Minimal Audio Current…subscription

[Dirtgrain]

Personal attacks though - jeez, the entire world is getting more angry and entitled.

Entitled? Maybe people are getting angry because they've been screwed by inflation over the last few years. Maybe more and more people are struggling financially as a result. Maybe the subscription model trend is just another way to trick consumers into spending more than they can afford.

I get that personal attacks are unwarranted against a small business in the shadows of corporations. But to exclaim, "angry" and "entitled" in a dismissive way is tone deaf. Rent is too damn high.

[liquidsound]

How can they do the to Dash, in particular, is inconceivable

[interzone2006]

I've already posted my thoughts today in multiple other places, but I find three things about the current situation really troubling:

1) Complete inability (or unwillingness) to learn from Waves and Bitwig. Most customers do not want subscription models for plugins with no alternative to actually buy and own it. If this reaction is a surprise, it reflects a major problem with how the company is managed.

2) Doubling down on the subscription model in the face of a very large amount of vocal opposition from their target audience. Telling us to try it, you'll like it, after being told multiple times sub only is a deal breaker is completely tone deaf. It's pretty clear based on the response, that this subscription model for Current was the master plan, and absolutely no consideration was given to "what are we going to do if customers hate the sub idea?" The code for the plugin should have been developed in a manner that allowed easily disconnecting it from the Stream as a back up plan.

3) Neglecting to mention to a single YouTube reviewer that it is subscription only ahead of time. Since you can actually own the rest of their catalog, it would definitely not be obvious to reviewers that it was going to be subscription only.

I wish those monitoring these outlets from Minimal would get the message now instead of being forced into it later when their financials collapse on a product they spent 2 years developing. This very moment is the time for damage control to avoid getting hit in the wallet any more than they already are going to be versus the inevitable mea culpa and begging that is going to be coming later.

I don't have any ill will towards them but am incredibly frustrated with the current situation. I would have seriously considered buying the product if I had been able to. Thankfully, there are a ton of great alternatives that you can actually still own.

[seangm]

Id much rather pay $15 a month for all the latest movies I like, rather than $30 ea. just to avoid the subscription. Say what you like, but its exactly the same thing.

Not "exactly the same" at all. You're talking about a sub that gives you "all the latest movies", which makes sense in that case because you have access to many different movies for one price. What doesn't make sense is a sub that gives you access to one synth. So not comparable at all. Also, you have a choice whether you want to pay for the sub with all the movies or buy them individually. This MA situation is a forced subscription model for this synth, no choice to buy only rent.

[pekbro]

Well it's more like games then, I have game services as well, a great deal imo. You can buy them tho, thats true.

Anyway, im just trolling you guys, I don't care at all. I have 2 Minimal Audio plugins, the free one
and the one kindly offered to Bitwig users for free. I wouldn't mind rift or whatever it is, but I wont
pay what they have wanted for it so far, and that's it. As for Current, yea no (but not because of the sub)...

[JoeCat]

Personal attacks though - jeez, the entire world is getting more angry and entitled.

Entitled? Maybe people are getting angry because they've been screwed by inflation over the last few years. Maybe more and more people are struggling financially as a result. Maybe the subscription model trend is just another way to trick consumers into spending more than they can afford.

I get that personal attacks are unwarranted against a small business in the shadows of corporations. But to exclaim, "angry" and "entitled" in a dismissive way is tone deaf. Rent is too damn high.

I agree people have a right to be angry about inflation, rent, etc. - I'm in that boat and have worked for small businesses almost my entire career, as a developer.

IMHO it's not tone deaf or dismissive to criticize people for personal attacks on a virtual instrument company because they're not getting what they want. I attribute it to a sense of entitlement and stand by that. It's not the same as criticizing the corporations that are ripping you off for the goods and services you require to live on.

[rj0]

Looks interesting, but subscription? Absolutely, positively no! Full stop.

If this is what Minimal Audio has been targeting to become, per their own statements, I'm terribly sorry for them.

[SNBeatz]

I expect it's getting harder and harder for small companies to make a go financially in the plugin world these days, with most folks like myself not wanting to spend more than $29 on anything. I predict one day only the big money developers will be left and they will all be subscription based. Small devs will become extinct and you'll only have In Music, Waves and Music Tribe to choose from. Thats what attitudes like this will bring. Subs are not bad if they deliver what you want, I have an like a ton of them. They are just not in the music industry. Id much rather pay $15 a month for all the latest movies I like, rather than $30 ea. just to avoid the subscription. Say what you like, but its exactly the same thing.

Listen, I hate the “free” market just as much or more than anyone, but here’s some quick math:

45760/12 = ~3813
3813/30 = ~127

That’s 127 plugin sales a month at $30 to make the supposed median wage in the United States. If you have more plugins than just one selling at $30, then your sale amount changes drastically. So if you’re making quality products that actually sell, and you’re selling them for around that price or even higher, you’re already doing better than 50% of income earners in the US, and that’s assuming you’re only meeting the bare minimum requirements to hit the MEDIAN wage.

A subscription is solely in place to create a long term income stream with, usually, very little added benefit to the consumer

[Echoes in the Attic]

I expect it's getting harder and harder for small companies to make a go financially in the plugin world these days, with most folks like myself not wanting to spend more than $29 on anything. I predict one day only the big money developers will be left and they will all be subscription based. Small devs will become extinct and you'll only have In Music, Waves and Music Tribe to choose from. Thats what attitudes like this will bring. Subs are not bad if they deliver what you want, I have an like a ton of them. They are just not in the music industry. Id much rather pay $15 a month for all the latest movies I like, rather than $30 ea. just to avoid the subscription. Say what you like, but its exactly the same thing.

Listen, I hate the “free” market just as much or more than anyone, but here’s some quick math:

45760/12 = ~3813
3813/30 = ~127

That’s 127 plugin sales a month at $30 to make the supposed median wage in the United States. If you have more plugins than just one selling at $30, then your sale amount changes drastically. So if you’re making quality products that actually sell, and you’re selling them for around that price or even higher, you’re already doing better than 50% of income earners in the US, and that’s assuming you’re only meeting the bare minimum requirements to hit the MEDIAN wage.

A subscription is solely in place to create a long term income stream with, usually, very little added benefit to the consumer

If only the government was making our plugins. Would be so much cheaper than a subscription.

Stupid free market making me decide whether to give money to Minimal Audio or not.

[pekbro]

Well i would wager that if you break it down per man hour, they are not making very much at all. I would wonder also for how many months they could have enough sales to even meet the median. Probably not as much as you think.

Nyway, whatever. As I said, I was mostly just trolling...

[Liquid lino]

Has anyone remembered that this month Falcon 3 is likely to drop (fingers crossed). Free upgrades for life so far, outright purchase model, and a matching sub model if so desired - with literally hundreds of Gb of content. UVI stand as an example of getting the commercial model right.

[SNBeatz]

I expect it's getting harder and harder for small companies to make a go financially in the plugin world these days, with most folks like myself not wanting to spend more than $29 on anything. I predict one day only the big money developers will be left and they will all be subscription based. Small devs will become extinct and you'll only have In Music, Waves and Music Tribe to choose from. Thats what attitudes like this will bring. Subs are not bad if they deliver what you want, I have an like a ton of them. They are just not in the music industry. Id much rather pay $15 a month for all the latest movies I like, rather than $30 ea. just to avoid the subscription. Say what you like, but its exactly the same thing.

Listen, I hate the “free” market just as much or more than anyone, but here’s some quick math:

45760/12 = ~3813
3813/30 = ~127

That’s 127 plugin sales a month at $30 to make the supposed median wage in the United States. If you have more plugins than just one selling at $30, then your sale amount changes drastically. So if you’re making quality products that actually sell, and you’re selling them for around that price or even higher, you’re already doing better than 50% of income earners in the US, and that’s assuming you’re only meeting the bare minimum requirements to hit the MEDIAN wage.

A subscription is solely in place to create a long term income stream with, usually, very little added benefit to the consumer

If only the government was making our plugins. Would be so much cheaper than a subscription.

Stupid free market making me decide whether to give money to Minimal Audio or not.

That was a weird jump to make considering you’re drawing it from the first sentence of my reply which was really just a tossaway joke. If you read the rest of my comment you would see what I was actually getting at. I said nothing about nationalizing plugins lmao, sorry if I struck a nerve!

[Bako]

it looks like a quality synth but not groundbreaking . i will try it but never will or would pay insane amount of money for another take on Serum , Vital .

[AstralExistence]

lol contentplatform locked to platform no way. man i hate these cloud based content synths. you constantly realize there is another sound set you know you want, and know you need to shell out more money to have it. gonna say no to hell no.

[rj0]

What most developers know is that creating new products is more profitable than updating older products, and it gets harder and harder to majorly update older products. After a year or two most products reach maturity and just sit there, which is typically acceptable for most lifetime license purchasers, but not so much if you've paid many months of rent, and need to keep paying rent to use a product that is no longer evolving.

Also, it seems that the market has got to the point where many dealers are throwing in free content with every purchase, or selling large bundles of content at near give-away prices. I just don't see the market or rationale for the content side either.