Advice on copyright and serial numbers stuff
-
@SteveRiggs said in Advice on copyright and serial numbers stuff:
The main thing I’m struggling to understand though (please excuse my lack of knowledge about all this part) is when a customer buys the plugin from my website for example, how do you set something up so that the right serial numbers get sent to them automatically?
My webstore is Wordpress/Woocommerce and I'm using License Manager to deliver serial numbers to customers.
https://wordpress.org/plugins/license-manager-for-woocommerce/
You would generate the serials just like the Simple Copy Protection tutorial, and then load those codes into the license manager. The license manager takes care of the rest.@SteveRiggs said in Advice on copyright and serial numbers stuff:
I’ve been a bit hesitant to use this simple copyright method anyway as I heard it’s not that secure? My first Kontakt library that I made before I discovered HISE ended up getting pirated so after all of the hard work building this new batch of plugins I really don’t want them to end up getting pirated as well. That one did have no copyright protection on though so it was inevitable. I just don’t want to make the same mistake twice.
As @Christoph-Hart said, simple copy protection is the equivalent of a "garden fence". It will only slightly deter people from freely sharing your software. HISE has a proper copy protection built in if you're interested. It's not free, but it's legit. The other option is going with iLok... also not free (and not cheap) but works well.
Dan Korneff - Producer / Mixer / Audio Nerd
-
@dustbro said in Advice on copyright and serial numbers stuff:
HISE has a proper copy protection built in if you're interested
How do you get this?
-
@dustbro
@dustbro said in Advice on copyright and serial numbers stuff:
My webstore is Wordpress/Woocommerce and I'm using License Manager to deliver serial numbers to customers.
https://wordpress.org/plugins/license-manager-for-woocommerce/
You would generate the serials just like the Simple Copy Protection tutorial, and then load those codes into the license manager. The license manager takes care of the rest.Thanks man. This one sounds a lot easier, and I do have Woocommerce set up already for my merch store. Not tried it for digital products yet though. I'll watch some Youtube videos on it now :)
@dustbro said in Advice on copyright and serial numbers stuff:
As @Christoph-Hart said, simple copy protection is the equivalent of a "garden fence". It will only slightly deter people from freely sharing your software. HISE has a proper copy protection built in if you're interested. It's not free, but it's legit. The other option is going with iLok... also not free (and not cheap) but works well.
This was my main worry really. I'm probably being too careful and holding myself up in the process, but really don't want them getting cracked and shared about if I can help it!
I'd love to hear more about the proper copy protection solution though and work out the best option. @Christoph-Hart did mention it briefly before when I spoke to him but I didn't want to keep bugging him about it cus I know he's mega busy. Any info would be proper useful :)
-
@dustbro
This Licence Manager has definitely helped me understand a bit more now. Thanks man. I just installed it so I'll try and make a test product now and go through the process to see how it works fully...
I'm wondering now though (I didn't spot it in the Youtube video I just watched on Licence manager).. the serials that you load into it, is there a way to set it so that each serial can only be used once?
-
@SteveRiggs said in Advice on copyright and serial numbers stuff:
I'm wondering now though (I didn't spot it in the Youtube video I just watched on Licence manager).. the serials that you load into it, is there a way to set it so that each serial can only be used once?
Actually, I think I found it. It looks like you can :) I'll have a look into it more now...
@dustbro @d-healey Thanks for your help fellas. Starting to get somewhere now!
-
@BWSounds said in Advice on copyright and serial numbers stuff:
@dustbro said in Advice on copyright and serial numbers stuff:
HISE has a proper copy protection built in if you're interested
How do you get this?
You have to contact @Christoph-Hart directly for pricing.
-
@SteveRiggs -I've sent you a PM...
-
@dustbro said in Advice on copyright and serial numbers stuff:
https://wordpress.org/plugins/license-manager-for-woocommerce/
Can you make this licensing a little more transparent on the usage? For new people the project?
-
@SteveRiggs I am yet to see a system that can't be hacked by dedicated hackers. There is software out there by major companies that routinely gets hacked. I think that solely worrying about copy protection as a way to protect your product is not the best way to go.
First of all, I suggest making your products highly affordable and offering such a value that they are irresistible. Make them affordable and easy for an average user to purchase and they will unlikely be looking for cracked versions, which can bring viruses. You want to help turn your offer into an Impulse buy. Remember, it doesn't matter for how much you sell your digital product. All that matters is the quantity. It is better to sell 10 of your products for $200, than 1 for $50.
Rather than sweating over possible hacks, focus on your marketing instead. Build rapport and trust with your customers/ potential customers and get them to buy into you and your brand. Then, they will be buying from you on a continual basis.
I speak from experience. This is the approach I have taken with my BeatBuddy Library for the last 5 years and it has been quite successful.
It is safer to assume your work is going to get cracked regardless. Focus on getting around it and still doing well. If you do other things well, having some people get bootlegged versions won't be all bad. It is still helping spread your brand/ product awareness. If you put other things in place properly, you can still eventually turn those people into customers.
Goran Rista
https://gorangrooves.comHandy Drums and Handy Grooves
https://library.gorangrooves.com -
@gorangrooves said in Advice on copyright and serial numbers stuff:
I am yet to see a system that can't be hacked by dedicated hackers.
The only system that is uncrackable is one that is already unrestricted, and there are many example of this, including HISE itself.
Libre Wave - Freedom respecting instruments and effects
My Patreon - HISE tutorials
YouTube Channel - Public HISE tutorials -
The only reason I'll be implementing simple copy protection is to enable selling the products at 3rd party retailers. Hopefully, I can make the process of plugin install and serial number implementation as frictionless as possible for the end user.
-
@danial said in Advice on copyright and serial numbers stuff:
Can you make this licensing a little more transparent on the usage?
The license manager works in the background. The end user never sees it.
My customers get an automated email with their purchase order, license codes and download links. -
@gorangrooves said in Advice on copyright and serial numbers stuff:
@SteveRiggs I am yet to see a system that can't be hacked by dedicated hackers. There is software out there by major companies that routinely gets hacked. I think that solely worrying about copy protection as a way to protect your product is not the best way to go.
First of all, I suggest making your products highly affordable and offering such a value that they are irresistible. Make them affordable and easy for an average user to purchase and they will unlikely be looking for cracked versions, which can bring viruses. You want to help turn your offer into an Impulse buy. Remember, it doesn't matter for how much you sell your digital product. All that matters is the quantity. It is better to sell 10 of your products for $200, than 1 for $50.
Rather than sweating over possible hacks, focus on your marketing instead. Build rapport and trust with your customers/ potential customers and get them to buy into you and your brand. Then, they will be buying from you on a continual basis.
I speak from experience. This is the approach I have taken with my BeatBuddy Library for the last 5 years and it has been quite successful.
It is safer to assume your work is going to get cracked regardless. Focus on getting around it and still doing well. If you do other things well, having some people get bootlegged versions won't be all bad. It is still helping spread your brand/ product awareness. If you put other things in place properly, you can still eventually turn those people into customers.
Sound advice there man! Thanks!
You're definitely right. People that get cracked plugins are most likely just kids getting into producing with no money to buy them anyway, or just people who bootleg everything regardless. It will definitely still get word out so you're right, it's not all bad. I'm trying keep them all affordable so it should turn out well if all goes to plan and serious producers will still buy them.
I have been being a bit over cautious trying to get the best copyright system in place possible after my last Kontakt instrument ended up slapped all over the internet for free and I lost yet another income (after my studio engineering bookings have already crashed so badly due to this covid nonsense because all my regular DJ clients have now all lost their work indefinitely) so I didn't want to take chances on these after 19 months of work.
I've been working on my marketing stuff getting everything planned for this first batch of plugins for about a year now so I'm fully confident I can do ok with them. Theres still a little more work to be done there but it's all in a good spot now.
I did a 'test run' about a month ago with facebook and insta ad's for my last techno sample library (the first time I've ever tried doing paid ad's after soaking up all the knowledge about it) and was chuffed with the results. Just for a 1 week ad running on facebook and insta using a few different variations of ad sets I managed to triple my money :) I was pretty surprised with that for my first ever try doing paid ad's, so thats definitely given me a boost now I know what I'm doing when it comes to the ads. Just gotta nail the last bits of the marketing ideas into place now for all 6 plugins I'll be releasing at once and make a start on video content and all the graphics. It's looking good though! :)
Just checked out your BeatBuddy Library. Some great stuff in there. Loving the Metal drums!
-
@SteveRiggs I am glad you found the advice useful and I am happy to hear that you got positive results from FB ads right from the get go. That's great! You said it well with regards to those kids. Thanks for checking out the BB Library.
I'll throw in a few more tips, which I think may go a long way in helping you or anyone else ready this, generate long-term profits.
While some visitors will make a purchase on the first visit, most will bounce. Think of strategies to be able to reach them again. It may take 7-10 follow ups before you close a sale. Email marketing has been very effective for us. Try to capture their email on the first visit. You can do so by offering something of value, like a special free plugin, tutorial, samples, discount, or something else. Think of email marketing as "permission marketing", so try to deliver value in your outreach.
Set up remarketing campaigns on Google and Facebook (and other platform that supports it), so that you can reach those visitors again. You don't necessarily need to present ads for your products, but instead could be for some useful article, video, tips or a list. Anything that will inform them further and expose your brand and products.
Consider implementing push-notifications as well, but don't prompt them to subscribe until they have spent a certain amount of time on your website or visited a certain number of pages. If they browse through 5-10 pages, they may be interested in subscribing.
You can make helpful videos that teach people how to do things while using your products to do that. If you impress them with the sound and features, they'll be looking on how to purchase them.
Analize every step of the purchase decision-making process, to the purchasing, to getting the products, installation, usage from user's perspective. Tweak it, simplify it and fine-tune until it is an absolute joy. Check out what I did in the BeatBuddy Library for checkout process. I took out all unnecessary info and input fields, made everything clean and easy to use. The idea is to make the experience as pleasant, quick and seamless as possible to avoid abandoned carts. All you really need is an email address and CC info to checkout.
Make sure to set up automatic emails that deliver clear helpful instructions on how to set up and use your products, as soon as they make a purchase. Make them relevant for the particular product or product category they purchased. You don't want them getting enoyed, confused and lost because they don't know how to install or use your products. The better you can anticipate and address any issues that may arise ahead of time, the less customer support you will have to offer for trivial issues. Never assume that something is easy or obvious just because it is easy for you.
Offer a credit on already purchased items towards a purchase of your entire collection of instruments. That was a strategy I came up with and people have been loving it ever since we introduced it. As a result, we tripled our sales! Someone that has already spent $50 may be reluctant to spend another $300 to upgrade, as they feel they would be wasting their previous investment. But, offer them a credit of $50 for their previous purchases and they will be bagging you to take their money.
Always think long-term relationship with your customers and act accordingly. Let them know you. Put a face to the brand. Once they connect with you on a human level and recognize all the effort you put into helping them, they will buy into YOU and be your loyal customers for a long time.
I hope you find this helpful :)
Goran Rista
https://gorangrooves.comHandy Drums and Handy Grooves
https://library.gorangrooves.com -
I use a website called sendowl that distributes the serial numbers by email once purchased.
-
Some really helpful stuff in there mate!! Thank you.
I have had a look at a few of the re-marketing things like you mentioned but still need to put them into place. I'll get on that, and all the other ideas :)
The credit on purchased items is a really good idea! I remember when I got Komplete 10 Ultimate it should have been about £1200, but because I already owned Maschine I got it for about £750 using the crossgrade option. It definitely works!
