How do you feel about subscription based plugins?

[starflakeprj]

Nope, this is not whining, it is the dawn of Rentism, the replacement of capitalism.

Thanks to capitalism people have jobs they can go to, earn money, put food on the table, buy things they like..

Not digging subscription based plugins though. It will be very hard to keep up with having around 800-900 plugins (even though many are a part of a bundle) if they were all subscription licenses.

I'm ok with Photoshop being subscription, as well as Microsoft 365 (Office), and I would still use Windows if/when it becomes subscription based in the future. Not plugins though.

[TribeOfHǫfuð]

just dont buy in to it

No worries, I won't, but others will, and one day they will knock at my door and confiscate all that run their licenses without subscription. Their argument will be that it was never my property to begin with and they therefore can withdraw any license ever bought.

[ghettosynth]

I won’t even upgrade Bigwig until they deliver on something that I feel is missing. I don’t care how much I use your plugins. I’m still on Adobe CS6 for the same reasons, unless a client wants to pay for a month of Adobe Cloud when I’m on a project. I think the moment all software developers go subscription, more people will ditch software and turn back to hardware setups. I’ve got enough hardware to never touch a plugin again, so it really makes no difference to me.

Agreed. I think that there is some unintended consequences here where the introduction of a subscription not only triggers pushback on subscriptions, but also pushback on purchases in general. The very process of trying to sell customers on how much money they will save with a subscription triggers thoughts in the consumer's mind of how much money they're spending, not just on subscriptions, but in all forms with respect to plugins and updates. They may conclude not only that they don't need the subscription, but that they also don't need the product.

When you get to the place that you think hardware can replace all of your plugins, it's not far to the realization that, in reality, it's not that complex, you just don't need all of those plugins.

[aaron aardvark]

If I wanted to briefly use an expensive plug-in maybe; I've never done it before. Otherwise, not interested.

[vurt]

just dont buy in to it

No worries, I won't, but others will, and one day they will knock at my door and confiscate all that run their licenses without subscription. Their argument will be that it was never my property to begin with and they therefore can withdraw any license ever bought.

/looks at hardware, says "oh well".


look at it from their point of view.
they make plug ins, theres only so many synths and fx. by which i mean, do we really need 49 compressors each?
no, ideally, a few, that as well as compressing, have a touch of character.

on top of that, computers have kind of reached the point, where more power isnt really needed to run the software at an optimum level and produce great sound. meaning at some point, they have to try and sell you an update, that doesnt actually improve anymore, because theyre already (bugs not withstanding) the best they can be.

yes, there may be new customers, but they will be in dribs and drabs, as new people come of age and start buying stuff.
whereas before, there was a boom! because all the old people wanted cool shit too!

but they still have to put food on their own tables, so now you rent their newer stuff.

its not for me, but progress has already happened.
the other option is "in app purchases"

we are sorry, you need to buy 600 pokecoins to access that control!

[chk071]

How do you feel about all those new members posting controversial questions, and then disappearing into the void again?

Personally, I find it quite shady.

I know how I feel about you. OP posted 2 hours (!) before your comment. Get a life.

And I still was right...

[WatchTheGuitar]

Well it’s obviously like coming up with that ‘difficult second album’. I’m sure nearly a year after his first post, the OP’s second one will be a doozy.

[Shiek927]

Honestly, I'm down with it. It's something to be used in moderation, but if there's a plugin company that makes consistently high-quality plugins that make up a good portion of your mix, then it's worth it.

For me, it's Slate Digital. I'm not held under any binding contract, all their stuff is great, it's very affordable, and they semi-regularly update their catalog with something I'm bound to use. They aren't the only company I have stuff from, but there's never a mix I *don't* use some of their stuff. So I've been a subscriber for years and likely to continue. Plugin Alliance followed with pretty much the same business model.

On the flip side, there's EastWest with a contract that locks you in for a year. So if you uncover that you aren't getting much millage from their stuff and decide to move on, you can't. That's the sort of poor model that shouldn't be a thing and their not-so-good customer service ended up turning me away.

[ghettosynth]

How do you feel about all those new members posting controversial questions, and then disappearing into the void again?

Personally, I find it quite shady.

I know how I feel about you. OP posted 2 hours (!) before your comment. Get a life.

And I still was right...

I think that they're often trying to get content for their shitty blogs driven by SEO. "The top 20 reasons you don't want to go subscription in 2021."

I also think that it's shady. I think that the entire corporate driven internet has become a level of shady that is beyond acceptable.

I'm pushing back on all of it. Everything is getting minimized. KVR is only getting some attention from me right now because my studio is getting its (some time interval goes here) rearrangement and I hate cleaning up the piles. I've learned to turn all of this shit off when I want to get into a groove, literally, and figuratively.

[chk071]

How do you feel about all those new members posting controversial questions, and then disappearing into the void again?

Personally, I find it quite shady.

I know how I feel about you. OP posted 2 hours (!) before your comment. Get a life.

And I still was right...

I think that they're often trying to get content for their shitty blogs driven by SEO. "The top 20 reasons you don't want to go subscription in 2021."

I also think that it's shady. I think that the entire corporate driven internet has become a level of shady that is beyond acceptable.

It's really a bit odd, just like the people with 5 posts asking for participation on marketing research for their student research project or similar.

I mean, I'm absolutely cool with people doing research for their SEO stuff. It's just that maybe they should stop lying blatantly. Just say what you want, and I might even participate, but, not like that.

[CapnLockheed]

In the words of Marcel Marceau: "NO"

[pekbro]

Sometimes its actually a better deal, such as with the full adobe sub where it would take many years of subscription fees to equal the retail value of everything.

For plugins yeah, not reallythe best deal, tho convenient for some.

[chk071]

There is one occasion when it's a better deal: When you make frequent use of the plugins/software.

Would be an absolute shit deal in my case...

Subs in general are for power users IMO.

[WatchTheGuitar]

I’m a developer and there used to be a really good subscription service Microsoft did called Technet and it was great value in its day, gave you access to the latest versions of most of their products for about £200 per 18 months, saved a fortune over buying the individual products back when they needed to be upgraded for a fee most years. So, I’ve definitely seen positive models for subscription. Similarly I think sticking £80 in Ian Amazon’s pocket once a year is pretty good value if you watch much on Prime or want stuff delivered quickly.

So it’s not the model that’s the problem, it’s all down to your perceived value of the specific individual sub.

[ghettosynth]

I’m a developer and there used to be a really good subscription service Microsoft did called Technet and it was great value in its day, gave you access to the latest versions of most of their products for about £200 per 18 months, saved a fortune over buying the individual products back when they needed to be upgraded for a fee most years. So, I’ve definitely seen positive models for subscription. Similarly I think sticking £80 in Ian Amazon’s pocket once a year is pretty good value if you watch much on Prime or want stuff delivered quickly.

So it’s not the model that’s the problem, it’s all down to your perceived value of the specific individual sub.

Of course, but, you have to realize that the Technet model, like education subscription models, is defacto subsidized. Microsoft could not have built up their business ecosystem without the support of the army of VARs that sold them into small and medium businesses. Those VARs needed access to the tools at low cost so the licenses were essentially subsidized by their (the VAR's) customers.