I appreciate all the comments and thinking in this thread, so if you will allow me to offer our point of view as developers. There is a couple of things going on, which affect our current pricing of instruments.
The most immediate one is COVID, which has caused a ripple effect through the entertainment business (ex. Many major shows and movie productions are on hold or being recorded slower, which means less opportunities for composers, which means harder to justify purchasing libraries).
The other reality is that prices have been aggressively coming down over the last couple of years. There are several companies responsible for this, including the largest entities in our industry.
The third reality is that libraries do age - and some better than others. I think it is fantastic that we are in a position where the growing "mainstream" can start to afford our libraries and in turn help us develop new technologies.
We are nearly 8 years into our upcoming Soundpaint technology and about $2.8M in development. This would not have been possible had we not conformed to the realities mentioned above.
Yet I also recognize the opposing arguments. It sucks to see prices drop on things over time and entertainment software (ex. video games, art software, music software etc) are notoriously known for this. The world of music software is no different - prices come down - because better products become available. Logic $999. Logic $499. Logic $199 and a far better product than its predecessors.
However, we want to change all of this - cause there is merit to the criticism too. We hope to present you guys with a completely new model that negates most of this ... later this year. If anyone ever feels they purchased something and saw the price drop within 30 days. Just ping us at
[email protected] and we will compensate accordingly. This has always been our practice and we are flexible beyond that.
I also really encourage anyone to take a look at our current offerings. I think Anthology, AGE and Bazantar are all timeless libraries and will live for many decades in my template - because they all hold a valuable amount of that rare sample gold.
But most importantly - and especially to the people that feel we are aggressive price-wise - thank you for supporting us - even if we are not in full agreement.
It humbles me every day and has allowed 8Dio to fulfill our wildest dreams and visions - and the fact it helped dozens of our employees and their families to get through this last difficult year.
It has also given us the ability to help and sponsor some of our favorite emerging talents and performing artists too - who sadly can't be on the road.
With love and appreciation, Troels