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I got Band-in-a-Box earlier this year and did nothing with it.
Now I get an e-mail, upgrade offer $199 to 2018 version valid til end of December.
Also with add-on pack for $49. Will I bite? Yes!
 
But it makes me wonder about the business model:
You buy the product and get free updates to the end of the year.
Then you get an upgrade offer, no pressure, to the next year's version.
Even if you skip versions, there's always some discount tempting you back.
 
Then there's all the add-on packs coming out all the time, full of new styles, loops, etc.
 
And on YouTube there's  not just tutorials, but also people having a great time making fools of themselves with this thing.
 
BiaB is an auto-accompanist, sort-of toy, sort-of inspiration machine. Definitely no pro cred.
The base product is perfectly usable stand-alone, boosted by this steady stream of non-essential but enticing add-ons.
 
Why was the base bread and jam donuts model not successful for Cakewalk?
 

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 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.

I skipped a few years but upgraded last year. No plans to upgrade now as I only use midi and there is no new content that interests me. When the program was midi only I upgraded more frequently to get the new styles. Especially when they added ones in a genre I play.

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.

As I recall, that was going to be Sonar's model, i.e. every now and then a major new tool/facility was going to be introduced with a selling price for that special add-on.  None of these saw the light of day, so no new income streams came from the existing customer base.
 
Over the last few years they just haven't been good at implementing their no-doubt laudable plans (which will have formed a key part of initial and regular business presentations to their new owners), and Gibson's patience ran out.  Gibson have neen portrayed as the bad guys here, but the truth is that if CW had been delivering the profit and cash milestones in their five-year and annual plans then Sonar would still be alive.
(I'll get me coat...)

Dup.

BIAB wasn't bought by Gibson - end of story.
 
We are also comparing apples to oranges.

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.

The subscription plan was the end of the road for Sonar, but they had been dying long before that.

But in answer to your question, Cakewalks loyal customer base was used to $100-150 upgrades. When you double the price, they turned off their own customer base and they weren't attracting any new customers either.

I saw the writing on the wall when Gibson bought them, and the moment they announced lifetime updates, I knew it was only a matter of time.

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.