# NothernSounds for sale



## Udo (Aug 23, 2011)

The subject says it all ....  (there's an announcement on the site's Sample Discussion forum).


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## noiseboyuk (Aug 23, 2011)

Meh. I'll wait for a 2 for 1.


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## chimuelo (Aug 23, 2011)

Years ago that's where all things Gigastudio started.
If it has anything to do with helping Garritan & family for medical bills, etc. I wish them well...


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## TuwaSni (Aug 23, 2011)

> If it has anything to do with helping Garritan & family for medical bills, etc. I wish them well...



+1


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## germancomponist (Aug 23, 2011)

chimuelo @ Tue Aug 23 said:


> Years ago that's where all things Gigastudio started.
> If it has anything to do with helping Garritan & family for medical bills, etc. I wish them well...


+1


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## noiseboyuk (Aug 23, 2011)

I absolutely wish them well, but I won't miss Northern Sounds as it was I'm afraid.


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## PavlovsCat (Aug 23, 2011)

noiseboyuk @ Tue Aug 23 said:


> I absolutely wish them well, but I won't miss Northern Sounds as it was I'm afraid.




+1

I don't think they'll be able to get much for it. They've been trying to sell it for a very long time. 

Here's an attempt from last year: https://flippa.com/99209-established-top-site-in- the-world-of-music-composition-and-technology

Funny that they tried to bill it as the (and I quote) "top site in the world of music composition and technology."


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## Nick Batzdorf (Aug 23, 2011)

Of course I feel bad for everyone involved when someone gets sick. Breast cancer is far too prevalent; my wife had a big birthday party at which 5 out of 20 women there had had bouts with it. And we had a scare that turned out to be nothing, but it does turn you around.

Fortunately all five of those women are still with us. But if you ever get in the mood to burst out in tears, take part in the Revlon walk that starts near USC every May. It's very sad, but at the same time very moving and really worth doing.

Having said that...well, say no more.


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## Mike Greene (Aug 23, 2011)

eDrummist @ Tue Aug 23 said:


> Here's an attempt from last year: https://flippa.com/99209-established-top-site-in- the-world-of-music-composition-and-technology


I'll bet they took that markosweb.com estimate of $152,621 seriously. I'd be really surprised if they got any offers last year for anywhere near $100k.

Now a year later, I'd be surprised if they could even get $50k. I'm not trying to be mean, it's just that I don't see where any revenue possibilities are. Garritan undoubtedly pays a yearly fee, but it can't be excessive, because the site has degenerated to the point where NS needs Garritan more than Garritan needs NS. Gary could easily start his own forum like East West did.

Other than Garritan, I suspect Lyrical Distortion (I'm not sure of the relation to Bela-D) might be the only other source of income. 

Besides Garritan and LD, NS does have banner ads, but they're literally the same ads that were there a year ago. Not just the same companies, but the same *ads*, including a "limited time sale" on Real Guitar. I think they just go ahead and keep rerunning expired ads because it would be too embarrassing to put up a "This Space Available" banner.

(It makes sense that there are no new ads there, by the way, because last year, I contacted NS about putting an "Acoustic Kits" ad on their site and the rate they quoted me was insane. Literally in the neighborhood of 5 or 10 times what VI-Control charges me for the same ad! For a tiny fraction of the readership! No ad for me, needless to say.)

I predict it will go unsold for a long time as NS owner(s) stay convinced that it is, it is, it *is* worth more money than anyone is offering. The bottom line is that no "outside investor" is going to be interested unless the price is waaayyyyy lower. The profit just isn't there.

If they ever sell at all, I predict a final selling price of $20k, and even then, it would have to be to someone like Doug Rogers (wouldn't that be a kick!) or whoever runs KVR or someone else who has a vested interest in slowly steering the NS membership to their own site. If I were the NS owner(s), I would approach Doug and KVR and float the idea to them.


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## PavlovsCat (Aug 23, 2011)

The NorthernSounds community is basically gone. The site's Google ranking is pretty poor. It's basically a domain, an abandoned community and an installation of vBulletin. It would take a lot of work to rehabilitate the NorthernSounds community and -- even more important -- NorthernSounds reputation. 

Considering all of the above, I wouldn't even put it's worth at $20,000 USD.


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## Nick Phoenix (Aug 23, 2011)

sad


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## Ed (Aug 23, 2011)

Fred should buy it and redirect to Vi Control - pwnd


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## choc0thrax (Aug 23, 2011)

The value of NS went down when they deleted every single one of my posts.



o=?


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## Craig Sharmat (Aug 23, 2011)

Nick Phoenix @ Tue Aug 23 said:


> sad



I agree with this sentiment, it didn't have to be this way.


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## Nick Batzdorf (Aug 23, 2011)

Yup, but that's what happens when you abandon your principles.


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## gsilbers (Aug 23, 2011)

Ed @ Tue Aug 23 said:


> Fred should buy it and redirect to Vi Control - pwnd


+1

and update the VI-control search function to be able to search by topic title only! 

then again.. we can all comment on the new "whats the best piano library?" 
one more time to keep it fresh


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## MaestroRage (Aug 24, 2011)

forgive the ignorance gents, but can anybody give me a bit more detail on what's going on with the NS community? I go there every once in a while for the orchestration threads, so I don't really know what's going on in the inside. But it seemed like a pretty solid place to be at.

Am I wrong? Has it really degraded so much?


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## noiseboyuk (Aug 24, 2011)

MaestroRage @ Wed Aug 24 said:


> forgive the ignorance gents, but can anybody give me a bit more detail on what's going on with the NS community? I go there every once in a while for the orchestration threads, so I don't really know what's going on in the inside. But it seemed like a pretty solid place to be at.
> 
> Am I wrong? Has it really degraded so much?



The basic problem is that their policies on posting are dictated by their clients. It masquerades as an open forum (unlike soundsonline which is clearly branded EWQL), but as many of us discovered if you praise (or even MENTION) the wrong product you'll get banned. Unsurprisingly, people don't usually hang around very long.


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## NYC Composer (Aug 24, 2011)

I thought the place was the cat's meow when I joined up. It was a slow sinking feeling to realize it was advertiser/owner driven to the point that, as said before, just expressing the wrong opinion about a particular product and sticking to it was enough to get you banned.The funny thing was the 'after' policy-you could re-apply and promise to behave, I guess-I never checked it out. One banning was plenty. Instead, I moved here and lived happily ever after. I even brought the goats and the chickens.


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## MichaelL (Aug 24, 2011)

MaestroRage @ Wed Aug 24 said:


> forgive the ignorance gents, but can anybody give me a bit more detail on what's going on with the NS community? I go there every once in a while for the orchestration threads, so I don't really know what's going on in the inside. But it seemed like a pretty solid place to be at.
> 
> Am I wrong? Has it really degraded so much?




The most beneficial part of the NS site was the interactive Orchestration and Jazz Big Band Arranging tutorials. 

I don't know about the site, but Peter Alexander should buy, or license, the Orchestration and Jazz Arranging tutorials to sell as downloadable products.

Are you out there Peter?

Cheers,

Michael


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## JT (Aug 24, 2011)

Nothing lasts forever, life changes.

That said, I wish the Garritan family nothing but the best.


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## wst3 (Aug 24, 2011)

Gary is a good guy, he has a different business model than most sample library developers, and that does put him in the crosshairs from time to time.

But to the best of my knowledge, and I hung out there for quite a while (a while ago), he had nothing to do with the censorship of postings.

He did have a couple of over-eager fans that would come crashing down on you if you suggested the possibility that one of the contests might benefit from a change in the rules, and they got really nasty if you suggested that a Garritan produced library wasn't perfect.

I committed both of those crimes, and got a private message from Gary apologizing for the over zealous defense. Things got better for a bit, and then slid again, and that's when I exited - never quite managed to get banned, even though I did try<G>!

NS - all the forums, not just the Garritan forums, just lost it's value. Really knowledgeable folks left, and so there was no good reason to visit.

I did go through the Orchestration course, and part of the Jazz course, and I keep meaning to go back and finish the Jazz course, or buy the book that was never published. I think both of these were very generous and valuable offerings!

And while I know it isn't a popular opinion around here, I still think that GPO and JABB are great starter libraries, they offer just enough complexity to let you spread your wings, they are very "play it in" oriented, they are priced fairly, and they don't sound horrible. In fact I used a solo flute and cello in a mock up, and I've never felt the need to change them.

As far as Gary's personal issues, we should all be grateful that it isn't us, and keep them in our thoughts. It's the right thing to do!

Finally, I'll second the request for a little more freedom for developers to speak their minds! While it has gotten a bit heated at times, it's never, that I saw, gotten personal. You can slam your competitor's product without making personal attacks - and I think that's ok.


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