gprokap
So SONAR loses money?
 
 

If it were making money,  I doubt that it would have been shut down so abruptly. 

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I didnt think Sonar range etc was any cheaper or that dearer than any other of the top DAWs? 

Interesting take on electronic vs. classic forms. It sure does seem like most popular music is created on a laptop these days. Especially in Asia, where it's close to 100%.
 
Talking to guitar aficionados, the consensus is that guitar sales are generally down - with the exception of cheap Chinese knockoffs, which are doing well. Kids coming up may still be buying guitars, but they aren't Strats and Les Pauls. Fender may not be in as bad a shape as Gibson, and is slowly doing better, but they're still $100,000,000 in debt with flat or declining sales.

mister happy
 Guitar and acoustic piano sales remain strong and the sales numbers for those categories dwarf the sales activity of electronic music devices by twenty fold.

This I don't buy for one second.
Gibson has been trying to push ukuleles more than electric guitars because of there growing popularity.
Look around you Mike. I don't know any kids that play guitar anymore. Its becoming a dying breed.
Its the reason Guitar center is in debt, its the reason Gibson is in debt.
 
I do agree with you on some things though.
 

bitflipper
Interesting take on electronic vs. classic forms. It sure does seem like most popular music is created on a laptop these days. Especially in Asia, where it's close to 100%.
 
Talking to guitar aficionados, the consensus is that guitar sales are generally down - with the exception of cheap Chinese knockoffs, which are doing well. Kids coming up may still be buying guitars, but they aren't Strats and Les Pauls. Fender may not be in as bad a shape as Gibson, and is slowly doing better, but they're still $100,000,000 in debt with flat or declining sales.

I think the broader issue is that for Millenials+, even kids since the mid/late 90s .. with the advent of X Factor etc .. the concept of starting a PROPER band and gigging and recording and doing your own material has been dying / died?
 
Too much effort, as is sitting down at a DAW and actually creating, not just music by numbers with pre built samples. No instant gratification, attention time span short!
 
Add to that all kids, teens now use MOBILES .. the Desktop is dead and the laptop maybe soon too. I still dont believe you can create properly on a mobile device with a small screen and a crap mini jack Audio I/O.
 
Who needs a guitar now. Just create a boy band with someone else writing the material via a Swedish hit factory.
 
Now add further THE VALUE OF MUSIC to the current generation. Its ZERO. Its all "FREE" via youtube or torrent. AND it has to be a hit for anyone to even take an interest in it even for FREE.
 
I was in bands since the 80s. We went to see bands every where possible, even if we did not know there material. If we heard a cover, that was booed off. Had to be new, original. We listened to ALBUMS and treasured them, we went well beyond the SINGLE. I finished up playing in 2010, for many years before that I watched kids coming to pubs and venues, passing by the band while on there phone, no interest in live music or the concept of playing a live instrument. I jacked it in 2010 because the recession came, the money you got from venues dropped to not worth it ( for the travel etc ). 
 
So you can see why its very very difficult for music these days .. DAWs and music software in difficulty is just a symptom of a way wider issue that I cannot see fixing itself any time soon
 
 
 
 

SONAR should be developed by 1 or 3 freelancer. That is the only way SONAR could survive.
Then only yearly updates without any plugins and synthesizers. Just to keep the function with smooth improvements. Then they could earn money.
 

I saw the new LP Studios in a sale flyer.  $1600US+ for a studio with neck binding?
 
I overpaid big time for my '14 Studio, but it was way less than the '18s and it has a 120th inlay
 

Interesting figures, thanks. I like this sentence :
 
 In this way, the Cakewalk customer will remain fully  and  continuously  supported

Profitable is not enough.  The declining numbers are the smoking gun. 
 
It's all about GROWTH now.  Growth = stock price.  Period.  Remember Craig posting in the staff notation/view forums talking about how features etc depend on sales?  (or something to that effect, don't want to put words into his mouth).  Something like: if there were features that would sell to educational institutions, china, etc - then it would get implemented asap.  Growth.  They want those projections to increase value.  Funny thing is - once they have to DELIVER and be measured, then it's a dangerous time because they can sell you off and move on to the next set of smoke and mirrors.
 
I've worked with/in lots of companies and they are ALL doing this:  they're jettisoning anything and speculating based on growth projections.  Boots the stock, etc.  There's usually a CONSTANT pressure from "leadership" to expand and find NEW markets. 
 
Profitable, legacy, etc simply does not matter when you want to make 50-60-70% returns.   Software industry especially it's epidemic.  Brick and mortar companies ALSO want to jump on the band wagon (just look at "internet of things") but it's harder because they cant move as fast etc.   Pair that with Gibson's loosing businesses and it all makes sense.
 
Read this book:  Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus: How Growth Became the Enemy of Prosperity
http://www.rushkoff.com/books/throwing-rocks-at-the-google-bus/
 
It's not the ONLY reason re CW, but it's the mindset of a LOT of businesses now.