Reply To: EastWest Grammy Sale – Up to 80% Off!

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With the recent news of Native Instruments (NI) entering preliminary insolvency in Germany, I’ve become increasingly cautious about developers with high fixed assets. Personally, I think we should be careful about investing heavily in EastWest and VSL right now.

My reasoning is based on what looks like a desperate push for cash flow to offset their massive studio overhead:

The Studio Liability: Maintaining legendary spaces like EastWest Studios and Synchron Stage is a huge financial burden. In a post-NI insolvency market, these high burn rates are a major red flag.
EastWest’s Price Spiral: Their constant “all-time low” sales suggest a prioritize on immediate cash flow over long-term brand value.
VSL’s Aggressive Update Fees: I’m particularly concerned about VSL’s recent monetization strategy. They seem to be repeatedly charging existing users significant fees—often well over €100—for “updates” to their legacy products and entry-level libraries (such as the Smart and Big Bang series). It feels like they are squeezing their loyal install base, including those on “affordable” tiers, for substantial cash repeatedly, possibly to fund the maintenance of the Synchron Stage.

If a platform giant like NI is failing, can these high-overhead developers survive without constantly squeezing their customers? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

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