Band-in-a-Box business model - Why didn't it work for the Bakers?

What you need to know to use BIAB? Almost nothing... Super toy for wide audience, from noobs to pro music players/composers.
 
What you need to know to use mixing/mastering software? You start as in online shooter for the first time - one week you are killed during the first seconds of the battle, with no ideas from where
 
Watch old Cakewalk videos. Recording/mixing a song in 1 hour. Can a noob follow? And when it comes to "at the point we take already prepared chain from our friend since he is better at mastering..." you understand: "why I have bought Sonar and not BIAB"
 

I'm comparing the business models, not the products per sé.
 
The EZDrums guys, ToonTracks, have the same model.
Base product perfectly usable as-is, augmented by a growing library of reasonably-priced add-ons.
 
Come to think of it, there WAS a move at the Bakery to make Sonar easier to use.
But it started and ended with the derided "Add Track" button.
The community expressed concern that Sonar was being dumbed-down.
 
Craig started a thread to gather thoughts from the community about DAW ease-of-use.

Dup.

anydmusic
I think that it's because BIAB is easier to use so no learning curve and most users want the new styles so buy content rather than features.

And there is practically no competition for what BIAB does.  If you need that, the only real competition is last year's release.  Many people upgrade every 2 years or every 3 years.  I have historically upgraded every year, but their focus has meandered into the "real tracks" and I use BIAB mainly for the MIDI it can generate.  I am planning to skip this upgrade because there is practically nothing in it for MIDI users.
 
The user interface continues to be horrendous, especially for multiple monitors.  It comes across as a 1990-style program.  So I am not sure this is a business model to emulate.

denverdrummer
The subscription plan was the end of the road for Sonar, but they had been dying long before that. ...
I saw the writing on the wall when Gibson bought them,

I never saw the compelling reason for the subscription model, and it also seemed strange that the company was so vigorous in denying it actually was a subscription model.  If all the DAWs were going to subscription-only, maybe one could say Cakewalk was forced into it.  But going it alone this way doesn't look like such a great move.
 
Personally I have an intense dislike of anything that commits me to regular payments .  I cannot avoid this with my electric bill, and I choose to have cable.  But I haven't had a car loan for 35 years and given a choice between a product that has a one-time change and one on a subscription, I will almost always avoid the subscription.  It just seems like a sleazy way of marketing -- selling a pig in a poke.
 
We already had razor blades selling on subscription. Now I see Fruit of the Loom is offering underwear subscriptions.  If it is OK with them, I think I'll decide for myself when it is time to trade in my old underwear.
 
It really does beg the question what all of that subscription noise really accomplished for Gibson.

Snehankur

cparmerlee

anydmusic
I think that it's because BIAB is easier to use so no learning curve and most users want the new styles so buy content rather than features.

And there is practically no competition for what BIAB does.  If you need that, the only real competition is last year's release.  Many people upgrade every 2 years or every 3 years.  I have historically upgraded every year, but their focus has meandered into the "real tracks" and I use BIAB mainly for the MIDI it can generate.  I am planning to skip this upgrade because there is practically nothing in it for MIDI users.
 
The user interface continues to be horrendous, especially for multiple monitors.  It comes across as a 1990-style program.  So I am not sure this is a business model to emulate.

There was a software called Jammer 6.
More intuitive. But the store is closed long back.
Regards
Snehankur

Jammer by Soundtrek is still available. Store has never shut. Program is not being developed any further.

http://www.soundtrek.com/index.maint3.html

Yes I tried for last 2 years to buy it.
No luck.
 

I struggled off/on with BiaB (mostly off) until I find got a handle on combining styles.  The first version I had was V9, way back when.  It is a bit disappointing to see the same clunky interface after all these years, BUT, this might be a clue to their survival.  From what I've seen, they have a single developer.  When new versions are released they are quite generous with counting up "new features".  Point is that they aren't making anywhere near the investment in ongoing dev work that the modern DAWs-writers are.
 
My only experience with Jammer was the version included with PA8 or 9.  Might've been a trial.  Whatever it was it constantly crashed.  In fact, my Jammer experience led me to BiaB.
 
As far as it being a toy goes, I guess that depends on how you use it.  It is fun to play with once in a while, but IMO, it is a very serious tool for songwriting.  Even if you never export or render anything out of it, BiaB makes it pretty easy to explore ideas that can be further developed by traditional means.

did biab lose the comic sans ui font yet?
 

Think the PGMusic model succeeds because they deliver significant additional sounds and functionality with their upgrades.  I upgrade because I want those new things.  Cakewalk did that as well, but I seldom felt like I HAD to have the things in the next version.  Just me.