The Private Equity Buyout Of Music Production 

I genuinely just put on a thousand yard stare and fill with rage and hopelessness when I hear the words "aquired by a private equity firm" lol

I find it hilarious that a few months ago I broke down the economics of how image line is actually very profitable on reddit, only to be rebuted by a bunch of 12-year-olds telling me that I'm wrong and they're losing money by not being alive service. it was so reassuring that you pointed out that they actually are pretty profitable even though they do not subscribe to the same toxic live service business model that so many companies are poisoning their brands with. thank you so much.

Corporate acquisitions and mergers are almost never a good thing. They're generally a symptom of an ailing society. The amount of buyouts happening lately is really worrisome.

Epic better not screw up Bandcamp, because that is the greatest thing for indie artists.

So you know, this is happening in every industry. Not just music. 2019-present has been a massive power grab

Right after Slate cashed out, I was bombarded by messages asking if I'd sold Kush (I have not) or been side-eyed by any fin-bro's looking for another property to exploit (no comment). I don't love the way corporate consolidation is creeping into the outer layers of this misfit-driven, sound junkie space called pro audio, I actually find it deeply unsettling. I have zero plans or desires to walk away from everything I'm passionate about, but I can't deny that my principles would flounder quickly if a number with 8 digits was slipped across the table. Fucking money.

What’s incredible about FL Studio is that they don’t charge for upgrades at all…for the lifetime of the software and yet they are still more profitable than DAWs that do!! 🤯

I gotta say, I've only been watching benn for a couple months now But this man always manages to captivate me and grip my attention, so well spoken, well informed and/or educated, easy to follow and understand and a good sense of humour to go with. Thankyou Benn for your dedication and putting your insomnia to good use!. 🙏

In the nicest possible way, your insomnia is an asset given the depths you go into topics. I think I'd have the opposite of insomnia if I attempted to do research like this. Keep up the great work Benn, fascinating stuff.

Just wanted to sat that I very much appreciate the amount of effort and research that goes into these videos. It's great to see messages like this delivered in a concise & well-researched manner. Keep up the awesome work!

That Avid advice broke me. Solid gold Benn.

The advantage in the software world is that even if the bigger companies get eaten, digested and (worst case) excreted, the barrier of entry is so low that it takes just one enthusiastic, talented developer to create viable, customer friendly alternatives, be it as a small business or as open source as a hobby. Doesn’t work like that in the hardware world because the initial investments and risks are much higher, despite crowdfunding.

Thank you for covering this story. There is so little music instrument trade journalism and these are important stories.

Loved this. Thanks Benn

I am interested (and frankly relieved) that Arturia was not mentioned here. I really hope nothing bad happens to them, because I love what they do.

As an Ashevillian I’m super sad that the Moog factory is in peril especially since I know people who do/did work there. They say they’re going to keep operating as normal, but that never ends up the case with these buyouts.

The amount of research you did for this, and the completed vid deserve a gott dam award, thank you for making this.

Epic purchasing Bandcamp is the most heart breaking news

I simply love Benn's take-no-prisoners approach. Keep burning bridges with style, baby!

It isn’t just the music industry, PE has absolutely gutted the medical field. As some that worked in M&A for PE (buyside), i realized at one point that PE is making a deal with the devil.

After watching a few vids I’m impressed. And not just on the content you make. Your self-awareness and honesty about your bias and objectivity is refreshing, and something most people are simply incapable of doing. Even with your other obvious talents, I think this is your superpower.

These kind of monopolisation efforts (including those by investment firms buying out whole back catalogs of artists etc) are really depressing, as in 9/10 it's not about providing better gear, better payouts for artists or more choice for consumers - it's solely about maximizing profits no matter what. That's why Akai and Alesis keyboards have almost the same features, or why everybody in the music software world seems to push a subscription model, or why most of NI's products are clearly focussing on the mainstream paint-by-numbers music making market nowadays. The low point so far for me has been the aquisition of Bandcamp, as that one is one of the few alternatives to streaming services that artists are left with. If indeed NI should buy Spitfire Audio and - god forbid - integrate them into their subscription thing though, that would be at least as depressing.

5:53 I saw the punch line for the sea turtles joke coming in advance but I still laughed 😄😄👏👏 fantastic

this is one of your best videos yet, thank you so much for the time and detail you go into!

FL being referred to as an overwhelming UI really shows how far we've gotten since Fruity loops 4. oh how the mpc keyboard producers would laugh at us for using it lol . Now it's a structural component for all music..... I'm old

as someone who works in music retail marketing, thank you so much for making this incredibly well-informed and detailed guide to the state of the industry. It's all moving so fast >,

im so glad you didnt just sugarcoat and idolize moog like literally everyone in my local synth group does. people were acting like the sky has fallen because moog got bought out.

I’ve recently algorithmically stumbled across this channel, why the hell did RU-vid take so long? Absolutely love this channel, the level of research is very impressive and I’m glad to have found it. The quips and cross-industry jabs are absolutely hilarious 😂 keep it up, man.

Can't remember the last time I found a good RU-vid channel. Thanks for all this insight into stuff I never even considered was a factor, Benn! Subscribed and about to binge

This just saved me a whole lotta breath and a whole lotta typing. It's going to get linked and hopefully this one will go viral. Support your independent developers. At 6:00 this really made me lol, that was so good.

This is a great video. Thanks!

I think one reason why smaller software and plugin companies suffer financially nowadays is because the market has started to be saturated. Not only with competitors and competing products, but even in regards to a company's own product line. I mean, how many more string libraries do you want to release if you've already put out 10 or 20 different ones in the past ? So, in that sense i can understand why a subscription model would be more profitable for those companies (as that way, they don't have to constantly come up with new products as the existing ones can generate revenue for years), just that i don't think the average customer is really willing to have to pay for 10 different subscriptions a month.

your channel is literally the most diverse one from all music related channels I'm following.. and I like it :)

i love these types of videos so much, like the inner-working of all the companies I crack plugins from

Benn! Perfect timing. I wrote a very closely related article a few days ago & predicted a lot of what happened to NI and the DJ industry before the pandemic. Thank you for this video because your voice is so much louder than mine! 🤘🏼🔥

Sweet Fancy Moses! I have no idea how I stumbled onto one of your videos but the quality of your channel is fantastic. I have spent the past few hours binging your content and I just wanted to say two things; bravo and thank you.

From a fellow non-Brit, for future reference, Scots really don't like it when you call their city "Eh-din-burg". I say "Eh-din-burr-uh" in my American accent, which they seem to find acceptable

As someone who works in music tech Id love to see more of these videos from you. Your takes are sober and well thought out.

Awesome video - your production is so top level, I'm captivated every time I watch this channel. Fun fac: In 2012 I started making music production software not having a clue what I was about to step into. 25 software titles and 6yrs later I finally gracefully bowed out. Even as I was exiting I was amazed at how many weekly new plugins/tools/tech would launch, and didn't want to compete anymore.. today I couldn't imagine trying to compete, I remember I was almost side by side with Melda at one point. The whole WYSIWYG plugin maker niche was bigger back then too as there was a bigger first batch of noobs learning to create, now almost everyone jumps right one one of the big daw's and proper plugin sets so the smaller dev shops and brands are incredibly difficult to try to run now.

This was a great video and you hit every nail on the head. It feels so weird to be here from the beginning of companies like Slate Digital just to see them ultimately get bought out by companies that do not care about the industry. Its like the whole creative industry has been bought out by corporate mega conglomerates.

I saw FL Studio at the beginning and was scared they got bought out, but then realized it was the opposite. Good to see they are growing even more! I feel like UVI and Melda are in good hands.

I'm trying to concentrate, but I'm still reeling that Akai, Alesis, Alto, Denon, Headrush, M-Audio, Marantz, Numark, Rane and Moog are all owned by the same company. That covers nearly every mainstream electronic and DJ brand.

Your content is so deep and well put together. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Love to see someone with some business literacy reporting on the music industry like this. I've been fascinated by the way M&A has such real world effects on everything we do ever since I read Matt Stoller's Goliath. Whenever I hear news about Epic buying BC or NI laying off staggering amounts of employees or whatever, I've always wanted to have someone who has the industry knowledge to put it in context. Thank you!

MUSICIANS MUST OWN THE MEANS OF MUSIC PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION!!! WORKERS OF THE WORLD UNITE!!!

I work with a lot of music software and hardware companies. I once had to deal with a firm like what you're talking about (none of the ones you mentioned). I hated it. They were absolutely mercenary and had no love or understanding of the music business. They were just trying to turn a buck, and were looking for a handout at every turn. They were investing the bare minimum to bring a product across the line so they could sell it off and make it someone else's problem. I then dealt with another one years later. Same industry. Same greasy feeling. Three's a pattern, but I don't want to deal with a third one. It's much more satisfying to work with companies who believe in what they're doing. Unfortunately, those companies also tend to fail because passion doesn't put food on the table.

This was great Benn, thanks. Keep these coming.

This is crazy finding out you make YT videos. I've been a huge fan of The Flashbulb for like 15 years. That Missing Week is a masterpiece! Stay awesome, Benn ❤

The Venture Capatlists have absolutely clapped out the Indie rock genre. My indie rock playlist is essentially fossilized and set in stone now, very hard to find good, new music when it felt like back in 2013-2014 there wee new bangers every week

I'm a working musician and I hate subscription models - I just won't do it. Flat out. Thank you for this video - very informative. ♫

This was a great take on what's going on in the industry! Thank you Benn!

This is such an awesome video to appear in the Music Producer RU-vid space. Big thanks for making this!!

You should talk about the time when Fruity loops changed to FL studio, which was also around the same time Apple buys emagic, and hired some people from sound forge , which gave us Apple Loops. That was a gig changing point for computer music as well.

glad to hear Image Line is doing well. I'd hate for them to get bought up by some greedy bastards that'd try to take my lifetime free updates away for some subscription bullshit or something like that

Great vid. I was waiting a long time for the bandcamp take, but awesome rundown. It will be interesting to see what happens with it, I think it could be really positive. There's just so much good stuff.

Very fascinating info here. Thanks for keeping us abreast of the state of the industry!

Videos like this make me think about Zildjian. Family owned since 1623. The instruments of mine that VC types / investors came up to talk to me about at trade shows have always been the ones that musicians weren't as interested in and generally were not good ideas.

Yo, the employment stats you have for AKAI is the consumer electronics AKAI, which is not the same company as AKAI Professional.

Awesome video, very interesting - and the completely untethered, independent angle is priceless.

Excellent video. Looking forward to your analysis of the AVID buy-out, once the dust settles.

I hope Sweetwater is not ruined. They provide an extra level of customer service that is becoming more and more rare. I would much rather support stores like Perfect Circuit and Sweetwater than save a few dollars.

Wow. Would be insane to do a similar breakdown for guitar/amp/effects companies and retailers.

Amazing!! Great stuff Ben -- subscribed immediately

Great analysis and commentary. One interesting aspect of the music and in fact any software business, is that the complexity and cost of development/maintenance of software. A lot of tech no longer has the margins that it once did, and even some of the monopoly providers are beginning to struggle more with overhead as complexity continues to increase.

My fear is that investment companies will buy music production businesses, transfer toxic debt into them and file for bankruptcy of the newly acquired mp biz, ala Toys R Us.

Yeah man, subscription (a.k.a. "extortion") is WAY easier than continuous innovation and you can fire all those developers! It worked for Adobe and Autodesk. Most people will be too young to remember by now, but back in the day they were both really amazing, super innovative and well-liked companies. Now it's just all about the share price. So sad.

Glad this landed in my feed. Thanks for the breakdowns.

Dude, that disclaimer is way better than anything you’ll ever see on Finance or Crypto RU-vid. Thanks for that. 🙏🏼

After this video I seriously think that Benn's insomnia is caused by the spirit of Antonio Gramsci, that awakens him every night whispering in his ears all kind of troubles of the music industry! 😂😂😂

Never underestimate the appeal of those retail stores where people can test out gear. Many serious musicians will not spend their hard-earned on anything they haven't put hands on first. Too many horror stories abound of expensive sight-unseen purchases being very substandard upon delivery. Stick with brands that have store placement; they're always making real sales and amassing profitable loyalty from working pros.

love it when benn jordan answers our questions for the future of the music industry...

Thank you for doing this, can't imagine the research time you invested into this

I am curious about Arturia. From a user’s perspective they are doing everything right. Good hardware, good software, no subscription, very fair pricing. I really would be sad if something happened to them.

I became a instant fan of yours during the whole MPC Keys controversy. I just want to send some love and tell you that people like you who are brutally honest and not scared of burning bridges are extremely rare and necessary in this music tech world. ❤

Ben.....This is a style guide point I am sharing with you. So that you can have that polished corporate image you were going for in the cover image of this video. When wearing a suite with two buttons the rule is: Top button = Use to button up. Bottom button = Never use to button up. The rules are different for a three button suite as well. It goes... Top to bottom like this: A/S/N =Always/Sometimes/Never Dress well, look well, be well

I enjoy and appreciate your videos, particularly the ones where you have crunched the data.

I really apreciate the constant mix of economics and music you put out on your channel. You are really a genius

Hi Ben, I'm an investor (used to do PE, now I'm partner at a VC fund). I'm also a massive synth and gear fan and have been following you since Ben & Gear. Great analysis of the market. A few thoughts: 1. Licenses (=recurring revenue) will always be valued higher by investors because they have a lifetime value. Customers may churn after 1 year, or may stay for 5. You can calculate that, and the return on investment in acquiring a license customers is almost always higher than selling a perpetual license. I hate music plugin licenses and I don't pay for a single one. BUT from a pure bean-counting perspective, they make sense - so long as you don't try to pull a silly move like Waves did. 2. Speaking of licenses, ImageLine will always be valued a lot lower than other companies, which likely means it is highly unlikely to be sold. I love unlimited updates, but from a pure finance angle it doesn't make a lot of sense (you can argue that it lowers cost of acquisition, because customers are more likely to buy it vs. Ableton, knowing they have lifetime updates. Maybe. I use both. 3. NI is a really sad story IMHO. They have so many great products but just stopped innovating. Maschine is one of the greatest products for workflow and creativity and is practically dead innovation-wise and development-wise. DJ market >>> producer market, so I expect more focus on that. 4. Look at Focurite Share price performance. Again sad story. The market for synths is just so much smaller than guitars/DJs 5. On the positive side - I visited SuperBooth this year. It was incredible to see the amount of innovation coming out from so many small and medium producers. 6. There is an opportunity for a small PE player to do a roll-up play and buy quite a few of the modular players, creating efficiencies (=layoffs) and improving production quality and reducing costs. But market right now is still too small to be meaningful. Thanks for a great video

i never put much thought into this tbh. thank you for this, thank you for your effort. very informative!

Great analysis. Reflective of the larger fixation by investors and consumers alike upon "branding" rather than understanding who is actually innovating and creating quality products.

Sweetwater has so ramped up their online advertising since the PE buyout. The GearFest event that felt like a customer appreciation/musician advancement event with known musicians and industry leaders giving seminars over two days, you could talk directly with manufacturers about their products and try them out etc. This year's was only open to RU-vidrs solely for the sake of advertising and giving those RU-vidrs free stuff. No seminars whatsoever and all online. I know plenty will still buy from them, but frankly I'm done with them. Also, reading lots of online reviews saying their customer service has gone downhill since the PE buyout.

Something that's coming to a head with all of this is that the final product - recorded and live music - is under a lot of pressure to escape the "IP Matrix" in some form - and that's what this stuff - the multi-sampled instruments, the DSP algorithms, the subscriptions, the streaming platforms, the acquisitions of old 20th century recordings - is all tied into. A new generation of musicians is coming up every few years, and every time, they make a run at burning down what came before and ultimately succumb to the norms because they can't find another path that makes a career. And we have another round of that impending with AI music. But there's a kind of crossover between music's dilemma and every other kind of IP in that so much of what's made now exists in a marginal space of "it's derivative of this and that, but it's not infringing them because it recontextualizes it in a different format" - e.g. that's most RU-vid content where they "comment" over a well-known recording, it's people who stream themselves playing video games but then also play music, and all of that kind of stuff. That kind of brings it full circle to music being part of living, vs being a way to earn a living. It becomes so much easier to participate if you have no financial stake in it or drive to follow trends, and just freely use whatever tools you have lying around. I've been looking back through old Amiga demoscene stuff again and the sampling culture was very vibrant in that everyone ripped from each other and ended up with, in essence, a stone soup.

Great video Ben. Thanks for the effort you put in

Great report. Gives us insight what is happening with our beloved companies.

Would have liked to see UAD mentioned - their entire model has changed TONS over recent years. LUNA must have cost a bomb to develop, new more “focusrite” style interfaces, buying out bock and townsend mics, subscriptions+native

Damn, we're going to have to find or create a new Bandcamp.. A distro that's actually for musicians and composers

Damm Ben you always find a way to blow my mind. From Outlaw Ocean to Vinyl Records you educate us about thing that on the surface are harmless and great. After watching your PSA on said topic I have a morel dilemma and never look at said topic the same again. Thank you for you time and energy and please keep doing what you do!

asking the UK government to get a grip on corporate tax affairs is like asking Behringer to make an original product....

I think you misspelled "Vulture Capital"

Very interesting insights

Great video!

I'm moving more and more to hardware The thing that makes me uneasy is the subscription model which software is at the mercy of. I got locked out of photoshop and I don't intend for that to happen again. I'm working toward a dawless set up

Good video. As for the Moog buyout by InMusic, you are correct, I think they want the Moog branding more than the synths, or assembly line in Asheville. I think the Moog brand will be used similar to what Samsung has done with JBL. Samsung uses the JBL brand on everything from $50 Bluetooth speakers, to their expensive VTX pro audio line.

Continually some of the very best video content out there 👏

Thank you so much for this video!

this is why various music production software and dj software makers are pushing subs hard .Do not let them get away with it.

Don’t forget Elektron is quite heavy into VC money too (or was, don’t quote me). So far it doesn’t appear to be much different, apart from maybe the stillbirth of the Model: series. But you never know.

I've watched your last few video from start to finish. Very informative and i think you have transcended from a music producer/youtuber to a historian/ music producer/youtuber/ one man podcast. Keep it up man.

some nice insight, thanks Benn!

Watching this makes me feel better about some of my software purchasing decisions over the past five years. I've definitely bought a lot of crap that I didn't really need at the time but hey at least I got a perpetual license when I still could.