Waves go subscription only (and back again)

[GR Baumann]

Predatory practice nails it!

[Jaap]

I am going to stick with my plan to replace everything as I have the feeling they will drop the sub bomb only again at some point in the future when they have build up a sustainable amount of subscribers.

[soundbylaura]

I am going to stick with my plan to replace everything as I have the feeling they will drop the sub bomb only again at some point in the future when they have build up a sustainable amount of subscribers.

Same, as much as I can. Might take a while but that's ok.

[Lawrence]

Y’all don’t think the same reaction will occur if they try it again?

[Jaap]

Y’all don’t think the same reaction will occur if they try it again?

I think they aim with the subs for the young generation and if they manage to get them onboard and get a good stable revenue from that, then it will be much easier to make the step again as then they have already a lot of folks committed and they have to fear less the reaction from the current (older) customer base.

[Guy Rowland]

Y’all don’t think the same reaction will occur if they try it again?

I think you’re exactly right.

I don’t want to be too hyperbolic, but today feels like a watershed moment. Waves can never try it again, it’s a total humiliation. And no-one else can ever try the same trick.

The worst it can get is that Waves will have to give due warning, but I doubt they’d do that either. It’s significant that they are restoring everything - purchases and WUP - which says to me they knew that anything less wouldn’t cut it. Trying to row back on the row back would be insane. And ultimately, having lost, why would they want to pick that fight all over again, to just restrict choice?

But I do hear you Jaap and Laura. I can definitely see why people will be careful about buying anything new from them again. My main anger was the feeling that what I own and paid for would ultimately be taken from me (due to OS migration). I really didn’t want to have to stop using Clarity VX or Soundshifter. But if there was something new really excellent from them I’d still probably jump now, (relatively) secure in the knowledge that they comprehensively lost their strong-arm tactics, have had to endure a ton of humility and need to rebuild trust.

Will be interesting to see if they re-open up to third party resellers.

[Lawrence]

Y’all don’t think the same reaction will occur if they try it again?

I think they aim with the subs for the young generation and if they manage to get them onboard and get a good stable revenue from that, then it will be much easier to make the step again as then they have already a lot of folks committed and they have to fear less the reaction from the current (older) customer base.

It’s a good point, Jaap. I think they may be waiting a while though

[soundbylaura]

Adobe did it. Yes I think it's possible they will try again.

[Lawrence]

Adobe did it. Yes I think it's possible they will try again.

If you had to guess, would you think they’d try again in the next year or two?

[Guy Rowland]

Adobe did it. Yes I think it's possible they will try again.

I’ve been sticking my neck out on this for many years now. Adobe was 12 years ago, and since then not a single company has successfully followed.

Adobe managed to do it because of visuals, where they dominated. Audition was a sort of special case that got caught up in that world. Nearly all the examples people cite are in other industries or have major caveats. Avid is the most obvious (also very much in the video game), but they had to rapidly backpedal when they realised the audio market wouldn’t stomach subs-only. Soon they were even offering discounts to their reinstatement plans so people with permanent licenses were protected, and in fact most surprisingly to me withdrew that terrible plan to convert your permanent license to rental. I wouldn’t be surprised if they eventually started selling new permanent again one day.

In audio, no-one has made it stick for over a decade, yet people kept telling me the move to subs was inevitable and I had to get used to it. I 100% accept that there is a trend to offer subs services, but crucially it is alongside, not instead of. The events this week I think will seal that. It’s a watershed moment, a big “don’t you dare” to anyone who tries to follow, and imo the end of the myth that the migration to subs-only is inevitable.

Course I could be wrong, maybe today Waves will say “sorry guys, it’s too hard to fix the website, back to subs-only”. They may back-pedal in 5 years time. Highly unlikely I think, but if they did I’d only have paid them anything more if I move to silicon. If I don’t, then I don’t need to pay them another cent. That’s because I don’t need to rush to WUP now, because the least likely thing at all is Waves doing another overnight change with no warning.

[Guy Rowland]

I wonder how long it will take for Waves to get their website back in order. One can only imagine the chaos there now, I bet there were IT people saying for months “you absolutely sure you don’t want to keep the option to sell WUP and permanent licenses, because it’s gonna be a shit-ton of work to go back unless we factor it in”, and being told no, this was the future.

There’s been tons of people saying what gifts and policy changes Waves should give to make up for all this. While I’m not holding my breath for a sudden outburst of generosity, one thing should be non-negotiable - everyone with an active WUP gets an extension for the duration of the time they’ve not been able to use it. If it takes them a month to restore it all, everyone gets an extra month (at the very least).

[Piet De Ridder]

Adobe has much more power over its user base, and gets away with causing much more distress and despondency among those users, than Waves or any audio developer ever might. Because Adobe has no significant competition. Sure, there's Affinity, but despite it being affordable and brilliant software -- in some ways superior to Adobe's (and in others less so) -- it still hasn't succeeded in breaking the almost absolute hegemony of Adobe, and it is doubtful that it will any time soon.

Part of my job, in recent years, is checking the design work from other designers, and correcting it if necessary, so that it conforms to Universal Music's extremely strict PDF- and printing-specifications. I've been doing this for the past four, five years and I have *never ever* received files that were created in Affinity. It's always, without a single exception, InDesign, Illustrator and/or Photoshop. Only to say: there are of course designers that use Affinity -- maybe more so in the UK and the US than over here, I don't know -- but the graphic community, as a whole still relies mostly on Adobe. Which places Adobe in a pretty comfortable, almost as good as untouchable position.

Waves' users have a degree of power that Adobe users don't have at all. Adobe's subscription system is a hundred times worse (and insanely more expensive) than any other subscription I know of, but apart from the occasional ripple of disgruntlement on some forum or other (usually after yet another Adobe decision that causes serious problems for a segment of its users), there's hardly any sustained protest. Certainly nothing on a scale of what Waves has had to swallow these past couple of days.

Adobe can pretty much afford not to listen to its users. Waves can't do that because there's that very real danger of those users, en masse, seeking their tools somewhere else.

(If it sounds like I'm painting Adobe as an evil empire, that's not entirely my intention. All my communication thus far with people from the company has always been very friendly and they do their best to help. It's just that what's being decided in the boardrooms high up Adobe Towers, by the men and women in the suits, is often done with little regard and thus unpleasant consequences for the Adobe user.)

__

[soundbylaura]

There’s been tons of people saying what gifts and policy changes Waves should give to make up for all this.

I joked about an extension of WUP. On another site I saw someone call for the firing of their entire management team and a selling of the company. Insert eye-roll emoji here.

They messed up. They are going to fix it. They don't owe us anything. Calling for heads to roll is just so... internet-y.

[Guy Rowland]

I joked about an extension of WUP. On another site I saw someone call for the firing of their entire management team and a selling of the company. Insert eye-roll emoji here.

They messed up. They are going to fix it. They don't owe us anything. Calling for heads to roll is just so... internet-y.

Ha! Very internet-y.

[Guy Rowland]

The WUP is back, same rates as before.

Update – March 30, 2023: Updates for Perpetual Plugins & Bundles Are Available

We would like to update you that effective immediately, you can once again renew your Waves Update Plan in order to update perpetual plugin and bundle licenses. This option will remain in place going forward.

In addition, we are working to bring back the option to purchase new perpetual licenses for plugins and bundles. This option will exist side-by-side with the new Waves Creative Access subscriptions. We are devoting all efforts to making the perpetual option available to you again as quickly as possible, and will let you know as soon as it is ready. Please check back for updates on this page.

Not sure if they’ll be doing sales on it in future, or whether or not they’ll do bundle updates. So now quite happy to not panic and just buy it only as and when needed in the future.

[IFM]

I joked about an extension of WUP. On another site I saw someone call for the firing of their entire management team and a selling of the company. Insert eye-roll emoji here.

They messed up. They are going to fix it. They don't owe us anything. Calling for heads to roll is just so... internet-y.

Ha! Very internet-y.

Maybe, but from damage to the brand and revenue standpoint, if this was cooked up by someone new in leadership, their boss should relieve them of duty IMO. I won't say how, but I knew this was coming unofficially for a few months and couldn't say anything. Once I knew for certain before the announcement, I asked some of the same questions I know would ignite fires if implemented and had a feeling it was going to be a nightmare. Now they have pissed off customers that might have considered re-upping WUP or getting more plugins but now will avoid Waves like the plague and just look elsewhere.

[Guy Rowland]

I think I wrote this elsewhere, but after this mad storm has died, I think the previous unity among Waves customers (“NO!”) has split into two camps. I think it’s perfectly reasonable for someone or some people high up to lose their job(s) over it, but I don’t call for it. So I’m in the pragmatist camp. I’ve invested a good deal of money in my plugins, like them, want to continue using them, saw they did something incredibly dumb and have rowed back. The ideologue camp feel their crime was so heinous they should never be forgiven or trusted again. I get the anger, but personally I think they obviously wont try it again because it is commercial suicide.

[wst3]

It is clear that at least someone at Waves has some common sense... notice it was not the CEO that announced the turn-around, that is odd!

We can never know for certain, but I agree with Guy, it was an enormous error in judgement, and they are not likely to repeat it as long as the folks that reversed it remain on board.

[Thomas Mavian]

On a side note there was an upside to this, Solid State Logic took a few of their plugins that was only available in their subscription model and made them available to buy or rent-to-own.

[Guy Rowland]

On a side note there was an upside to this, Solid State Logic took a few of their plugins that was only available in their subscription model and made them available to buy or rent-to-own.

[CLAPS HANDS] Just what I was hoping for! I'd said I thought this might be a watershed moment. Waves are big beasts, and everyone has seen what has happened to them.

[Guy Rowland]

Perpetual licenses are back on sale for $29.99, and bundles at old-typical discounts. As yet, no bundle upgrades - no word if these are coming or if they’ve gone for good. Given the piecemeal return of things, I suspect it’s the former.

[Guy Rowland]

Third party resellers are back. Handy, Waves.com has been down for me all day.

[Guy Rowland]

Bundle upgrades have now retuned. That was the last thing to be restored - everything back to how it was.