> It seems to me that 'free upgrades forever' is honestly not a wise idea if you want to develop for your actual users rather than having to constantly try and attract more because any existing user will never pay you again.
Funny you should mention that... Another one of those editors, FL Studio, has exactly that business model. It's not as cheap as a Reaper license, but they do advertise "free upgrades forever" and they're somehow in a good enough position that they bought out both Melda and UVI recently (the latter looks like a pretty big player in the software synth space).
The C-suite philosophy there is that new people are constantly entering both the hobby and business which is...well, entirely correct really. Honestly I'm glad that it's working out for them because it's an incredibly honest way of doing business, even if I don't use their software myself due to a couple long-standing limitations that hopefully they'll address soon.
I imagine a big portion of imagelines (FL studio) is through the extras they sell. You pay once for the software, but then you buy new sound packs and VSTs. It is a good model.
Funny you should mention that... Another one of those editors, FL Studio, has exactly that business model. It's not as cheap as a Reaper license, but they do advertise "free upgrades forever" and they're somehow in a good enough position that they bought out both Melda and UVI recently (the latter looks like a pretty big player in the software synth space).
The C-suite philosophy there is that new people are constantly entering both the hobby and business which is...well, entirely correct really. Honestly I'm glad that it's working out for them because it's an incredibly honest way of doing business, even if I don't use their software myself due to a couple long-standing limitations that hopefully they'll address soon.