Toryley Linden rss - Who are the marketing geniuses behind Ableton Live?
I'd like to know. Ableton Live now ranks a foremost piece of music production software. Containing both brilliant innovations like “elastic audio” and more conventional approaches (you've still got knobs and sliders), it emerged on the scene 7-odd years ago and generated controversial reactions. Some decried it as yet another music app with its own weird UI, which would make it hard to adopt. Others pragmatically dug into it, lauding its ability to bridge studio composition with live performance (hence the name).
Along the way, Ableton Live's maintained its core look which may be timeless in its neutrality, but added many wanted features: VST plugin support (and integrated instruments, some built in partnership with AAS) and myriad workflow improvements chief among them. Live has also teased with areas not historically expected of it: for instance, while Live is often highly-regarded for electronic (TECHNO!!!!) music, they also sell an Orchestral Instrument Collection. Remix's review of Live 6 nails it:
Throughout the program's version history, Ableton has done a great job keeping its customers informed through expansive beta-testing campaigns and heavily active user forums. By maintaining open communication with customers, Ableton has managed to not only improve its software, but also to do so in exactly the ways real users need most. The latest version, Live 6, has so many new improvements, it's hard to know where to start. But thankfully, amidst the mass of new functionality, Ableton kept the interface fluid and intuitive, helping to bring Live to a whole new level of usability and flexibility.
So that's one weighty stone in Live's storied history, and a constant with the best companies: being customer-friendly. After all, if your product or service doesn't meet their needs, they'll leave.
Coinciding with the NAMM '09 music show, Ableton Live 8 was announced (thanx for the scoop, Synthtopia!), with highlights like integration with Max/MSP (could this bring these more geeky tools into a broader audience?), Internet collaboration, and improved hardware synergy in the form of another strong joint venture, the APC40 with Akai. This may easier answer the many who ask “What's the best controller for Ableton Live?” Impressive.
I don't know what Live's marketshare is amongst DAWs. I'd like to find out, tho, because so many hardware devices (like most of M-Audio's line and the Korg nanos) are bundled with a copy of Live Lite and/or a coupon to save some bucks. This certainly lured me in, and despite its comparatively high price, Live seems to be omnipresent. It's also gone from the underground to the mainstream in the best of ways, with artists like Sasha and Daft Punk using Macs (in themselves a potent sign of pop culture) to energize the masses.
Video by eston
It's a rarity, a mongrel, a bastard child, if you will: at its core, Live is seriously nerdy. One look at the interface and you may be reminded of Star Trek's LCARS. It doesn't feel warm and cuddly. But in its stark, minimal form (which is recolorable), Live calls inspiration from the musician controlling it, and like silent protagonists in RPGs, doesn't overwhelm with a personality of its own. I certainly think that's part of the magic. Live is also a tremendous rarity, in that something so weird could catch on with more “casual” musicians like guitarists who don't want to mess with massive mixing desks, but do want to loop some tunes and explore their creativity.
Live's branding is impeccable: swirly vector shapes have graced the box art for some time, and it's no coincidence that since early versions, inside the boxes are stickers to further spread the brand. That's something you don't see with many softwares. Tangentially, tutorial courses have also popped up, a testament to the people wanting to learn Live.
Live exists at the crossroads of all this as a successful fusion: linear arranger, idea pad, live remixer, and more. One can't simply find another piece of kit which does all this, and so well. And that's not just a testament to my personal fondness (having recently purchased Live 7), it's an observation that I wish more products were so well-done. Other products exist which provide some competition, but with different focus: Sony ACID can also be loops-centric, but it's definitely not cut out for rigorous touring. I prefer some parts of ACID's UI as it's very much like Sony Vegas, my fave NLE, but alas, ACID isn't cross-platform. That's again where Live wins, because it supports both Windows and Mac, desktop and laptop.
All this is a lesson centrally relevant to social media marketing. But those circles tend to ignore or be unaware of pro audio, and I spot this bridge between “those worlds”. Clearly there's ample amounts of word-of-mouth, the same sort of passion I exemplify here: “OMG YOU GOTTA TRY LIVE!”
All that being said, though, sometimes you just gotta shut up and jam!
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January 17 2009 11:09 am | General