annual licenses

kcearl

kcearl

I see deaf people
not sure how I feel about this new trend in software...I see slate digital is offering an annual fee of $240, plus any new plugs that come out during the year. $20 a month for all their plugs seems pretty reasonable, but at the end you own nothing?

Im moving away from software FX other than my UAD cards, I think...but this is tempting


what do you guys think?
 
I'm not a fan either. There's some things I have that will outlast this and maybe even my next computer/windows version.
 
I wouldn't do it for plugins. One reason is because clients keep wanting to revisit sessions from forever ago. Having to maintain every goofy plugin that got used on every session until the end of time would be stupid.

However, I do like the concept with things like dreamweaver, photoshop, etc... But that's only because I only need them a couple times a year. It's much better to pay the $20 for the month I need it, instead of putting out thousands for programs I don't need most of the time.
 
It's a disturbing new trend, in my view. Renting a plugin?

It might signal a change in work flow, and see a return to hardware effects.
 
I actually think its a bad idea purely because they may stop support on owned plugs to try and squeeze everyone they can into this new market....but

I spend $20 a month on netflix and hulu...now when I was recording (in a land before children) I was on my rig maybe four hours a day at least...most days, way more than I watch shitty TV

Thinking of it like that, and saying the Slate plugs, which are very good, were my choice, then $5 a week isnt so bad???
 
I think it's cool, as long as you have the option to buy.

It's going to really suck when windows 10 goes to this method...
 
Why do you guys think you "own" your plugins now? As with virtually all software products, you don't buy the software, you buy a license to use it. Quite often, the license is granted to you alone, and you can't legally sell it to anyone else - check the license agreement for the particulars (that thing you click Agree on without reading).

If I used Slate plugins for the majority of my effects, I would think this is a smokin' deal. The whole product line plus updates and new shit? Sure. If only used a couple, then it's not worth it to me.

Expect more companies to move to models like this. There are an incredible number of players in this market and the cost of customer capture has got to be high. These guys want to build brand loyalty and have predictable sales revenue.
 
JMac52 said:
These guys want to build brand loyalty and have predictable sales revenue.
Click to expand...

Maybe they will get both, but not from me. To seem it seems too much like gratuitous revenue raising, and would not engender brand loyalty in me. The predictable sales revenue they would get from me is zero.

I understand that it is a business model that seems to be gaining traction. I still don't like it.
 
So I was looking at the slate bundle, they do it per month with two bundle types, $20 and $25, the more expensive includes a $400 reverb, you get a $99 voucher at the end of a year and two $99 vouchers on the more expensive bundle.

Plus you get a free ilock if you dont have one...what do they come in at $40??

I have to say if I was recording stuff just now Id be sorely tempted. I do think its the way companys are going to go, I could see Waves doing it for sure. I think Cakewalk already has with Sonar.
 
I'm slightly wary of the idea as they can stop supporting older plugins whenever they want - very much depends if they eventually give out a permanent license for end of life products.

In 10+ years time who will still be using the same plugins they are now? Difficult to say.
 
Well I think paying outright for plugs is just as risky...i have a focusrite mix control that is now a paperweight because they dont support it anymore. Unless youre willing to keep your rig in a time capsule support ends for everything eventually
 
I would be more worried about being in the middle of a client project when the plugin stops working until I pay for another month...

I would really just rather pay for something up front and not have to administrate a bunch of monthly fees, just to keep my projects intact.

I would find it necessary to render everything with the processing, just in case the plugin turned into a pumpkin, but that is a lot of time, effort and hard drive space.
 
Farview said:
I would be more worried about being in the middle of a client project when the plugin stops working until I pay for another month...

I would really just rather pay for something up front and not have to administrate a bunch of monthly fees, just to keep my projects intact.

I would find it necessary to render everything with the processing, just in case the plugin turned into a pumpkin, but that is a lot of time, effort and hard drive space.
Click to expand...

I kinda get what your saying, but really with a recurring payment setup there should be any trouble in that regards, but like I said I get what youre saying

---------- Update ----------

Chili said:
I won't lease a car and I won't lease software.
Click to expand...

We own two of our cars but are going to lease a third, its a sign!! ;)
 
If you are doing this at home as a hobby, that could work well. If it's a business, with the way it's feast or famine, you could easily get into the situation where you had to stop paying on them. But then, before you can do any business, you have to start them back up again.

Obviously, $20 a month isn't that big of a deal, but that is just for the Slate stuff. Add in another $30/mo for waves, $15/mo for dreamweaver to update your website, $10/mo to keep windows 10 working, etc... You could easily be paying over $100/mo just to maintain what you have.

The thing that I'm dreading is a monthly fee for an operating system. If you are a little short, or lose your job, you also lose the ability to use your computer .
 
I find it a pain in the posterior but it's the way things are going.

Believe it or not, you can sort of blame Enron for this. After that debacle, a badly written hasty bit of legislation called the "Sarbanes Oxley" act was pushed through the US Congress. The somewhat sensible aim was to put a wall between people doing software development and those with fiscal responsibility in a company--the idea was to stop companies "doing a Volkswagen" on their financial records.

However, because it was badly written, it created a situation where it became quite complicated for companies to "sell" software and the workround was the lease/subscription system.

Of course, it's not a simple as that. For lots of companies it became a real cash cow and a way to force users to keep paying rather than buying something and not bothering with every upgrade.

Much as I hate it, I think we're going to see more and more of it, alas. And not just plugins but whole DAW and Video software packages and even operating systems.

Blech. I'd take up gardening but Monsanto want me to rent their seeds.
 
DAWs already are, Calewalks Sonar has a subscription based offer, so do some online DAWs.
 
Adobe Audition (and, indeed, all their other Products like Premiere Pro, Photoshop, etc.) as well. Also Media Composer from Avid so I doubt Protools is far behind.
 
I do this sort of thing with music now (spotify), I'd go for it no doubt if the price were right. Software decays so fast anyway I don't ever really feel like I own it when I buy it. It's more like a speculative rental. :/
 
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