Why subscriptions is a good thing
For the past year or so, Propellerhead has gone in a direction that has supposedly split it’s user base in half ever since these additions were just wild rumors or top-of-the-wishlist banter on different forums around the Internet. VST support and some implementation of a subscription service has both been frequently requested features for quite some time. Now that we as users got both of those features, the debates intensifies. I want to specifically take a look at the newly introduced subscription model and address some issues about it, namely the users that argues against it and what Propellerhead need to do to make it just perfect.
On-Demand content is what we want
There’s no denying the trend that is on-demand content. Consumers move away from the traditional Flow-TV and go with Netflix and HBO subscriptions. The same can be said about Spotify and consumers generally abandoning physical purchases. Before these on-demand services, people rented a particular movie for a fixed price or nit-picked and bought individual songs from albums. I think the drive behind this consumer behavior is simple to pinpoint: It’s easy, you get to choose what you watch and listen to, and compared to buying 10 CD’s to get access to the 14 songs you actually want to listen to over and over; it’s also cheap.
Like most of you, I’m a Spotify, Netflix and HBO subscriber. On top of that, I’ve also been an Adobe Creative Cloud subscriber. Not that I work with creative design or anything. I’m a backend developer, so I don’t touch all the user experience stuff much. That is until ReasonTalk happened. Now I had to do icons, logos, easy conversion between formats and so on. Up until that point, I had never considered purchasing Adobe products even for a second but now that I actually had a need for some tools, I was thrilled to learn that I could actually rent their products. After a few months, I even found that the Adobe products included in my initial subscription did more than I needed, so I downgraded, saved even more money and had all the tools needed for what I do.
I would have never learned that, or at least narrowed down my use case if it weren’t for the Adobe subscription. Also, I still haven’t spent nearly what a full one-time-fee for these products would amount to on my subscription.
People compare Rack Extension subscriptions with Adobe
Now, I get why people are scared, but there’s some very important points people leave out of the equation. First of all, Adobe is an industry leader in their field. You might even be in your full right to apply the monopoly-attribute on them. When Adobe goes subscription-only, then most, if not all of their customers will fall in line. And the long term effect of this is profit. If there’s one thing consumers don’t like is when companies prioritize profit over product convenience.
And Propellerhead? Most definitely not an industry leader. Don’t get me wrong, I love Reason, and I’ve been a Reason user since version 1.0. Reason does something no other DAW does, but it’s definitely not an industry leader in the DAW-world.
Before the addition of Rack Extensions, users were comfortable and satisfied with the native devices included in Reason. Rack Extensions made it possible to extend on what’s possible in Reason. Skip through a few iterations and updates, developers now have more options when developing these Rack Extensions. This leads to more advanced, more powerful devices that take longer to develop. The natural outcome of this is an increased price compared to devices in the same category. So eXpanse Hyperwave Synthesizer becomes one of the more expensive synthesizer extensions, and even when it’s on sale (currently $79) some people just can’t afford it.
Avoid thinking about what’s in it for Propellerhead
Of course, there’s low-priced devices out there and very useful ones as well. Like Speo’s Frame CV Generator at $9. Most people can chip out $9 a month to buy a new, inexpensive Rack Extension to play around with. That is, after they’ve trialled it with no limitations for a month. They might even throw $19 after a device a month as well.
Now let’s imagine you convert that Rack Extension budget into a monthly payment. Instead, you’ll have access to $400 worth of Rack Extensions, and you even get to pick and choose. You add Softtube FET Compressor, Tsar 1-R, and Ozone Maximizer ($328), well within the $400 limit and you have yourself a great Vocal treatment pack. There’s even room to throw in a Selig DeEsser, all for $9/month. How is this option (and it is and option) a bad thing?
People try to make how Propellerhead will profit from this into a valid argument for the naysayer side of the debate. If you worry about who’s profiting, worry about the developers. I don’t know how this will hit developers, but my guess is more users will start using Rack Extensions because of subscriptions. And this might end up leading to even out the loss of initial sales, and in the end, lead to increased sales. Users might want to stay with their current plan, instead of upgrading it, and simply buy the Rack Extensions they would like to keep and replace them with others in their subscription.
Sometimes I feel embarrased
The debate goes on about Propellerhead’s intentions though, short and long term. Personally, I think it’s pointless.
I’m a creative being, and I write music. I now have the option to add to the tooling around my creative outlets with a very simple subscription service. That’s all I care about. I also care about the fact that I’m born and live in a country with many privileges. One of them is the minimum wage of $17.50/hour. Depending on my spending priorities and general situation, buying a Rack Extension here and there isn’t a problem, but there’s so many places in the world where this isn’t an option. Just talking about spending money on virtual things feels weird to me given the current real issues out there, but that’s a whole other issue.
But the debate rages on, and the common denominator is the “How does it benefit me” tone. That is all natural, it’s your money after all. It’s how these emotion-based opinions are pushed by naysayers that makes me feel embarrassed to the point that I’m nearly breaking my toes.
– “This doesn’t suit me! Everybody should boycott this subscription service completely because I don’t like it”
– “What? You offer me Rack Extensions cheaper than ever so that you can make more money? How dare you!”
– “DAW XYZ does it differently, and this DAW X in particular is a DAW I use most of the 9 DAW’s I’m allegedly a professional at using. Learn from them, Propellerhead!”
– “Ableton is the best!”
Right now, you can carry on exactly as you were before the announcement and launch of subscriptions. There’s no real valid point to dislike this initiative by Propellerhead. What’s in store for the future is all speculation. You have 3 different subscriptions plans to choose from, and they’re all cheaper than the price of an average single Rack Extension. There’s no need to… In fact, there shouldn’t be room for this level of entitlement. To me, it’s really, really bad manners. Be constructive at least!
Apply patience
Now, developing software is hard. Developing perfect software is impossible. The level of difficulty rises as the applications gets bigger. Compared to what Reason was before Reason and Record merged into what it is today, Reason is a beast! Adding something supposedly “trivial” as VST support while keeping usability and user experience the top priorities is no small task. I’m sure the subscription service has been no small task either. Both features are brand new, in a software development sense, and they both seem to function well. Naturally, we all have suggestions for changes and improvements, but let’s be honest for a second:
We all have something in particular we want Propellerhead to implement – I know I do! But while we wait for these things to be improved, please write music! And when it’s time to debate, let’s talk about how we cheat and beat the system and talk about techniques to overcome the limitations we so badly want to have ironed out. And while we’re at it, let’s stop searching for scapegoats and pointing fingers at the big man. After all, being able to buy a DAW and work in it, either if it’s your hobby or your job is a privilege – A luxury! If you’re a musician and just want to be in contact with composition, there’s a thing like real instruments as well. If you want to inject the privilege and luxury of a top-notch DAW into your daily life, remember that extending it’s tooling is a matter of priority.
Skip those pizza’s, cancel your HBO account (until Game of Thrones returns), and start saving for your Rack Extensions if you don’t want to subscribe. That’s simply just how “want”, “need” and “greed” works! And while you’re at it, find joy in the fact that less economically fortunate users of Reason are now able to enjoy the realm of Rack Extensions.
Dear Propellerhead, one thing we need in order to make subscriptions perfect
While we all get back to holding hands on ReasonTalk and get the debate back to a level we all truly enjoy, I just want to say: Well done, Propellerhead. 2017 has quite clearly been a busy year for you, and even though there’s some rough issues here and there, you’ve done well. Right now I really only have one, but important change request for subscriptions (ignoring the general things I’d like to see in Reason beyond that):
Please, please, please change the authorization logic for Rack Extension licenses in a way so that you actually download time limited licenses for the Rack Extensions included in your subscriptions, much like with trials. Except, validate them offline. People should not be bound to the Internet to be creative with the products they actually pay to rent. It’s important that this is available for all user groups, from professionals to hobbyists. Creative beings are sensitive beings. Some of us need to sit in a park, by the lake, or in the forest cabin and be creative without worrying about tethering for Internet connectivity.
Please note that this editorial only showcases the opinions of yours truly, and not the team behind ReasonTalk in general.
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