NOT A DEAL: Spitfire Has Been Acquired by Splice

[peter]

I learned about Slice’s acquisition of Spitfire prior to today, but didn’t want to write about it until I could confirm it. It’s now official.

Of course, there are lots of implications for the sample library / virtual instrument world and I’m certain that more acquisitions will follow. Here’s a short blog post I wrote about it:

Spitfire Audio Acquired By Splice

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5

[Lionel]

Wow, business must be good for Splice with all that subscription moola pouring in each month.

Here’s hoping that this acquisition is a good thing for customers.

1

[peter]

Spitfire just sent out an email with this copy:

“Dear Spitfire Audio & LABS family,

We are delighted to announce that Splice x Spitfire Audio (including LABS) are now under one roof. Pioneers in music creation – joining forces to build the future. Richer sounds, smarter tools and endless possibilities!

Splice has become a cornerstone of modern music production and is home to the industry’s highest-quality royalty-free sample catalogue, where one million sounds are downloaded every day by a global community of over 10 million music producers and creators.

We want to thank you all for your support: from those of you who have been with us from the very start or just joined us recently. Rest assured that nothing will change to our beloved sample libraries or LABS (both free packs accessible to all and paid packs via LABS+) and we will continue to release new products at the high quality you’ve come to love and expect. Spitfire Audio will continue to be Spitfire Audio.”

https://www.spitfireaudio.com/splice-acquires-spitfire-audio

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2

[peter]

On Lionel said

Wow, business must be good for Splice with all that subscription moola pouring in each month.

Here’s hoping that this acquisition is a good thing for customers.

Although I have a lot going on with my business this week, I’m going to write a blog post on what’s going on in the industry. I see a ton of misinformation being posted on various forums and social media by people who don’t understand industry measures, trends, strategy — from hobbyists to small developers who project their own struggles / failings onto the industry. The industry is doing very well, it’s experiencing healthy growth, and acquisitions like this are a reflection of that.

I think our group will find of interest (marketing/branding/business strategy is actually my day job). But in a nutshell, growth and technological change are fueling acquisitions, and I’m sure that there are more to come. Numerous small sample developers running their businesses out of their homes are making half a million USD to millions. It’s reported that  Splice paid  $50 million US to acquire Spitfire. It made its co-founders a very nice profit and inspired many other developers to get in the game. I’m quite certain that the growth of the industry, combined with the technological advancements, will lead to many new and exciting changes for producers. I also believe that the price drops we’ve been seeing from plugin and sample developers will continue, and I’ll just be candid, that I’ve been advising sample and plugin developers to lower their prices before all of their competitors beat them to it, to grab as big of a marketshare as possible. My expectations are that, before the year is over, we’re going to see more a sample libraries and plugins come down in price.

The resistance to the price drops in the industry — largely led by VI Control’s owner, Mike Greene, with some help from his friend Andrew Aversa (Impact Soundworks) that’s included making some very hostile attacks on their competitors and using contractors to attack their competitors electronically (without disclosing their relationship with the competitor developers) is proving to be what I believed all along, fighting competitive forces in vain and incredibly anti-conumer manipulation (not to mention terrible ethics).  Mike and I have had conversations about this. He saw 8Dio and Cinesamples as leading “the race to the bottom” as he put it in numerous F-drop tirades against these competitors — and several other competitors — on his forum. Competitive forces and disruption happen in industries over time, and those who can’t adapt become extinct.

Cinesamples and 8Dio led the way, and received a great deal of attempts to sabotage their reputations for it. Inside the industry, it was well known. There are some highly unethical, dirty players in this business. Both the small players and the big players in the industry are well aware of these dynamics. I realize most hobbyists don’t care. But for those who do, that’s the lowdown on the change that’s happening right now. And yes, it’s a turbulent time in the industry, but there’s never been a better time for us folks like us who use these products and services and the trend towards lower pricing has only begun — it’s been spreading all year long.

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6

[GoncaloL]

Damn! Not sounding good at all

Im worried about all my investments on spitfire.

i was really on board about what they were doing and this will certainly change their business model

just a great reminder of what we are really buying when we invest on sample libraries

1

[mustakatu]

My Splice subscription was a total waste of money, and cancelling it was one of the best decisions I made last year. It took me too long to cancel because I didn’t want to “lose” all my credits, eventually I used them to download thousands of live-recorded drum one-shots, just to stop it all. So yes, their business model is genius.

[peter]

On GoncaloL said

Damn! Not sounding good at all

Im worried about all my investments on spitfire.

i was really on board about what they were doing and this will certainly change their business model

just a great reminder of what we are really buying when we invest on sample libraries

What are your concerns? That Splice will abandon the high-end libraries that Spitfire has been working on? That Splice won’t continue to develop or maintain Spitfire’s player? Did you watch the video with Paul Thomson and Splice’s CEO Kakul Srivastava that I embedded in the blog post? While I understand the distrust that many have for larger companies doing acquisitions, I think Splice’s CEO was very likely shooting straight in that video.

She sees Labs as appealing to the Splice customer base and the higher-end Spitfire product portfolio and customer base as expanding Splice’s reach to serious amateur, semi-pro, and pro composers. Acquisitions are all about growth for the acquiring company. She obviously is excited by the prospect of being able to expand what she can sell to the current user base, but she also wants to expand the reach of the business to higher-end customers (a smaller market with much higher profit margins).

I think that there’s an assumption that most folks have that not changing business strategy is safe. It’s not. Reality is, the danger is quite the opposite. Inertia is risky. Markets change. Companies that don’t adapt don’t survive. There’s a ton of change going on right now in the industry and that environment creates enormous uncertainty for companies in this industry. It’s been no secret that Spitfire’s co-founders have been looking to sell their company for some time. I don’t want to get into the controversy, but it clearly had A LOT to do with Henson’s quick and very quiet departure from the company. Christian and Paul didn’t want the controversy around him and any repercussions to harm their efforts to sell the company for as much money as possible, because it certainly could have harmed the company’s value very quickly.

FTR, my background is the tech industry and includes serving as a strategy director to the CEO or a Fortune 200 in addition to leading digital marketing at the Fortune 500 level. During my strategy days, I advised the CEO on potential acquisitions, which included some well-known companies (one was Intuit). The most well-known blogger that I mentored was technologist Padmasree Warrior, once one of the most followed business leaders in social media. My sense is that Splice’s CEO was shooting straight in the video. I think their strategy with this acquisition is clear and it makes a lot of sense. While I don’t know anyone from Splice or Spitfire — although I know people who do — I suspect that this will result in lower pricing for many of Spitfire’s libraries, and there being a two-teired approach, with products like Labs aimed at the Splice market and the higher end Spitfire libraries building on that for the composer market.

Now, there’s another discussion of whether purchases of non-transferable licensed sample libraries from Spitfire are truly an investment. I’d call them an expense. But they lose 100 percent of their value when we die. I suppose in some kind of psychological sense we can call them an investment, but technically, they’re an expense and they don’t have the kind of durability or longevity of physical instruments. But that’s another conversation! Is there uncertainty with this acquisition? Of course.  But there’s uncertainty if Spitfire never sold their business. That’s just the nature of business, it’s dynamic, not static. And right now is a very dynamic period in this field. I believe — and it’s reflected in the words of Splice’s CEO — that this acquisition will make many of Spitfire’s libraries more accessible (cheaper). Splice is looking to grow this market. If you listened to what Paul said, Splice is NOT going to make everything subscription-only, they’re committed to continuing with perpetual license products too. Once again, I think that Splice is likely to continue with subscriptions for Labs, growing that audience, and will likely see what’s possible with some of the mid and higher-end Spitfire sample libraries. My guess is that they’ll attempt to offer some of them on a subscription basis while still offering perpetual licensing. Eastwest, Cinesamples, and others, have proven that there is an appetite for both the subscription model and the perpetual license model. But these are the same options that Spitfire was pursuing prior to the acquisition, only now they have much greater reach and resources.

Here’s the video:

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3

[Teebacca]

She was Adobe’s VP of creative cloud engagement, which led to certain thoughts

22

[peter]

On Teebacca said

She was Adobe’s VP of creative cloud engagement, which led to certain thoughts

I did not realize that. That definitely comes with a boatload of concerns. And, FTR, I’m not saying blindly trust corporations. As a former Fortune 500 strategy guy I absolutely have a level of pragmatism for anything that execs say. There is certainly a certain level of bravado to this CEO’s statements in the video that I find pretty alienating. But it’s par for the course with execs. Is it possible that she could be looking to make everything at Spitfire subscription only? Sure. But that’s always been a possibility with all of the major sample library developers.

Again, I think that EastWest and Cinesamples/Musio have shown Splice — and other potential players looking to make acquisitions in this industry —  show that there is an appetite for subscription and perpetual licensing, and both can be very lucrative. Of course, most software CEOs LOVE subscription because it’s a highly steady, predictable stream of revenue. That’s why Spitfire was increasingly interested in developing Labs for that purpose.

I hope this also serves to educate non-business managers who naively think that lines like Labs or Pianobook are altruistic efforts done for the love of music. They’re not. These are money-making ventures that seek to put customers into the pipeline that have a long-term focus. Efforts like Pianobook and Labs give away free stuff, because they realize that many of the folks who use free libraries are folks who will, at some point, be willing to pay for libraries too. It creates a marketing channel with these future customers.The price of that marketing channel are the costs of developing these free libraries and distributing them. If you’ve ever noticed, a good deal of mid and larger players that make free libraries are spending money to promote those free libraries. So why would they spend money to persuade you to get their free libraries? Just as a hypothetical, let’s say the cost of acquiring the average customer in this business is $60 US. If they place an ad at Google or a composer site for a new free library that costs $2 a click, they put a person into the pipeline for far less cost than other channels. However, it may take a lot longer time to develop that person into a paying customer than it does to promote their paid libraries. So the philosophy and strategy of pursuing this marketing strategy is different than marketing paid libraries.

Now, on the flipside of the coin, I never liked the fact that my most prized Spitfire library, Abbey Road Iconic String 2, is in Spitfire’s proprietary format and not Kontakt. First, I think Kontakt is vastly superior to Spitfire’s player. Second, if Splice does go subscription only or gets rid of the Abbey Road line, the plugin may be history and useless to non-subscribers, which I get is the kind of concerns a lot of people now have. But once again, that risk was already there prior to the acquisition and we can’t change any of that.

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3

[GoncaloL]

Great insight on business perspective  Peter.

Im concerned about the libraries that i own but also sad with the perspective of an imminent change of direction in their future output, most of their collaboration libraries are great, some of their recent libraries also looked great.

well lets see what happens… but for now will not be spending money on Spitfire until we get a clearer picture of what there is to come

1

[peter]

On GoncaloL said

Great insight on business perspective  Peter.

Im concerned about the libraries that i own but also sad with the perspective of an imminent change of direction in their future output, most of their collaboration libraries are great, some of their recent libraries also looked great.

well lets see what happens… but for now will not be spending money on Spitfire until we get a clearer picture of what there is to come

In spite of my hopes that this will result in lowered costs for everyone who uses sample libraries — I completely agree with your pausing purchasing Spitfire libraries and I feel the same. I am cautiously optimistic.

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[Kirean]

On Teebacca said

She was Adobe’s VP of creative cloud engagement, which led to certain thoughts

That’s one of the biggest red flags for a consumer.

I wasn’t worried about my “perpetual licences” but I sure as sh*t am now.

• This reply was modified 6 months, 3 weeks ago by mustakatu.

2

[Teebacca]

Hopefully the plugin/sample-library industry learned from Waves’ backlash when they tried to abruptly drop perpetual licenses and force everyone onto subscriptions. Let’s hope Splice and Spitfire keep that lesson in mind. I don’t think they’re dumb or unaware of what people are saying, but money does weird things to people. Soundcloud introduced paid tiers and restricted features for free users, leading to user backlash and a decline in its core independent artist community. Spotify continues pushing AI-generated music despite user and artist complaints about quality and compensation. Desperate times i guess

• This reply was modified 6 months, 3 weeks ago by Teebacca.

2

[peter]

On Teebacca said

Hopefully the plugin/sample-library industry learned from Waves’ backlash when they tried to abruptly drop perpetual licenses and force everyone onto subscriptions. Let’s hope Splice and Spitfire keep that lesson in mind. I don’t think they’re dumb or unaware of what people are saying, but money does weird things to people. Soundcloud introduced paid tiers and restricted features for free users, leading to user backlash and a decline in its core independent artist community. Spotify continues pushing AI-generated music despite user and artist complaints about quality and compensation. Desperate times i guess

Granted, it’s only a good as the trust one has in these individuals, but if you watched the announcement video above, Paul makes a statement that perpetual licenses aren’t going away. Of course, like anything, that’s not a guarantee that Splice’s CEO will hold to it, but it at least conveys an awareness that these folks are aware that is an issue that matters to many Spitfire customers and, more significantly, to its target market. Now, does that give me confidence that Splice’s CEO won’t try to do subscription only? No. Most larger developers consider it.

LinkedMusicians Founder. Your friend who keeps the beat.

Check out my music. 

1

[GoncaloL]

The amount of backlash on that video is really telling of the way their customer base feel about it. There is no positive spin to it

Spitfire will surely feel an abrupt decrease in their revenue

[peter]

On GoncaloL said

The amount of backlash on that video is really telling of the way their customer base feel about it. There is no positive spin to it

Spitfire will surely feel an abrupt decrease in their revenue

Social media comments don’t always correlate to buying actions and my instincts are that these knee-jerk reactionary comments don’t reflect market behavior, just worries that people have. The AI talk in the video clearly concerned a lot of commenters. If Spiftire took actions that made its base feel it was committed to continuing forward with its high end Spitfire sample  libraries and perpetual licenses and did say, major across the board major price cuts, I don’t think there’s any doubt that they’d see some very good revenue increases. I  think, as a software company that was just acquired, you absolutely would expect that there would be a hesitation from many existing customers before making additional purchases, but the ball is in Splice’s corner on that.  I think it’s all dependent on how quickly Splice can make moves that inspire the market to have confidence that they’re committed to continuing with what many Spitfire customers  care about.

Now if Splice were to ignore the reaction in their strategy, that would be a mistake. And no, I don’t mean they need to address a bunch of reactionary YouTube comments. I think they need to take strategic and communications actions with Spitfire that conveys commitment to existing, traditional Spitfire customers. There are numerous ways they can do that. They can share product roadmaps, the CEO can merely talk about the vision for Spitfire. But the CEO should communicate, more specifically what her plans are for Spitfire beyond this high level talk. Paul gave reassurances that Spitfire was committed to perpetual licenses in the video, but I think the CEO needs to do communication from her that is clear in order to quiet the concerns of existing Spitfire perpetual license customers.

Now, if I were in the CEO’s shoes, I would have used this video tomake very clear that Splice was committed to Spitfire’s current customer base and then spoke about the future. I think there was a lot of the CEO’s ego in that video. She was concerned about painting herself as a visionary and painting Splice as a visionary that cares about artists. But when you make an acquisition of an established company with a solid customer base, the first priority should be assuring that customer base that you are committed to them. She did poorly in that area. But it doesn’t mean that Splice doesn’t have that commitment. Paul was carrying those messages and instead the Splice CEO just like waxing philosophical and talking about her own background. Not a great first impression. She should have had Paul introduce her and then focused on Spitfire’s future FIRST then Splice’s vision. But the YouTube comments, IMO, aren’t measured reactions and my experience leads me to believe that they will not reflect market behavior — just already known negative perceptions about AI among many hobbyist musicians and negative perceptions of the Splice brand, largely by people who don’t use those kinds of samples (based on a quick read of the comments). Put out a believable statement that shares that Splice is committed to continuing with Spitfire orhcestral library lines and do across the board deep discounts and I’m very confident that you would NOT see sales decline.

LinkedMusicians Founder. Your friend who keeps the beat.

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1

[GoncaloL]

Really hope that is the case, will wait and see

[peter]

On GoncaloL said

Really hope that is the case, will wait and see

Well, it’s all about Splice’s CEO. This acquisition has the potential to be a great success for Splice AND Spitfire customers (of which I am one; and FTR, I have never consulted to Spitfire, but I have consulted to some of their competitors; I am a Spitfire customer — I own maybe 10 of their libraries).  Of course, the CEO also has an opportunity to completely screw this up. In either case, I don’t think that the YouTube commenters are being anything more than reactionaries going off half-baked.

If Splice used their financial and human resources to incorporate AI into orchestral library plugins to make them be able to more accurately perform various instrument techniques that are difficult to do using sample libraries, would you find that beneficial? What if AI could go beyond today’s DAW quantization capabilities and analyze and refine your MIDI playing for an orchestra to make it better reflect a real performance?  What if they could take those less than realistic guitar strums you played and make them sound as realistic as an actual skilled guitarist?

THE RELATED DEEP DIVE ON AI IN MUSIC PRODUCTION, SHOULD WE DO A SPIN OFF TOPIC? I WOULD BE INTERESTED IN IT. I WROTE AN ARTICLE ON AI IN THE BUSINESS WORLD THAT’S GOTTEN SOME TRACTION IN THE BUSINESS WORLD, BUT THIS USE OF AI IS MUCH MORE INTERESTING TO ME — AS IT IS MUCH MORE COMPLEX AND CROSSES INTO BUSINESS, ETHICAL, AND ARTISTIC / CREATIVE AREAS.

Don’t get me wrong, I spent years being trained as a musician and I’m the son and brother of music educators. I’ve played in numerous bands with music educators, and to me, playing with other musicians was always the most exciting part of music. Even when I’ve written or arranged music, the really exciting part is when I get to be part of a group of musicians performing music. So for me, what excites me about music is the creativity and performance part of it. I would NEVER want to outsource that to AI or an algorithm. However, the vast majority of people spending money on sample libraries, loops, one shots, plugins, and DAWs are hobbyists and very high percentage of them are not trained musicians or people with professional experience in music.

If I’m going to be super blunt. The industry makes most of its money on the unrealistic pipe dreams of people who aspire to be professionals who have little hope of ever reaching those aspirations, but the industry encourages them because it makes them a lot of money. For me, my days of performing professionally ended decades ago, and I’m just doing music for the joy of it (I’m happy if my family just sees glimpses of what I could once do and thinks something sounds cool). But the industry thrives on people’s unrealistic hopes, if we’re going to be really honest. That’s what the music streaming distribution services are based on. That is what Spitfire makes most of its money from — people’s unrealistic fantasies about being the next Hans Zimmer or even the next Billy Elish and Finneas. I am not for taking away people’s fantasies, I would just like to see the costs they pay come down. But as a strategist, I also see that the market for the kinds of tools that Spitfire makes can reach a MUCH larger audience if AI and lower prices made them more accessible to more people.

LinkedMusicians Founder. Your friend who keeps the beat.

Check out my music. 

[fretman]

On Teebacca said

Hopefully the plugin/sample-library industry learned from Waves’ backlash when they tried to abruptly drop perpetual licenses and force everyone onto subscriptions. Let’s hope Splice and Spitfire keep that lesson in mind. I don’t think they’re dumb or unaware of what people are saying, but money does weird things to people. Soundcloud introduced paid tiers and restricted features for free users, leading to user backlash and a decline in its core independent artist community. Spotify continues pushing AI-generated music despite user and artist complaints about quality and compensation. Desperate times i guess

So if not Soundcloud, what does the independent artist community use for their online catalog now?

Studio One, Windows, RME UFX, Yamaha MSP7

[peter]

On fretman said

On Teebacca said

Hopefully the plugin/sample-library industry learned from Waves’ backlash when they tried to abruptly drop perpetual licenses and force everyone onto subscriptions. Let’s hope Splice and Spitfire keep that lesson in mind. I don’t think they’re dumb or unaware of what people are saying, but money does weird things to people. Soundcloud introduced paid tiers and restricted features for free users, leading to user backlash and a decline in its core independent artist community. Spotify continues pushing AI-generated music despite user and artist complaints about quality and compensation. Desperate times i guess

So if not Soundcloud, what does the independent artist community use for their online catalog now?

Studio One, Windows, RME UFX, Yamaha MSP7

I realize that you weren’t asking me, but it’s very genre-dependent. But if you’re in the rock genre, BandCamp is still the best game in town for indie artists and, it seems to provide better revenue opportunities than alternative platforms.

Dave Kerzner has done very well there and their basic artist accounts are free. Some trivia here. Dave, our own Peter from IK and I go way back — to the early 00s. I’m pretty sure that when Peter and I first got acquainted, he had known me as a writer from my publication, as the dot com he worked for had a CEO who recommended the employees read my publication (after tendinitis killed my ability to perform music, I threw myself into writing; but eventually lost interest).  And I knew Dave as the keyboardist from the late great Kevin Gilbert’s band (if you don’t know you Kevin was, he was an incredibly talented musician and songwriter whose girlfriend and keyboardist prior to Dave was Sheryl Crowe — he wrote some of her popular songs on her first album; Kevin had a reputation as a profoundly talented musician that was nicknamed “the Mozart of rock” on the LA studio scene). Here’s a video of his pre-solo band he co-led with keyboardist and producer Patrick Leonard with Sheryl on keys:

A link to BandCamp, which I’m sure you’re familiar with.

https://bandcamp.com/artists?from=hpartists

LinkedMusicians Founder. Your friend who keeps the beat.

Check out my music. 

[GoncaloL]

I dont think that most of the people are concerned about the possible AI implementation on Spitfire Libraries.

I think the main concern is about the implications of this acquisition in the actual Spitfire business model and what that will mean for their purchased libraries, or at least it is my main concern.

will wait to see what they do next

[peter]

On GoncaloL said

I dont think that most of the people are concerned about the possible AI implementation on Spitfire Libraries.

I think the main concern is about the implications of this acquisition in the actual Spitfire business model and what that will mean for their purchased libraries, or at least it is my main concern.

will wait to see what they do next

I ran a sentiment analysis on comments made on the YouTube video (this is an AI analysis with me specifying the criteria), at VI-Control, and KVR to get some analysis and insights:

Sentiment analysis of discussions on vi-control.net and KVR Audio regarding Splice’s acquisition of Spitfire Audio reveals a mix of cautious optimism, skepticism, and unresolved concerns. Here’s a breakdown of key themes:

1. Skepticism About Subscription Models
Subscription fatigue: Users on vi-control.net express apprehension about Splice’s focus on subscriptions, fearing Spitfire’s perpetual licenses might be phased out. One member stated they’re hesitant to purchase Spitfire products post-acquisition due to Splice’s “obsession with subscriptions”.
Labs and accessibility: While Spitfire’s LABS free library is praised, some worry its integration into Splice’s ecosystem might dilute its unique ethos or limit accessibility for non-subscribers.

2. Legal and Creative Concerns
Sample licensing ambiguity: Threads on vi-control.net highlight confusion about whether samples created with Spitfire libraries can be legally shared/sold on Splice. Users note this is a “grey area” with no clear legal precedent, though Spitfire historically allows samples in “musical contexts” (not isolated).

AI integration fears: The YouTube video transcript mentions Splice’s AI initiatives, sparking debates about ethical compensation for artists and fears of “button-push music” undermining creativity. However, both CEOs emphasize AI as a tool for enhancing-not replacing-human creativity.

3. Optimism About Collaboration
Technological synergy: Many acknowledge potential benefits, such as combining Spitfire’s orchestral expertise with Splice’s distribution reach. The YouTube video highlights plans for “richer sounds, smarter tools, and endless possibilities,” including deeper DAW integration.
Expanded access: Users on KVR Audio note that Splice’s global platform could democratize Spitfire’s high-end sounds, particularly for indie creators.

4. Cultural and Quality Apprehensions
Creative control: Longtime Spitfire users worry the partnership might prioritize mass-market trends over niche, artist-driven tools. One vi-control.net member cited Spitfire’s focus on “imperfection and humanity” in samples as a strength that could be eroded.

Corporate influence: Skeptics question whether Splice’s tech-first approach aligns with Spitfire’s composer-centric ethos. However, both companies stress shared values, with Splice’s CEO calling the merger a “meeting of musicians”.

5. Neutral/Ambivalent Reactions
Wait-and-see attitude: Several threads on KVR Audio and vi-control.net adopt a neutral stance, emphasizing that the acquisition’s impact depends on future product releases.
Historical precedent: Older discussions (pre-2025) about Spitfire’s licensing policies resurfaced, with users noting the company’s past flexibility compared to competitors.

Summary
The community’s sentiment leans cautiously optimistic, with excitement about potential innovations tempered by fears of subscription creep, legal ambiguities, and cultural clashes. Splice and Spitfire’s challenge will be balancing scalability with the artisan quality that made Spitfire a favorite among composers.

LinkedMusicians Founder. Your friend who keeps the beat.

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1

[GoncaloL]

Interesting 🤔

[peter]

I think Splice is in a great position to expand its market reach and revenue. Of course, that’s no guarantee that the CEO will take them in the right direction. She could very well go all in on subscriptions, as many Spitfire customers fear. Of course, I would not like that. But all we can do right now is wait and see. If I was spending on sample libraries right now, I would absolutely hit the pause button on Spitfire libraries before we saw signs of what she’s going to do with the Spitfire. Once again, just like I feel with small, indie sample developers, I really wish that my Spitfire libraries didn’t use their proprietary player and instead used Kontakt. To be really candid, I don’t like Spitfire’s player; I find Kontakt vastly superior and if Spitfire had used Kontakt for all of their libraries, we wouldn’t be as concerned about support for the Spitfire libraries we’ve purchased from them working in the future. Once again, I believe the CEO should — very soon — be doing messaging to reassure Spitfire customers that they’re committed to the perpetual license model, as Paul stated. Of course, only if that’s truly the case. But I think there’s enough concern that I think it would be a very wise move to have some direct communication from the CEO about it.

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