the only thing i can find on the site that has a pricetag is the hardware, all the service stuff is tagged as free, so i was wondering how bandlab will make money?
even the faq page for "is it really free?" says "Absolutely. It’s free for anyone and everyone— we won’t be surprising you with tiered pricing plans, trials or limited usage."
so how will this business make money? i realise it's currently still a startup, and the bloomberg article said they're funded 'til 2019, but what then?

I think Bandlab is like any web startup.  Step 1 is to get funding, Step 2 is to get as many users as possible, and then Step 3 varies.  It could be advertising or just selling the company in whole or parts.  In "our" case it might be acquiring Sonar and selling it in the same way Cakewalk/Roland/Gibson did.  I see a lot of talk on here about Sonar and the current online free Bandlab DAW being merged.  I cannot imagine that is their plan.  Sure, put a little of Bandlab into Sonar and a little of Sonar into Bandlab but there is no way they are going to create one product from the two and abandon potential paying Sonar subscribers or try to forklift all of their free users into the paying-for-Sonar category.
 
If this purchase does not work out for Bandlab then they will sell Cakewalk/Sonar to someone else.

Post count will be an in-game purchase

Karyn
Post count will be an in-game purchase

Bapu?

Mesh

Karyn
Post count will be an in-game purchase

Bapu?

I don't think even that will slow him down

From Bloomberg:
 
"BandLab isn't Kuok’s only musical endeavor. He's also turning Swee Lee, a sleepy 70-year-old distributor of guitar and audio equipment in Singapore, into a modern enterprise, selling merchandise online and offering music lessons. It's now the biggest distributor of instruments and audio equipment in Southeast Asia, with shops in Malaysia, Myanmar and Vietnam. Sales have doubled since he bought the company in 2012."
 
He's also resurrecting Harmony Guitars, owns a piece of Rolling Stone, and bought MONO Creators, who make high-end instruments cases, straps, and accessories. Seems to me BandLab is intended to be the destination site/billboard/gathering place that will lead to other endeavors that make considerable money. In other words I don't think its role is to be a profit center, but a marketing expense - and one which I think could be very cost-effective compared to traditional advertising and marketing. The more people BandLab attracts, the wider the message will be disseminated.
 
Again, this is speculation on my part but it seems logical enough.
 
 

The inevitable, cynical internet answer.
 

There is a Billing section in the BandLab profile settings where you set up your method of payment for all of the free stuff

Well, they ain't getting their money's worth outa me. ;-)

Band lab has a method to give tips and get payments. I imagine they may make something from those transactions. Other than that it is a valuable platform for the owner. Think back to before Facebook had any advertising and the huge losses it made, then look at it now. Same with Youtube. Grow it big then get the money rolling in.