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Is Summer Becoming the New Black Friday for Sample Librariesl?

Reid Rosefelt

Reid Rosefelt

aka Tiger the Frog
Am I wrong but there are more and more extreme sales on sample libraries in the summer?

In some cases, it has been that way for some time.

  • The Orange Tree Samples group buy is, in my opinion, one of the very best deals of each year--and it only happens in the summer
  • Aside from the occasional flash sale, the best deals on Spitfire are the Wish List sales, at 40% off. And they are in the summer and at Christmas, not on Black Friday.
  • Native Instruments' Komplete sales have always been in the summer--with instruments on BF.

But this summer I am seeing sales from practically every major company.

If summer isn't the new Black Friday, it looks like it's on its way to becoming that.

The other thing that dilutes the importance of BF is the way some companies (Waves, iZotope) seem to have a policy of sales nearly 365 days a year.
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It would be worth running a poll on the sale/full price buying habits of the VI control collective.
Also, I think traditionally with summer comes less business, so sales are a way of pepping that up.

For my own little site, having crunched the numbers a while back, I worked out that 50% of my total income came from purchases which involved some sort of discount. I wonder if the sample library/plugin developers see similar figures..
 
this has been already discussed in a thread of mine the last year I think on music industry? I've written I remember:

- Back to school (March) - Edu discounts
- Summer sale (June-August) - 50%
- Back to school (September) - Edu discounts
- Black Friday (November) - up to 60%
- Christmas (December) - 50% up to 90%?

+ all the mini sales, Mother's Day, Father's Day, National Day, My Day, etc...
 
Years ago I would take the plunge on software at full price.
These days I almost 99% wait out for a sale, as even new products get reduced well under a year.
 
I don't think Summer prices are matching BF prices. At least not on the Sample libraries or plugins I am looking for (unless you're talking about unusual companies like Waves).
E.g. some Soundtoys I am after were $29 last BF, and this summer they are $49.

Which is OK, because one thing I am pretty good at is waiting. I'm happy to wait 4 months until November tbh.
 
JEPA said:
this has been already discussed in a thread of mine the last year I think on music industry? I've written I remember:

- Back to school (March) - Edu discounts
- Summer sale (June-August) - 50%
- Back to school (September) - Edu discounts
- Black Friday (November) - up to 60%
- Christmas (December) - 50% up to 90%?

+ all the mini sales, Mother's Day, Father's Day, National Day, My Day, etc...
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Yes I remember your thread and might even have posted on it. Sure, sales all year long, at predictable moments. And also unpredictable APD/VSTBuzz/NI type moments. I'm not talking about that.

I track this stuff very carefully and this year I feel that summer has become a lot bigger deal than it was in 2016, 2017, or 2018.

I'm not saying that most of the sales are matching the BF prices. But a lot of them are exactly the same, like Heavyocity's.

In the future, it wouldn't surprise me to see the same discounts in the summer as BF from a lot of companies.
 
I've noticed more summer sales this year as well. I'm not sure how much it reflects the growing trend of year-round sales or a shift away from the emphasis on Black Friday.

Personally, I'm shopping for gifts for loved ones on Black Friday; so a sale at any other time of the year is welcome.

Best,

Geoff
 
I bet the amount of competition amongst developers has really caused the high amount of sales. I remember when it seemed like it was ONLY on Black Friday you'd see sales. There was a lot less competition back then though. There seems to have been a developer explosion within the last 5 years or so.
 
With all the deals I'm taking advantage of now, I honestly don't think I will have money left for Black Friday.

All that's on my list now are non-BF things like Inspire 3 and CSW, both of which may not even happen this year.
 
TigerTheFrog said:
With all the deals I'm taking advantage of now, I honestly don't think I will have money left for Black Friday.
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Same here, just "complained" out in another topic how much money I have blown on samples only recently. That being said, with this pace I don't even need anything from Black Friday. Ok, maybe that Joshua Bell violin....
 
Problem is, there’s nothing I need right now to complete my musical work and so every “wish” purchase is automatically shunted onto a list to wait for the next sale. I can’t be the only one, far from it.
 
I said it when I first got into buying Virtual Instruments, that the first thing I noticed was this is a very saturated market. Virtual Instruments plus DAWs, effects, and everything that goes with it.....the total market value hasn't even reached a billion dollars a year in sales yet...with that said....there are way too many players in the game for too small a pie.

I'd say the 'least' saturated would be the orchestral instruments. The best companies are NOT fire selling their orchestral stuff. Percussion is definitely the exception. There is more percussion on the market than a person could ever use. Definitely saturated.

Solo Vocals are pretty saturated, but not the worst. Strange thing is, I have a weakness for buying an alto or alto/soprano any time one comes out.....I rarely use them...but I keep on buying them:thumbsdown:

Synth is probably the worst saturated market I think I've seen so far. Unbelievable....there are more synth sounds available than you could listen to in 5 lifetimes.

Plugin effects are also horrendously saturated. How many delays or compressors can one use? They go on sale for a dime a dozen now.

I think hybrids will be the next one to saturate. Every company and its dog is coming out with these....and I think people either want synth or real sampled instruments. Hybrid has its place....but I think there is too much for the need.

So I agree, there have been a lot of summer sales, but I think it's going to be a big year for BF sales and Christmas sales too. Too many companies trying to cash in. No other choice but to cut prices and have big sales.

'Just my thoughts.
 
Alex Fraser said:
Problem is, there’s nothing I need right now to complete my musical work and so every “wish” purchase is automatically shunted onto a list to wait for the next sale. I can’t be the only one, far from it.
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I was going to say something similar.

I’ve noticed the ever increasing pitch of sales over the last 5 or so years. It used to be a fairly rare thing and you’d have to wait a while (a year or more) for something you were looking for to come on sale. Now there’s a sale every other day (every day?). The problem for developers is that (speaking only for me here) I have pretty much all I need to make the music I want. Sure there are other bits and pieces I could add in here and there and a few things I still have on my “list” but none are pressing. I also need a confluence of budget and pricing in order to move. New products need to something unusual to peak my interest or show me a new way of working that I could see making a real difference to me.

The other thing I’d say is that I don’t believe this is affecting music making only. I think lots of retailers are being squeezed in lots of markets. I haven’t made a detailed study of this so I’m happy to be proved wrong but what I have read and listened to lately, retail is being hammered (again I’m speaking about where I live but I’ve read similar things are happening elsewhere). That would also explain the sales as every retailer in all markets are competing for the same disposable money.

I’m also aware that without support developers can’t stay afloat. But on the other hand I can’t just keep buying everything even if it’s on sale. There’d be no money left for anything else like food for my children. So I get what I need when I need it (well, try to at least).
 
Another reason for running discounts is to tap the GAS market when regular sales slow down. If you sample a steam-powered calliope and create a virtual instrument out of it, you'll sell it sell to people who are looking for a steam-powered calliope. But when that market is sated, you can discount your calliope 50% and sell it to a whole other group of people who aren't looking for a calliope. :)
 
There are a LOT of libraries out there that are getting pretty long-in-tooth. I think the number of sales we'll see will continually increase. The market is pretty saturated now.
 
Polkasound said:
Another reason for running discounts is to tap the GAS market when regular sales slow down. If you sample a steam-powered calliope and create a virtual instrument out of it, you'll sell it sell to people who are looking for a steam-powered calliope. But when that market is sated, you can discount your calliope 50% and sell it to a whole other group of people who aren't looking for a calliope. :)
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I'm really glad you brought this up, Polka. I'm getting a little tired of Sonokinetic's The Carnival. Maybe I should start a thread on the best Calliope libraries.
 
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