No Subscriptions Here
Hey, we’re AudioThing. We make high-quality audio plugins and try to do so ethically. We were customers and music lovers before being developers, so we get it. For many years we’ve had some policies at the bottom of our web pages, and this post will reaffirm and expand on them.
Our licenses are perpetual and can be used on three computers. Your tools should be available to your music, not to the one computer you’re glued to by a license. Updates are free, major updates are no more than five or ten dollars, and we’ve been Apple Silicon native from the beginning. In addition to all major formats, many plugins are available in the new CLAP format and also on iOS.
We don’t like dongles. iLok costs money for both user and developer. There’s a charge for each license deposited, a cost that is passed on to the customer. We reckon it’s a little nasty to profit from piracy, no matter which side of the rules is doing so. Our plugins don’t insist that a USB port be occupied by something getting in its own way helping you create, though we’re planning to add custom paths for the licenses, so it will be easier to put the licenses on a USB stick if you really need, or perhaps on a cloud service. Everything gets cracked eventually anyway, so piracy is not even an excuse.
You don’t need an internet connection to install. If we go bust, your plugins will work as long as you keep the license file. We also aren’t able to suddenly charge you more to use what you already purchased, a substantial power imbalance inherent in subscriptions. The work of so many people could go ‘poof’ if a subscription in any given industry decided it was time for everyone to move on.
In 2022, technology giant IBM did some market research to advise companies on how to best move to subscription models, noting that they’re simply more profitable. “For companies that have traditionally relied on transactional sales… subscriptions require both a new business model and a new business mindset. It’s not about selling one-off products or services; it’s about cultivating lifelong customer relationships.”
Indeed.
We aim to cultivate lifelong customer relationships by selling one-off products and services that help people make good music. It’s worked before.
AudioThing
PS – Check out Type B, our Aphex Aural Exciter emulation.