Big news this morning! Now that Pioneer DJ effectively controls 80% of the DJ software market, what does this mean for industry as a whole and in particular Algoriddim?
This seems like a great opportunity for Algoriddim to more closely integrate with parent company inMusic and in particular Rane since they have historically relied on Serato partnership.
Also seems like an opportunity for inMusic to make a similar move and acquire a software company like Algoriddim, Virtual DJ or perhaps even Traktor so they can make a version of Engine DJ that works on their non-standalone Rane and Numark hardware.
I’m interested in what other people think about this and what the future might hold…
algoriddim isn’t listed as an inMusic brand…you’re suggesting they offer themselves up to be acquired? or for inMusic and algoriddim to become strategic partners?
@heysoundude I realize Algoriddim is not part of the inMusic brand. I’m suggesting that Algoriddim might see this as an opportunity to put more focus on native support for inMusic hardware like Rane, Numark, and Denon DJ.
I’m also suggesting that perhaps inMusic might make a play to buy another software company like Algoriddim so they can combine it with their Engine DJ software and provide a solution that works with all inMusic DJ hardware and not just their standalone Denon and Numark gear.
Assuming that Pioneer doesn’t eventually dissolve Serato, I find it hard to imagine that inMusic will continue paying licensing fees for Serato to their largest hardware competitor. So, inMusic will likely search for a new software partner with strong DVS capabilities or make a move to develop Engine DJ into a subscription based software outside of their standalone hardware.
Similar to what Pioneer did with Rekorbox when they transitioned it from preparation software to actual DJ software.
I think this is one of the challenges with the existing Engine DJ platform. I realize most people hate subscription models, but this is the way most software companies are going so they can continue to generate revenue and innovate. Since Engine DJ is included in the hardware purchases, Denon doesn’t have the same ongoing revenue stream for development as subscription software. Pulling Engine DJ out of their hardware and offering it to a larger market just makes sense.
In the meantime, I see this as a great opportunity for Algoriddim to expand their market share by offering excellent native hardware integration with more of inMusic’s gear.
The link you posted was quite explicit about Serato continuing on.
I come from Pro audio recording and remember when you needed to buy into ProTools from a systemic view - the cards went in THESE computers and worked with THESE plugins and only OUR interfaces that connect to the computers with SPECIAL cabling, and you needed a LICENSE on a hardware key to prove you were authorized to use it all…and even then, it had limitations.
and eventually, the cabals backed down to allow other hardware to be used with their software. They seem to be trying to change things again, and they’re doing it at the wrong time in the economic cycle to truly profit, because people will stop buying the hardware and just go with iPads and hardware dongles that let them use headphones to cue tracks.
algoriddim is well positioned, whatever happens.
it’s us, the end users, who have to be smart and resilient (and flexible)
Well, I mean, this is objectively awful for competition within the DJ space! What it will do to the pace of innovation will remain to be seen but if history teaches us anything about monopolies it will only harm consumers and competitors. (The acquisition also still needs to be approved in NZ.)
There has been talk for ages about NI spinning off Traktor as they seem to be pretty disinterested in investing resources in growing that space or keeping up with competitors. See how poorly they have historically supported their Desktop and IOS apps. So that might be on the cards.
Maybe it wouldn’t be the worse thing in the world for Algoriddim to be acquired, certainly not for their founders and investors. It might give them the resources to expand their development team and start building out the more advanced/professional features a lot of users are pining for. However, it does leave their team exposed to being subsumed but their new owner to go work on other products.
There are always eventually only two major players in any market because they successfully acquire or kill off the competition, and this its what’s happening in this one. what we djay users need to do is just keep doing our thing with this app, and keep out of the line of fire in the war raging around us…stay off the radar, in other words. For the time being and forseeable future. Let the Denons and Pioneers duke it out, and we’ll have our pick of what’s left over on the battlefield.
This will only push me to use djay Pro more. I currently use it on my iPad mostly but if Serato begins to suffer or go away then I’ll be using djay Pro on my Macbook Pro.
I doubt that will happen, for example NI traktor made their own hardware while still supporting other manufacturers. Then again Pioneer is a different company than NI.
Time will tell, for now I would not worry about support, but to make sure just buy class compliant hardware, so you know it will work on other softwares like Djay.
Thankfully my 2nd favorite software is Serato, with djay Pro being my 1st choice. So for now, I’m set .
But I’m annoyed with the Pioneer purchase because I feel like nobody is actually working on making better DJ software for DJs. The whole DJ software industry feels like it’s entirely focused on internal corporate B.S.; it doesn’t feel like there’s any honest connection to real world customers. All I see are big corporate moves (great for the stock price), or new features that are more useful to the marketing department than actual DJs. Perhaps the shareholders are happy, but I think many average DJs are just really annoyed.
The most frustrating thing is that all the pieces are there, but nobody seems interested in putting them together. For example, I really just want to see the djay Pro or Serato interface on top of the Virtual DJ feature set. Will it take hard work? Yes, but it ain’t that hard! And it’s certainly not 10 years of requested-promised-but-never-delivered hard??? So us DJs are sitting left wondering what exactly is the problem? Why do the DJ software companies seem to be dragging their feet on customer requests???
I’ll pick on Serato this time, but all the other software have their own unique issues. So, one simple thing you can’t do in Serato is preview a track in the Library. It’s INSANE because it’s audio software that plays back audio files - being able to preview a track in the Library is CORE to the what the software is supposed to do. People have requested this for nearly 12 years, but they still won’t implement it. And it feels like a big F. You to the customer. It feels like “we know better what you want”. Oh, and here are STEMS so we can market the crap out of the software, even though 90% of what most DJs do has nothing to do with STEMS.
Now STEMS are great, but prioritizing STEMS over bread and butter DJ features, are what leaves a bad taste in my mouth - and all the DJ software companies do this over and over again.
Having said all that, I’m set and pretty happy with djay Pro. I’ve worked around all the issues, but there are so many quality of life features that would take it from very good to great! But I’m not holding my breath on any of that.
Pioneer did not buy Serato. Alpha Theta bought Serato. If InMusic had purchased Serato, would you say Akai owns Serato… or Rane owns Serato? This is clickbait that Youtubers were putting up at first news of this and people are parroting it everywhere. Learn what parent and sister companies are. Pioneer and Serato are now sister companies under the parent company Alpha Theta…
Yes, most of us already know that Alpha Theta is the parent company of Pioneer DJ. As with InMusic and Denon. The linked article also clearly mentions Alpha Theta… I really don’t think it makes a whole lot of difference as far as the discussion in this thread was concerned, but thanks for the correction.
Looks like inMusic is making a move to try and block Alpha Theta’s purchase of Serato. Honestly, I’m surprised it took them this long to make a move and say something.
there would have to be protracted consultations of laws with many lawyers in various jurisdictions, I’m sure…in summer, when people take vacation…I’m surprised it hasn’t taken longer tbh
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