The gap between finishing a plugin and running a plugin business

[soundsync]

Hey Gang,

This is something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately.

Finishing the instrument is only one part of releasing a plugin.

A lot of us can get the actual product built in HISE like the UI, samples, scripting, presets, installer, export.

That part is hard, but it is also the part most of us signed up for.

The harder surprise is everything that comes after.

Once you want to actually sell it, you suddenly need a whole second system around the plugin:

• a product page
• checkout
• license delivery
• customer accounts
• download access
• license resets
• device limits
• refunds and revoked access
• update delivery
• support emails
• “I bought this but lost the download link”
• “I got a new computer, can you reset my activation?”
• “My license is not showing up”
• “Where do I log in?”

None of that is really the instrument. But if you don’t have it, the release starts to feel unfinished.

That is the gap I’ve been trying to solve with Soundsync.

The idea is to give audio developers the business layer around the product like storefront, customer library, license/activation handling, download access, and the basic post-purchase flow that customers expect.

For HISE specifically, my goal is that the instrument itself should not become a mess of store logic, customer account logic, and manual support work. The plugin should mostly care about whether the customer has access. The rest should live in a system built for selling and managing audio products.

I don’t think every developer wants to build a mini Shopify, license server, download portal, and support dashboard just to release a plugin.

This is the bigger problem Soundsync is aimed at, not just licensing, but helping developers get from “I finished the plugin” to “I can actually sell and support this properly.”

Curious how other HISE developers are handling this right now. Are you using Gumroad, Shopify, custom scripts, manual serials, your own backend, or something else?

[dannytaurus]

@soundsync I'm on Gumroad at the moment but looking to switch to a better platform very soon.

Just for reference, here's your list noted for my current Gumroad setup:

• a product page Gumroad
• checkout Gumroad
• customer accounts Gumroad, via Library
• download access Gumroad
• refunds and revoked access Gumroad
• update delivery Gumroad
• support emails Gumroad, if the customer emails them first
• “I bought this but lost the download link” Gumroad's Resend Receipt action
• “Where do I log in?” Gumroad Library
• license delivery I don't do licences currently
• license resets I don't do licences currently
• device limits I don't do licences currently
• “I got a new computer, can you reset my activation?” I don't do licences currently
• “My license is not showing up” I don't do licences currently

I'm not saying Gumroad is perfect, but if you don't do licences for plugins, then it's a very easy place to get started. Testing the waters to find out if you can find/reach an audience is easy on Gumroad.

Gumroad's real fee runs to about 16% of my revenue, which is higher than pretty much anywhere else I've looked at. But that does include unlimited email marketing, which most other platforms don't.

I'm in the process of doing comparisons with my last 12 months real revenue data between Gumroad, Moonbase, Soundsync, Fungies, Polar and direct Stripe MoR payments.