Reply To: Your Thoughts on Black Friday Season So Far…

[LinkedMusicians]

I think because I’ve immersed myself in posting these deals to the point of putting LinkedMusicians in the same league of deal quantity –but better quality — close to what you find in the big subreddit and Facebook plugin and sample library deal groups, I’ve been more burned out by the deals starting early (Sept.) than anyone else here. IRL, friends will say to me, “Your expertise is in marketing, so aren’t you immune to the promotional tactics that companies use?” (Okay, I’m correcting most people improperly using the term marketing when they’re referring to promotion). And the answer is no. When it’s for things that tap into my love and passion for music, it’s not like it’s not completely logical. It’s like buying stuff for your kids — there’s part of your heart involved in the purchase decision. It’s emotional. Yes, I can analyze what these developers and retailers are doing — and there’s a ton of blatant manipulation to it that I’m acutely aware of, but when it’s something that appeals to you so much, that emotion is very compelling.

But there is a deal fatigue that sets in when we’re being bombarded with incredibly deep discounts. Where stuff that would have seemed unbelievable a few years ago — like picking up 10 premium Universal Audio plugins for less than 10 bucks each or over 100 pro quality sample libraries with a free player (Musio) for under $120. But when you keep seeing them day after day, the outrageous deep discounting becomes normalized, no longer able to command our attention as it once did. And suddenly, an inexpensive purchase of say $30 or less that would have been in the realm of an impulse decision only a few years ago, now has a longer decision cycle.

One thing is certain, once the market has this kind of major disruption in pricing, it can’t easily return to the old pricing structures. UAD and Waves can’t simply go back to charging $200 for a plugin. The market’s expectations have changed and now it’s going to be even harder to get people to move than when we first saw prices come down.

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