Subscription based selling....

[hisefilo]

It looks like the topic has a traction :)
On the user side, I would love to have Spectrasonics Keyscape for 9.95/mo and if it works for my music I would keep paying till own it. 12 month or whatever. On the dev side, market size for guys ready to pay 9.95 is bigger that guys ready for 100/200+

[resonant]

Dear @d-healey
These are your thoughts. Others are my thoughts. But as I said, "thoughts". Please keep in mind that, be easy, be calm, no need to argue :)

Yes the subscription is future business model (even me or you like it or not).
As I said, some customers prefer /mo model. I personally prefer "pay as you go style" ;) :)

[Lindon]

@christoph-hart said in Subscription based selling....:

subscription based model (apart from me as a customer hating it) is that you need a constant internet connection.

not so, for all clauses apart from you hating it......

http://channelrobot.com/about-everything-4-ever/
.

[Lindon]

@d-healey said in Subscription based selling....:

I hate software subscriptions.

Subscription models almost always require users to install non-free software on their system to communicate with the developer's servers
The client-server setup allows a developer to spy on a user, logging what software they use, how long they use it for, when they use it. The fact that the client software is usually non-free means there is no way to know what other data the developer is gathering.
If the developer's servers are shutdown for any reason the customer will be cut-off from the software.
The developer can intentionally cut-off the user from the software.
The developer can change their prices at will and any users who rely on the software for their jobs will have no choice but to pay the new price. Possibly with no new benefits.
A permanent internet connection is required to use the software
There is less incentive for developers to update their products or develop new ones.

again: not so in all cases:

http://channelrobot.com/about-everything-4-ever/

But generally the model we use is very like the one you propose for support, so hey, AND it requires Christoph to build nothing at all.

[hisefilo]

@lindon Perfect!!! you nailed it I think! people will fund your growth looking the coming releases roadmap! The question is... is it working? Got any subscriber?

[Lindon]

@hisefilo well to be honest - we only publicly launched TODAY. We launched to our mailing list a month ago so those are people who ALREADY own at least one of our products - and the results were "not discouraging" Still it's taken a LOT of effort to get to the point where we have enough "back-log" to do this.

[hisefilo]

@lindon I think will work, on the other side I think many customers will feel proud to be part of your coming releases. Like patrons. Maybe a speech that way or an email

[d.healey]

@lindon said in Subscription based selling....:

But generally the model we use is very like the one you propose for support, so hey, AND it requires Christoph to build nothing at all.

Yes, your system is one I support. It's the same way wordpress plugins work and is also a great model for free software businesses.

[Lindon]

@hisefilo If you look down the list or reasons we think you should STAY subscribed, the last one is:

Patronage
Finally there’s that nice feeling that you’re doing something good. Plus if you think the products are worth it then the only way we can continue to do this is if we get paid to do it. We’d be fine doing this for the love of it, but the man at the supermarket wont take “love of it” as payment on our groceries.

[Lindon]

@d-healey yes to be honest, its the WP world this comes from. I have a friend called James Farmer who runs
wpmudev.org who has spent literally years telling me to do this.

Exactly the same model - well his plugins are also open source, but he charges $49/mo, and has 700,000+ subscribers - yeah do the maths.

What the let me.. 49 X 700,000 X 12 = $411M per year....he's clearly not making that but he has a really really nice house now...

[hisefilo]

@lindon Ohh, didn't get there. My intuition says this is the MOST important decision maker at the purchase moment. We all buy with heart, not mind (just my 2 cents)

[Lindon]

@hisefilo you may be right....