Propellerhead Software Names Niklas Agevik as CEO

[6502]

retracted

[michael.jaye]

Thanks for everything Ernst. I truly wouldn't be able to make the music I like the way I like to without Reason.

[Faastwalker]

Personally, this is a worry. But my reasoning may be irrational. I think it's purely because, like most of us here, I have so much invested in Propellerhead Reason. Hopefully the new CEO is the right person for the job going forward. Although it is a relief to hear that Ernst will still be on the board. All the best to Ernst & thanks so much for giving us Reason. Long may it continue.

[QVprod]

Plot twist: Niklas has been with us all this time, it's 0quasec!!

[ernstnathorst]

Thanks for the kind words everybody!

Some more information around this. It's been planned for a bit of time, you can say since Verdane made their investment. All the good people around here already knew it was going to happen. What was driving the date was only how fast we could find someone as great as Niklas, which took some time. There are no other changes to management, so it'll be the same amazing team working on all the cool stuff we have in the pipeline.

I'm still an important shareholder in the company. I'll be staying on the board of directors and there's no end date to that. In that capacity I will support Niklas and everybody else in whatever best way I can. I'll be 59 this year. I've been doing this for over 25 years. So there's really good reason (no pun intended) for both the company and me to change things up a little bit. That's the complete and honest to god story, nothing else is going on.

As for the comments in the press release about our plans moving forward, there's no big mystery to be solved there either. We have great plans for Reason on the desktop. We're working on Rack Extensions that we think complement the included selection in the best possible way. The mobile team is working away hard on Compact and just now getting into the groove of having two more products in the catalog. The end goal is the same as it always has been, getting as many people as we possibly can a chance to explore the amazing world of music making, and supporting the ones who are already there in the best possible way we can.

That's exactly what Niklas is going to do, and that's what I will support him in, to the best of my abilities.

[EdGrip]

Thank you for all my hours and hours of noise-making in Reason!

I hope Reason continues to plough its unique furrow in music software, because I enjoy using it.

But if the very worst happens and it all goes tits-up - and I hope it doesn't! - it'll be okay. There's other music software. None like Reason, but still. Chill, guys.

I did have a look at that Cubase crossgrade offer, by the way. After having a look at the product page and some videos, I came to the conclusion I probably wouldn't install it if it were free. I speculate that might be a problem Steinberg are having to solve; getting new users. Having said that - when you've worked through the learning curve of using a DAW (such as Reason), using another DAW is a matter of adapting rather than learning from scratch. So no need to fret about "eggs in one basket". You could learn your way around any other DAW in a day or two.

[Magnus]

I've never really been a big fan of "parachuted in" autocracy and the elitism it promotes.

As soon as I saw the news about Ernst stepping down I really hoped the new CEO would be someone already working at Propellerhead who had risen up through the ranks and proven their worth through their contributions to the value the company already has to its users. Instead it's an outsider with no relationship to those users at all. It's not even a musician as far as I can tell.

agreed, at first blush something doesn't seem right here. 65 million in venture capital only to go belly up - sheesh, let's hope the relevant experience isn't in salvaging as much as possible for investors from an organization that isn't going to make it long term. perhaps someone from Props will fill us in a little more on the thinking here.

I hope money doesn't ruin Propellerhead. Whilst they do move at a glacial pace in terms of playing catch-up with other DAWs on the market, they have always got there in their own inimitable way and they have the most unique and coolest music products on the market.

I think the most important thing Propellerhead need to do is give Reason a second sequencer; one that allows for sync triggering clips as a method of composition. Every musician I talk to (not engineers; who continue to use Pro Tools and Logic) seems to be moving towards Ableton Live and it seems like the trend is that the old linear-only sequencer way of constructing music is dying out as a choice creatives make and I think this will continue more into the future.

There's currently only Ableton and Bitwig that do this proper. Reason should have it too, in its own unique and brilliant way.

[adfielding]

Well, this is a bit of a surprise! I must admit I really enjoyed reading Ernst's posts here recently, and I get the impression that there are few CEOs who would go out of their way to connect with their user-base in such a direct manner.

There are many good reasons (heh) why I've stuck with Reason for the past 17 years or so, and I get the impression that Ernst played a large part in that. While I've dipped into other DAWs (inb4 anyone reminds me that pre-Record Reason wasn't technically a "DAW") during that time, I've never felt as creatively fulfilled as I have been while using Reason, and I've certainly never felt the same excitement that I get from Reason upgrades with any other software. Even now I tend to think of stages in my own creative development in terms of which version of Reason I was using at the time.

For being the CEO of a company producing the tools that helped me steer my life on this particular path, I feel like I owe a huge thanks to Ernst and, of course, everyone at Propellerhead. So... thanks, and I'm excited to see what the future holds!

[EnochLight]

Thanks for the kind words everybody!

Some more information around this. It's been planned for a bit of time, you can say since Verdane made their investment. All the good people around here already knew it was going to happen. What was driving the date was only how fast we could find someone as great as Niklas, which took some time. There are no other changes to management, so it'll be the same amazing team working on all the cool stuff we have in the pipeline.

I'm still an important shareholder in the company. I'll be staying on the board of directors and there's no end date to that. In that capacity I will support Niklas and everybody else in whatever best way I can. I'll be 59 this year. I've been doing this for over 25 years. So there's really good reason (no pun intended) for both the company and me to change things up a little bit. That's the complete and honest to god story, nothing else is going on.

As for the comments in the press release about our plans moving forward, there's no big mystery to be solved there either. We have great plans for Reason on the desktop. We're working on Rack Extensions that we think complement the included selection in the best possible way. The mobile team is working away hard on Compact and just now getting into the groove of having two more products in the catalog. The end goal is the same as it always has been, getting as many people as we possibly can a chance to explore the amazing world of music making, and supporting the ones who are already there in the best possible way we can.

That's exactly what Niklas is going to do, and that's what I will support him in, to the best of my abilities.

Well hell - we’ll miss you, man! Thanks for everything that you did and I wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors. Tell your successor to not be a stranger and chime in to the forums on occasion.

Cheers

[Creativemind]

I hope the main focus for Propellerhead will be on Reason and rack extensions rather than developing a bunch of mobile apps. I personally I have no interest in those kind of things.

Same and just my two cents - this can only go 1 of 2 ways...very very good or very very bad. Fingers crossed for the first one.

[Creativemind]

And fyi - the Cubase crossgrade deal is on 'till 6/3: https://new.steinberg.net/cubase/celebrate/


Screen Shot 2019-05-16 at 11.28.51 AM.png

I just jumped on the Cubase offer, got the Artist edition plus ignition key for £150. Not bad.

Where was that from? I'm seriously tempted!

[EdGrip]

There's currently only Ableton and Bitwig that do this proper. Reason should have it too, in its own unique and brilliant way.

...and Digital Performer 10, now.

[stxlm]

"I look forward to seeing a rapid expansion into new customer groups, in new contexts and on new platforms."

I think we can say that we've already seen the early stages of this expansion, with mobile app versions of Propellerhead music making.

I'd like to see an ambitious attempt to grow Reason's share of the prosumer music making market.

The obvious company to look at is Ableton. With roughly twice the yearly revenue of Propellerhead Software, and around five times as many employees, they have managed to create an identity as one of the cornerstones of electronic music culture.

And it's not just about the functionality and UI of Live. It's about making ties with educators and influencers, making learning and growing as a creative person an integral part of the Ableton experience. The Loop Summit and the Making Music book are great examples of that. All while maintaining focus on their primary asset - Live.

[Jackjackdaw]

I just jumped on the Cubase offer, got the Artist edition plus ignition key for £150. Not bad.

Where was that from? I'm seriously tempted!

On the Cubase website. All versions 50% off. I will Rewire into it and then never care if Reason gets a decent sequencer or not.

[-008']

Is this server down thing right now an office prank?
"Your first day Niklas! You broke it on your first day!!

[scratchnsnifff]

lol can the users of Reason give this dude a pop quiz? I just need mental assurance that Reason will still work like Reason

Earnst is a very smart man, I trust that he didn’t just hand over his pride and joy for no reason. Hopefully this guy brings us where we want to go, and hopefully he can meet our needs in the middle. I sincerely hope this means more work on reasons much needed features. Like an unlimited combinator matrix, knobs etc, and new synths with some groundbreaking features:) all while maintaining and updating the sequencer and mixer etc, we all know the areas that can use improvement. Best of luck to the new jack and thank you for everything earnst, it was this product that got me on a more serious path with music; and Reason has helped me make much of it.

[Loque]

Where was that from? I'm seriously tempted!

On the Cubase website. All versions 50% off. I will Rewire into it and then never care if Reason gets a decent sequencer or not.

Cubase has a decent sequencer?

[Karim]

I'm now going to sit back and enjoy the speculation.

Mr. Ernst, you and your colleagues, whatever your role it is , I feel I need to thank you from the bottom of my heart and with a tear in my face.

I get a living with Reason, I keep my family thanks to Reason and I feel a newfound joy in composing music in Reason since its first version.

I will stay on this boat until the end as you somehow are not completely abandoning its "creature"
I wish you the best of the best for you and I will never be grateful enough for this wonderful software that is also a
work of art in itself.

Good luck Mr. Ernst

[dioxide]

The Loop Summit and the Making Music book are great examples of that. All while maintaining focus on their primary asset - Live.

IMO these are the kind of projects that companies throw their money at when they're already established. I'm not convinced that they help. What got Ableton to where they are now is having a really great product. Now they have money to waste on other things and more marketing people than they need on the payroll.

[TheGodOfRainbows]

Blessed be Ernst! Long live Propellerhead!

[Heigen5]

Yeah Ernst, thanks for providing us this master-piece software and hope you enjoy your future!
I believe that Reason will not be going a bad road, as Niklas has all the rest of the Team there as well, well them and us, THE USERS! Tack!

[jlgrimes]

Interesting stuff

https://www.propellerheads.com/press/28 ... vik-as-ceo

I guess Niklas will get all white hair in a years time lol. (Price of being CEO)

[Boombastix]

Now its Niklas time to come here and say HELLO!

[groggy1]

We love you Ernst. Thanks for Reason.

[flightONE]

Interesting stuff

https://www.propellerheads.com/press/28 ... vik-as-ceo

I guess Niklas will get all white hair in a years time lol. (Price of being CEO)

that will start to happen as soon as he starts reading some of the good old reasontalk rants