Why does RS not advertise RE’s besides their own? Genuine Question not criticism.

[Chi-Individual]

I just had a random thought: If I were only an RRP user and never used the DAW or joined the forums, how would I know about new RE’s?

The shop shows 800+ RE’s atm, from free to infinity, and I’m curious how many of the newer RRP only users even know about most of these outside of RS RE’s that are advertised on the socials and their YouTube channel?

I wonder if there is a lot of easy revenue being missed here? RE’s are essentially add-ons to the RRP VST, many I think exclusive to the Reason eco-system(meaning no VST,AAX or AU versions), that you’d never know about if you don’t look for them on your own. So why not promote RE’s more like VST companies do soundbanks or like Kilohearts with snap-ins?

Because I can’t imagine majority of the newer RRP users coming to the shop daily to check for new RE’s. And even with the new Ambassador program I haven’t seen many, if any, 3rd party RE’s “FEATURED”. I know emails still come out about RE’s but that just seems to be the bare minimum.

If I’m wrong please educate me.

[arnigretar]

Maybe they can do better -- of course But I think it's only last week that I saw on their site banner of ABL3 and ReDominator from AudioRealism that were on sale. And they also sent email with a reminder of that particular sale. And I have seen some from other devolopers as well (advertised from them). I think it goes hand in hand - since they take revenues from the sales of the RE's. But I might be wrong and you might be right. Maybe they don't do it enough. Maybe developers can share their thoughts. I'm just a player!

[Chi-Individual]

I’m just trying to think would I know or even care about REs outside of those from RS if I were solely an RRP user? Having the full DAW as a vst is enough to make most stop right there, cause there is so much to explore. And RS REs are the only ones on their social that really get in-depth looks.

And to your point about revenue share, wouldn’t it be conducive to business to make sure the Shop is on the minds of as as many users at one time as possible? Of course don’t inundate people with nonsense, but I’m sure there are many users of REs who are passionate about those REs who will happily make content to promote those REs for a free license, reward points, free upgrade or just to help keep certain devs in business so more REs can be made by them.

Again, just a thought.

[deeplink]

They're constantly making stories about other REs on their Instagram stories. Especially ekk's stuff. I think that counts?

[integerpoet]

I think one should also ask why they would advertise REs other than their own. In other words, I think it comes down to whether they are advertising in order to prompt sales of (their own) REs or they are advertising to prompt sales of the platform. There's some overlap, but it would be unwise to simply ignore the distinction. An ad for a third-party RE is, from their perspective as I imagine it, exclusively an ad for the platform. Although I have no insight into the specifics (obviously), my guess would be they think and talk about this kind of thing quite a lot.

[rsnsnds]

Would Steinberg advertise other companies' VST's ?

[QVprod]

They advertise them. Just not in the same way. There are sale banners in R+ Companion sometimes for example. It gets tricky to sell when the 3rd party addons because the market for that is only people who are already in the ecosystem. Whereas their own RE are part of the subscription, therefore part of the platform as a whole. It’s a wider marketing reach.

[selig]

Would Steinberg advertise other companies' VST's ?

If they were taking a 30% cut they might...

[Chi-Individual]

Would Steinberg advertise other companies' VST's ?

If they were taking a 30% cut they might...

^^^This right here. If you’re receiving a cut of the sale wouldn’t it be in your best interest to shine some light on as many products in your own shop as possible? At least to help keep a flow of traffic in the shop. It seems like it would be a win win for all.

[Marc64]

It's the same with "Reason is a VST but also a DAW" Should be the other way around...

[Chi-Individual]

They advertise them. Just not in the same way. There are sale banners in R+ Companion sometimes for example. It gets tricky to sell when the 3rd party addons because the market for that is only people who are already in the ecosystem. Whereas their own RE are part of the subscription, therefore part of the platform as a whole. It’s a wider marketing reach.

I get the point you're making. I'm just wondering about people like me who've never even seen the companion app, and I own a perpetual license of R12. That's why I asked why not advertise on their socials and YouTube. All it would take is a quick reminder that these RE's, whichever is being advertised, works inside the complete DAW and RRP. Now you can advertise the DAW, the RRP and the 3rd party REs all at the same time and everyone gets eyes on their products for more sales. Keeping it on the companion app or on their site in the shop assumes everyone is seeing it and not really using the tools that they already use to the fullest extent. With the RRP and some just sitting on old Reason Lite versions, showing more of what you can get with Reason's ecosystem should be priority IMO. Some libraries need Kontakt to run, free and paid version, so why not treat it the same and highlight all the advantages, features and add-ons of their ecosystem? Again, not saying anyone is wrong, I'm just curious.

[jlgrimes]

I just had a random thought: If I were only an RRP user and never used the DAW or joined the forums, how would I know about new RE’s?

The shop shows 800+ RE’s atm, from free to infinity, and I’m curious how many of the newer RRP only users even know about most of these outside of RS RE’s that are advertised on the socials and their YouTube channel?

I wonder if there is a lot of easy revenue being missed here? RE’s are essentially add-ons to the RRP VST, many I think exclusive to the Reason eco-system(meaning no VST,AAX or AU versions), that you’d never know about if you don’t look for them on your own. So why not promote RE’s more like VST companies do soundbanks or like Kilohearts with snap-ins?

Because I can’t imagine majority of the newer RRP users coming to the shop daily to check for new RE’s. And even with the new Ambassador program I haven’t seen many, if any, 3rd party RE’s “FEATURED”. I know emails still come out about RE’s but that just seems to be the bare minimum.

If I’m wrong please educate me.

I agree. High 3rd party RE sales are a good thing. It promotes the RE platform and possibly even create more Reason sales as RE developers would be more enticed to create more exclusive unique tools in the RE Platform.

This is different than Steinberg where they already have a widely adopted platform that is more/less Host agnostic. REs are limited to Reason so it is in Reason's best interest to create more buzz about the platform and I think the best way is actually help/boost other developers as healthy competition in the RE market is what is needed. And more developers ultimately means more Reason sales, more Reason RE sales, more resources to focus on other things than developing new instruments/effects as 3rd party developers would be filling in the gaps there.


I think the shop in general needs to be organized better as many times going on the direct website, it is hard to find. As others mentioned that they do promote 3rd party REs via other forms of Social media such as Instagram, Facebook etc, they also need to focus on the old Internet basics as well such as their own Website, forums etc as many people never get on many forms of social media, so they need to make sure they are reaching as wide of a userbase as possible.

[jam-s]

I disagree with the premise of the OP. RS does advertise for 3rd party REs. They do in in all of the yearly sale campaigns and on the store front and also from time to time in their live streams and social media content.

[Chi-Individual]

I disagree with the premise of the OP. RS does advertise for 3rd party REs. They do in in all of the yearly sale campaigns and on the store front and also from time to time in their live streams and social media content.

Just to do some due diligence I went down the RS IG timeline and the last time a 3rd party RE was featured and having nothing to do with a RS RE or feature was April 14th, 2022,

And this is because Panda was featured in the write up from Splice, not original promotion from RS. So my original statement stands, I barely see any 3rd party REs featured in the promotions, yes they show in the shop and on the site and are featured in some of the content, but can you pls show me when was the last time content was created to feature solely a non-RS RE?

That’s why I question, Is this a missed opportunity? If I don’t know about Panda and I only use the RRP along with all of my other VSTs, what would prompt me to look for Panda to add to my RRP if RS never posted the write up from Splice and I don’t frequent their site that often?

I’m only asking because of my own spending patterns. I have synths where I get emails about soundbanks or add-ons for other DAWs and I barely even read them. I go to YouTube or IG to see if there are demos and opinions. Are people raving about it or complaining? And some things I stumble upon because a YouTube channel like Databroth or Venus Theory may showcase something.

I just think with the RS shop being such a contained thing to Reason it seems unwise to have so many products on the shop but leave the success of those products to the gamble of chance discovery. Because again, if I don’t know about Panda and I don’t frequent the places where people speak about Panda, how do I find their socials or their channel in the YouTube Algoritm? And if I do who’s to say they have in-depth demos? They should be busy creating more REs.

One thing I’ve seen the past few days with this whole Bitwig thing is a lot of people stating they were making content and spreading the word about and for Bitwig, unpaid and not endorsed, in support of the company and the product. I’m sure there’s someone who’d be happy to to break down each and every crevice of Antidote or VK2 or Fritz in exchange for a license or free upgrade or promotion of their socials or whatever. Or maybe just in support of the 3rd party Dev. That’s more content for RS socials that they don’t have to create, more eyes on 3rd party REs, more eyes on RS. And hopefully more revenue so they can afford to speed up these updates we’ve been waiting on.

Maybe I just have rose colored glasses on.

[crimsonwarlock]

I’m sure there’s someone who’d be happy to to break down each and every crevice of Antidote or VK2 or Fritz in exchange for a license or free upgrade or promotion of their socials or whatever.

Companies that make VST-plugins tend to throw around NFR copies to influencers, to create such content. But it seems the RE shop system makes it hard, or even impossible, for devs to give away licenses for this purpose. I have seen devs here on the forum mention things to the effect of not having any control over the licenses of their rack extensions. I'm pretty convinced that this is at least one reason why there are so few demos and reviews of REs on YouTube.

Cherry Audio just released an FM-based synth and within minutes after their product launch, ten or more review videos went online for it. Now try to find a review or demo video about Zero Hybrid (which is obviously superior to Sines) and you will find one or two, even after it being on the market for years.

[Jackjackdaw]

I guess they want to spend their marketing budget on advertising their core product just like any other company. Does Nintendo promote 3rd party games in their marketing, or Ableton promote max plugins ? It’s really up to the 3rd party to market their wares.

[Chi-Individual]

Companies that make VST-plugins tend to throw around NFR copies to influencers, to create such content. But it seems the RE shop system makes it hard, or even impossible, for devs to give away licenses for this purpose. I have seen devs here on the forum mention things to the effect of not having any control over the licenses of their rack extensions. I'm pretty convinced that this is at least one reason why there are so few demos and reviews of REs on YouTube.

This is something I wasn't aware of, on the RE side. I'd always assumed that a license could be given at will like VSTs. That's something that needs to change if they won't promote the products themselves.

[zoidkirb]

Steinberg actually do advertise third party synths/libraries for their Halion platform. I've seen this regularly on Facebook.
Ableton does similar.
I recall Reason doing this too but I didn't see anything when checking just now.

[Pepin]

I noticed a lot of third party REs show up in this video from June (though they're not the focus):