DAW as a free platform to sell additional content

Interesting developments.
Maybe all DAWs will become free and wil be used as platforms to sell additional content, plugins, hardware, coffee mugs and T-shirts.
I see a parallel development at Propellerhead, where Reason is becoming cheaper and cheaper and a lot of additional sound libraries, rack extensions, plugins are available in the shop, claiming over 1000 companies are developing for Reason.
Now vst support is added, email campaigns for the Reason community are set up to sell third party plugins.  
 
Reason is becoming a sales channel for content and plugin developers.
 
Will the same happen with Cakewalk by Bandlab??

>>It's kind of like Vegas where the house always wins.
 
Sounds more like eBays business model.
And not a bad idea IMHO.   It's pretty darn hard to market music, and having a free DAW to do it in?  Pretty nice...
If they can make enough $$ form the music, giving away the DAW makes a lot of sense.

JClosed
And yes - I think the new model of "give away" Sonar Platinum, and charge fore expansions and plug-ins can be a very sound model. In my humble opinion they will certainly attract a larger audience than Sonar ever had, and thus a larger user base to sell those things.

 
I wonder about that model where music software is concerned?
 
VSTs are available like snuf at a wake. As in FREE VSTs and good ones at that. So why would someone necessarily buy CAKEWALK VSTs, just go off and use BL Cakewalk for free forever and use free VSTs .. a zero cost thing to you.
 
VSTs are not tied to BL CAKEWALK nor are samples etc etc. So in effect BL Cakewalk would be just another VST / Sample company trying to sell that while giving away a free but devved DAW
 
The Game engines - UNITY and UNREAL at least have a limit on usage of there game engine. If a company earns over a certain turnover they have to pay to use the engines
 

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Anybody use Kontakt?  Most of that cost is for the libraries, not the delivery system.  Yes, Virginia, it can work.  I can actually see the "free" model working.  Which newbie is going to buy PT if you can get "Cakewalk" free.  And a certain number of those users will buy extra loops.  And some will buy synths.  And a few will buy effects.  Get enough "free" users and you start to talk about real money.
 
That doesn't mean the idea will work for BL, but it will for someone along the line.

IMHO it depends on the VSTs quality and their prices whether you can sell additional stuff.
But a growing user base of Cakewalk gives the potential to sell comparable high quality plugins like Adaptive Limiter, LP-EQ, LP-MB, CA-2A and QuadCurve for tempting prices. And to be honest, most of us like to make a bargain from time to time (dependent on the price)! Somehow our greed for plugins is like women's for shoes!
 
Marc

Try to look at it this way.
DAW functionality is not much more than:

• Recording and editing Audio
• Recording and editing Midi
• Hosting virtual instruments and effects
• Mixing and Mastering

This functionality has matured over the past years and in the future there is not much innovative functionality to develop to justify asking users to pay $100 per year or more for upgrades. 
 
Ofcourse we can all think of new features but on a large scale DAW evolution is slowing down. What has been developed until now has diminishing value. Reaper can sell it for $60 (what I read in another thread) and prices are falling.
 
Companies need income to stay alive, so DAW-makers are looking for new business models.
 
Examples you can observe today are selling hardware, extra plugins or third party plugins, samples, collaboration platforms, apps. Maybe Meng has thought of even a more innovative business model.
 
That is why I believe "Cakewalk for Free" is a forerunner in these developments in a global market.
So shake off old ideas. You guys and me, we are at the beginning of a new future :-)

This new development could turn the home studio industry upside down.  Just think about it.  Bandlab just released one of the very best DAW systems to the entire world, for free.  This isn't some stripped-down toy we're talking about.  I may be biased, but I've tried Studio One and Cubase.  They're both very capable DAWs, but the more I used them, the more I missed the DAW formerly known as Sonar.  Sonar is at least their equal, and in my opinion, superior.  And now, it is 100% FREE.  Buying in to any other system will cost you hundreds of bucks.  I realize I'm sort of restating the obvious here, but it still blows my mind that this is the situation at hand.  It's nothing short of revolutionary, and I have no idea what it will ultimately mean to the industry.  My feeling is that this must be a temporary, "lure them in early" proposition, and that at a later date they'll again start charging for the software.  That would be smart.  When people start using Cakewalk and find out how great it is, they'll never want to switch.  Imagine if Cakewalk became the absolute "go-to" industry standard for everyone who was just starting off?  That's some powerful stuff right there.  

Whatever the case, it seems clear that we're all in for an interesting ride.  But best of all, I'm simply THRILLED that I can finally use the latest, greatest edition of Cakewalk again.  I had been struggling with X2 on my newly upgraded system.  Cakewalk by Bandlab is a dream come true.  Bandlab has certainly gotten my attention in a big way.

HeatherHaze
This new development could turn the home studio industry upside down.  Just think about it.  Bandlab just released one of the very best DAW systems to the entire world, for free.  This isn't some stripped-down toy we're talking about.  I may be biased, but I've tried Studio One and Cubase.  They're both very capable DAWs, but the more I used them, the more I missed the DAW formerly known as Sonar.  Sonar is at least their equal, and in my opinion, superior.  And now, it is 100% FREE.  Buying in to any other system will cost you hundreds of bucks.  I realize I'm sort of restating the obvious here, but it still blows my mind that this is the situation at hand.  It's nothing short of revolutionary, and I have no idea what it will ultimately mean to the industry.  My feeling is that this must be a temporary, "lure them in early" proposition, and that at a later date they'll again start charging for the software.  That would be smart.  When people start using Cakewalk and find out how great it is, they'll never want to switch.  Imagine if Cakewalk became the absolute "go-to" industry standard for everyone who was just starting off?  That's some powerful stuff right there.  

Whatever the case, it seems clear that we're all in for an interesting ride.  But best of all, I'm simply THRILLED that I can finally use the latest, greatest edition of Cakewalk again.  I had been struggling with X2 on my newly upgraded system.  Cakewalk by Bandlab is a dream come true.  Bandlab has certainly gotten my attention in a big way.

  Most DAWs are apple and oranges.  FL and Live will continue to dominate the dance genre market.
  Bias is created from being familiar with a DAW.  Reason users think their DAW is the best and still doesn't have options to offload their bloat on other drives.  Still can't drag and drop midi and other simple things Sonar can do.