigger chances in finances, games, VR, etc.
Apple has (German-born) Logic Pro, but is not really interested in anything but bigger sales of their hardware IMO.
Somehow the best Western music styles were always born in Europe (and South America but they have no noticeable software industry unfortunately) as well. Sorry the rap, hip-hop, and other music-imitation lovers who read this, no offence intended!

[Daimonicon]

I don't know if this has already been discussed, but does anyone know if there are any market analysis papers explaining why does it seem that most of the companies in the music software business are European and usually based out of Germany, France, Sweden? Is there a relationship between government incentives and funding in those countries towards companies what are in that sort of entrepreneurial sector?

I know here in Canada, the old "Canada is built by miners and lumberjacks" pretty much stands true. Most of the government initiatives are earmarked towards companies that are mainly in the business of exploiting natural resources.

Well one reason is that home computers and internet spread very fast here in Sweden and ppl embraced and still embrace new tech. Both internet and cellphones had more users, seen to population, than in other countries when both became popular. And there are many artists and bands from here too. Why? The same reason is it's cold here most of the year and dark. So ppl stay inside and being creative.

[lotus2035]

I think a huge catalyst was the electronic music scene in Europe from the early 90s onwards. This new wave of electronic music (Rave, Trance, Drum&Bass etc) not only created a huge underground scene but also seeped into and influenced mainstream European pop music too (crap was everywhere) and no doubt had a lasting impact on the popularity of music production software in the European market. I suspect many of today's European devs grew up in that era and were influenced by it too.
It was a good ten years or more before the US started to be influenced by this new wave of electronica and it was still mainly rock oriented right up to the early 2000s, and even then it was hip hop (sampler based) that took off not dance music.
Personally, I heard casual mention of Cubase being used for Dance music production in my native Ireland way back in 1995 and I wasn't even into all that at the time.

[vurt]

because they where founded in europe