Why are most of these companies European?

[Obsolete462444]

The simple reason is that Europeans have invented music and culture in general.

I hope this is a joke? To be fair: Europeans have formalised music. Church music played a big role here. But regarding invention: not even the guitar is really European.

Back to topic: I think there are certain infrastructure and societal requirements to starting a music tech company and for the business being successfull and countries like Germany (especially Berlin, which is today an audio tech hub) met many of those implicit requirements.

It was easy to setup shop in Berlin in the 1990s and it was an attractive city for exactly the kind of person that would venture into audio software: cheap rents, huge electronic music scene, lots of traditional and alternative cultural institutions, free higher education ...

You need a good educational level (especially regardings maths, physics and science in general) to 'produce' people who could venture into that highly sophisticated field, which Germany has (Sweden probably even more so).

Due to the German welfare system one could also venture into unusual fields of work without risking economic survival (in case it doesn't work out, you could still rely on the support of the welfare system - which I doubt would be possible in the US, the UK or any underdeveloped country). Also, there are lots of German state and EU funds that startups can benefit from in their initial phase.

So these factors brought people to Berlin and gave them an incentive to start a music software venture, which worked out quite well for some of them (Ableton, Native Instruments, Bitwig for example).

[telecode]

It was easy to setup shop in Berlin in the 1990s and it was an attractive city for exactly the kind of person that would venture into audio software: cheap rents, huge electronic music scene, lots of traditional and alternative cultural institutions, free higher education ...

This I didn't know. The cheap rents reminds me of Montrel music scene. Lots of arts and arts move and cluster to Montreal because it was much cheaper to live compared to other major cities like Toronto or Vancouver. I don't think that's the case these days anymore.

[Obsolete462444]

This I didn't know. The cheap rents reminds me of Montrel music scene. Lots of arts and arts move and cluster to Montreal because it was much cheaper to live compared to other major cities like Toronto or Vancouver. I don't think that's the case these days anymore.

Yes, here in Berlin there has also been a massive change going on over the cause of the years. Basically, the 1990s decade was very anarchistic, lots of unregulated and abandonned spaces in former East Berlin, ex-capital of the socialist GDR.

As you may know, West German corporate elite had absorbed all the best pieces of the socialist economy and left the rest to rot away, so many former socialist industrial mega facilities, but also former East German and Soviet Red Army barracks suddenly became abandonned and playgrounds for the underground and alternative scene. Punks, anarchists, adventurers and 'misfits' from West Berlin and the rest of West Germany (and other countries) came over and started squatting run down buildings.

So that was the first decade. Then in the 2000s more and more corporate institutions but also the federal government ministries and so on started relocating from West German cities like Bonn, Cologne, Hamburg and Munich to Berlin. Not yet completely colonized by the corporate world, Berlin remained a point of attraction for people with alternative lifestyles and interests.

After the 2010s many of the former alternative and subcultural institutions started disappearing and whole districts of Berlin that were once known for their underground music scene were becoming boring places full of hip startup offices and upper middle class snobs who moved to Berlin for a formal career in some federal ministry or big German corporation. These people did not accept the existing underground music scene and a lot of renown institutions of subculture (clubs and other venues) had to close down after some newcomer upper middleclass neighbor took legal action because of "disturbance of peace" (basically lots of highend apartment blocks were built right next into the semi-run down neighborhoods with their thriving subcultural scene and once established these upper middleclass people who moved in from rural, prosperous, orderly small town Germany were unpleasantly surprised to find a thriving subculture right at their doorsteps).

Long story, short: today Berlin has lost some of it's unique characteristics that were conducive to the initial emergence of an early music software development scene from the grassroots. Now the hub is well established, but if you were trying to found a company like Ableton today, you would find yourself in a much more socially competitive environment than say 20 years ago, where you could just code some things in your cheap run down flat and receive welfare checks, until you developed something that could be put into the marketplace and sold (I guess that quite a few now famous developers / companies started this way). Nowadays, an audio programmer nerd who wants to establish himself in Berlin would have to compete with 50 co-applicants just over one apartment for example.

[telecode]

Nowadays, an audio programmer nerd who wants to establish himself in Berlin would have to compete with 50 co-applicants just over one apartment for example.

The entire Western world is a different place. Toronto in the late 80s/early 90s was in depth of recession and cheap run down empty factory buildings was where the art/music crowd lived. The rent was cheap and lots of space to setup amps or after hours parties and blast away music. Today they all turned into cheaply made extremely expensive apartment buildings or houses. I think heard it's $2K per month to rent a tiny apartment or $1M to buy. I don't know how young people can afford to live in a city anymore. Let alone raise a family.


https://pvhs.info/pdlhcd/

[Obsolete462444]

The entire Western world is a different place. Toronto in the late 80s/early 90s was in depth of recession and cheap run down empty factory buildings was where the art/music crowd lived. The rent was cheap and lots of space to setup amps or after hours parties and blast away music. Today they all turned into cheaply made extremely expensive apartment buildings or houses. I think heard it's $2K per month to rent a tiny apartment or $1M to buy. I don't know how young people can afford to live in a city anymore. Let alone raise a family.


https://pvhs.info/pdlhcd/

Yeah, this really seems to be a global phenomenon! This is rooted in the emergence of global financial capitalism / neoliberalism which started under Reagan and Thatcher. Housing, which was once viewed as a basic necessity that has to be provided by the state has turned into a commodity and object of financial speculation for hedgefonds. For example: I don't even know who owns the apartment I rent. It's some anonymous society that sits in Luxembourg. I believe that the people today have to lobby for the basic public infrastructure to remain in the public hand: electricity, water supply and ideally housing.

[Erisian]

Europe is awesome - something the English, in their conservative fuzzy-mindedness, failed to see.

[e-crooner]

The entire Western world is a different place. Toronto in the late 80s/early 90s was in depth of recession and cheap run down empty factory buildings was where the art/music crowd lived. The rent was cheap and lots of space to setup amps or after hours parties and blast away music. Today they all turned into cheaply made extremely expensive apartment buildings or houses. I think heard it's $2K per month to rent a tiny apartment or $1M to buy. I don't know how young people can afford to live in a city anymore. Let alone raise a family.


https://pvhs.info/pdlhcd/

Yeah, this really seems to be a global phenomenon! This is rooted in the emergence of global financial capitalism / neoliberalism which started under Reagan and Thatcher. Housing, which was once viewed as a basic necessity that has to be provided by the state has turned into a commodity and object of financial speculation for hedgefonds. For example: I don't even know who owns the apartment I rent. It's some anonymous society that sits in Luxembourg. I believe that the people today have to lobby for the basic public infrastructure to remain in the public hand: electricity, water supply and ideally housing.

Yes. Here the right to housing is even in the constitution, but still, there is not enough housing. And some of the social housing projects are infiltrated by a sort of mafia.
At least Covid-19 has ended the real estate bubble and speculation for the time being. It has also slashed tourism, which will also drive prices down

[Obsolete462444]

At least Covid-19 has ended the real estate bubble and speculation for the time being. It has also slashed tourism, which will also drive prices down

I'm not sure about that. While I actually enjoyed the recent weeks without tourists (I live in the city center of Berlin which usually is crowded with tourists during this time of the year), I believe that everything might be back to 'normal' soon. Same with real estate speculation - I (unfortunately) don't see an end, just a pause. I'm rather afraid that the government might cut back on social spending and welfare which they will justify with the reduced tax income due to the Covid-19 measures that were taken. At some point I might have to move to Sweden, they seem to be the only reasonable people left in Europe.

[e-crooner]

If you think tourism in Berlin was bad, you should have seen Barcelona or Lisbon, it was absurd, like an invasion of strangers

[telecode]

The entire Western world is a different place. Toronto in the late 80s/early 90s was in depth of recession and cheap run down empty factory buildings was where the art/music crowd lived. The rent was cheap and lots of space to setup amps or after hours parties and blast away music. Today they all turned into cheaply made extremely expensive apartment buildings or houses. I think heard it's $2K per month to rent a tiny apartment or $1M to buy. I don't know how young people can afford to live in a city anymore. Let alone raise a family.


https://pvhs.info/pdlhcd/

Yeah, this really seems to be a global phenomenon! This is rooted in the emergence of global financial capitalism / neoliberalism which started under Reagan and Thatcher. Housing, which was once viewed as a basic necessity that has to be provided by the state has turned into a commodity and object of financial speculation for hedgefonds. For example: I don't even know who owns the apartment I rent. It's some anonymous society that sits in Luxembourg. I believe that the people today have to lobby for the basic public infrastructure to remain in the public hand: electricity, water supply and ideally housing.

Yes. Here the right to housing is even in the constitution, but still, there is not enough housing. And some of the social housing projects are infiltrated by a sort of mafia.
At least Covid-19 has ended the real estate bubble and speculation for the time being. It has also slashed tourism, which will also drive prices down

there is a very strong chance covid is going to change a lot of things. not covid the virus itself, but the lockdown. up until now, the system has been running smoothly with banks keeping interest rates artificially low, no one has savings, everyone putting all equity in their house and real estate just going up endlessly. banks didn't give a shit how much they lent or how high you willing to pay for a real estate. the banks stance was, if you miss a few payments, they take your house and you pretty much lose everything. they never expected a government can lock everything down and they would have to ride it out just like regular joe blow.

it going to be much harder to get a loan, and you are going have to have X months amount of savings in case a lock down happens again and you stop getting paid and banks can't make a move on you. the banks will make sure they can keep taking their payments from you in case of a lockdown again in future. this will affect a lot of things. just my guess.

[mgw38]

Europe is awesome - something the English, in their conservative fuzzy-mindedness, failed to see.

Depends where you are. There are a few parts that are awesome. But I can also point to to more than enough places that suck the very big one.

[e-crooner]

Here they made emergency laws that make it impossible for banks to take homes away from people and for landlords to kick out tenants. Since poverty will likely increase for months to come, I suppose the duration of those laws will be extended till the end of the year or longer.

[e-crooner]

Europe is awesome - something the English, in their conservative fuzzy-mindedness, failed to see.

Depends where you are. There are a few parts that are awesome. But I can also point to to more than enough places that suck the very big one.

What was embarrassing in Europe was the lack of solidarity in the initial phase of the pandemic, and some countries like the Netherlands and Germany still only care about themselves now.

[telecode]

Here they made emergency laws that make it impossible for banks to take homes away from people and for landlords to kick out tenants. Since poverty will likely increase for months to come, I suppose the duration of those laws will be extended till the end of the year or longer.

yeah, here they have taken very similar measures. what is going to happen is banks and other institutions are going to protect themselves from this happening to them again. but i also believe people will also prepare themselves from this happening to them again.

[BertKoor]

Nobody thought of it before, it's so simple...

It's because of MIDI.
MIDI is transported over 5-pin DIN plugs.
DIN is abbreviation of Deutsche Industrie Norme.
VST by Steinberg thus falls under Deutsche Industry Norme, not under jurisdiction of ANSI (American National Standards Institute)
No wonder American companies rather don't touch it...