Reply To: Opportunities for LM in the Year Ahead, and Why It Matters To You

[LinkedMusicians]

On Xandre said

One thing I sometimes struggle with is wanting to support developers, but also wanting to save a couple of bucks.

I assume buying directly from a software developer would give them the most margin. But I would like to know which resellers are most ‘ethical’, especially towards smaller developers. And maybe some developers don’t even have their own storefront because that is even more expensive for them than hand off a margin to a reseller.

So I’d love to have some more insight/transparency on that, when deciding on buying something.

You’re right that a developer selling directly makes a higher margin. Retailers will typically take 40 to 50 percent of a sale (I don’t want to name specifics but some of the heavy discount retailer outlets take even higher percentages). However, a retailer will give a developer much greater reach, so it’s about the volume — the total revenue not margins — and also keep in mind that if a developer’s products don’t sell at a retailer, they’ll be dumped. Consequently,  I tend to buy where i find the best price. Developers I know are happy with that. For example,. I had a call with Steven Slate early on when he started out selling Steven Slate Drums. He was selling them directly. But when he got retail distribution, he saw sales increase far beyond what he was selling directly and it took the business to another level.

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