> I completely understand that the sample providers have to make a living
> Steve. I do get puzzled by the extreme disparities in price though.
I guess it depends on what the 'provider' thinks is justified for the
product. For example, (to continue the coffee analogy from my previous
post), I can go into one cafe here locally and get a coffee for £1.20 but if
I go to Starbucks (200 yards down the road in the same street), the same
will cost £3.50 or more. This is largely because of the brand image that the
Starbucks franchise has built up through intensive marketing and product
placement. Starbucks also has better furniture in a more stylish environment
and so appeals to a certain demographic. We pay for all that razamatazz!
Similarly (I guess) with sample libraries - you are paying for the 'brand'
and all that goes behind that brand.
Me? I just want a coffee and would prefer to support my friend who runs the
local cafe rather than go to Starbucks and give my money to a large
international, faceless franchise - IYSWIM. I know that both establishments
provide employment, etc., but someone working at Starbucks is on the same
kind of rate as someone working at the local cafe up the road so the product
cost disparity is going into fancier premises and we're paying for the
marketing to keep that brand image in the public eye not to mention the
small things like the PRS licence for the music being played in the
background, the free newspapers that only a few people read, etc....
overheads that define the brand name!
Similarly (I guess) with sample libraries!
> Recently I participated in the group buy of the "Old Lady" piano
> samples. The price was 80 USD for what I regard as high end samples.
> Other piano libraries can cost triple or quadruple this. I also noticed
> that during the group buy, once enough buyers had registered to get a
> 60% discount (the maximum being offered) more and more buyers came
> flooding in. I think Michiel Post would have ended up selling something
> like 5 or 6 times the number he'd hoped for.
Yes... I call it the 'bus ticket theory'!
Our local bus company made losses one year and so raised ticket prices and
guess what? They lost more customers (and hence money) so...
They raised ticket prices again and lost even more customers so raised
prices again... and so on! I firmly believe that if they *lowered* ticket
prices, more people could afford it and so more would subscribe and use
their services. Similarly with sample libraries.
Setting prices for any given product also depends on the provider's
overheads. Me? I'm just a one-man-band with minimal overheads and can afford
to provide products at a rate that I think is reasonable and which will earn
me a living but not break my (potential) customer's bank. That's not to say
I can't provide a quality product/service - I just don't have to pay a
receptionist or a secretary or a team of accountants or legal people or
programmers or office rent, etc.. Other providers might have different
circumstances that they have to figure into their costs.
> Of course people have to eat but they might find that the increased
> demand created by lowering prices allows them to eat even better.
See above but any sound library developer/provider also (unfortunately)
*has* to figure in piracy losses which has to be built into the price. For
example.....
I will soon have some CDs for sale at my website. They are reasonably priced
($55) but whilst that might seem a lot for what is essentially a 50p medium,
out of that, I have to deduct production costs (duplication, artwork,
printing, promotion, etc.), postage and also the local UK tax I will have to
pay on that income. In effect, what I will 'really' get out of each sale is
probably in the region of $20 or $25 (in UK money, a tenner for each CD).
With enough sales, however, I hope I can make a living out of it. That
said....
I also know that Joe (who has bought a CD) will have Pete round one evening
and Pete will say that he likes the sounds and Joe will say "I'll run you
off a copy". Joe is not being malicious to me and he's not out to make any
money from it or do me any *intentional* harm... he's just doing Pete a
favour. Whatever... if just two or three 'friends' do that, that's a week's
food I've lost out on or an unpaid bill. Then Pete will run a copy off for a
friend of his... nothing malicious again... but if a few of the 'friends'
who got free copies do that, that's *months* of food shops I've lost out on
or some piano lessons for my daughter (and more unpaid bills... maybe even a
missed mortgage payment!). And so on... it hits me very personally! This is
how 'piracy' (however innocent) affects providers who are genuinely trying
to provide good products and a good service to the user AND trying to make a
reasonable living AND trying to make a bit of profit to afford the
development of future products to satisfy customers.
This has to be figured into the price (YES - you're paying for the pirates!)
And then there are the serious pirates who will sell the stuff on eBay
and/or make it available on any of these peer-to-peer networks like Limewire
and Kazaar or, indeed, their own websites (for free or for profit). It's a
truism that for every 'kosher' version, there are 100 illegal copies in use
now and it's a problem that is crippling this industry (and others).
Of course, the 'knee-jerk' reaction to this situation is to bump up the
price - i.e. selling one at $550 is easier/safer than trying to sell ten at
$55.... and if I manage to sell ten at $550, I am quids in! The danger
there, of course, is that I might not sell *any* at that price (too
expensive) and I'd rather get 100% of $55 than 0% of $550 (IYSWIM).
But this is where I agree with you. As well as being a 'provider', I am also
a 'user' and *I* can't afford all these high-priced libraries either so my
ethos is to make *my* products affordable so that, given enough info on the
product and good, representative audio demos, etc., people will take a
chance on the assumption that they are getting a quality product and don't
have too much to lose in the (unlikely) event that they don't like it. But
that's *my* choice - I can't vouch for other providers' pricing strategies,
however, as their circumstances might be very different.
But essentially, I agree with you - make the product more affordable and
(in theory) more people will bite. However....
Another factor then enters the equation - potential buyers ask "Why is it so
cheap? It can't be that good!". You see, a high price implies a prestige
product, a product to which some/many will 'aspire' and it reaks of
*quality* whereas a low-cost product can be perceived as 'cheap' and not
worth having (even though, ironically, it might actually be of a higher
quality than some high/over-priced product).
It's a tough balance to strike!
> Please accept my apologies for hitting a nerve Steve.
Don't worry.. it didn't hurt!
> Oh, and thanks for the long post. As a musician I'm interested in the
> realities of music "tool-making".
Believe me - having been involved in product design and manufacturing for
some 16 years, I am more than aware of 'the other side of the coin' and what
it's like to be on the 'providers' side of the fence - it's quite a bit
different from what users imagine! Making a quality product and charging
what you consider a fair price is not enough now that users expect so much
more for less (or sadly, free!). Margins on all products (be they hardware,
software, sound library - whatever) are at an all-time low (and decreasing
every day) and it is getting harder and harder for 'providers' (be they
manufacturers, developers, programmers, distributors, dealers, shops...
whatever) to make a decent living and/or pay their staff a decent wage that
couldn't be earned stacking shelves at a local supermarket... so many stages
in the process rely on peoples' enthusiasm just to be in the business (and
many are moonlighting in other - often unrelated - jobs just to make ends
meet)!
It's actually quite a grim situation with the majority of us on this 'side
of the coin' perpetually scrabbling for work and income!!! Despite what
might be imagined, we're not all sipping Pina Coladas poolside at our
Barbados holiday home at your expense... far from it!
Apologies for another long rant!
Best regards,
Steve
http://www.hollowsun.com
