Propellerhead Software Names Niklas Agevik as CEO

[MarkTarlton]

Very nice of you to step in here and give us the news Ernst! It helps ease some of the speculation and uncomfortable anxiety that this can manifest when a lot of us here have revolved our lives around this fantastic software you have brought us! I speak for myself, but my life would be completely different without it. It helped me from going crazy when I was burnt out trying to find like minded musicians to create music....this software allowed me to do it myself, and collaborate in a way that I didn't know was possible. I have been through a couple failed relationships, but Reason has always been there. I wish you the best and am excited to see what the future brings us all. I was relieved to see you still being on board and helping out...now I can breathe a little better

[EnochLight]

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

Or spend 5 seconds in any Reason thread at KVR...

[groggy1]

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

Or spend 5 seconds in any Reason thread at KVR...

Well put

[diminished]

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

Or spend 5 seconds in any Reason thread at KVR...

Or when he's bored to death by r/reasoners

[two shoes]

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.

i'd like to see that as well and the obvious way to do it is a sequencer overhaul along with mk2 updates for the older devices and the ssl mixer (along with hi-res gui obviously). please get brainworx in on the ssl mk2 btw - their collaboration with SSL on the G and E series plugins has yielded some of the best modeled channel strips i've used to date.

it's astonishing and quite encouraging to me to hear that Propellerhead has half the yearly revenue of Ableton - i would have guessed it was more like 1/10th.

thanks to Ernst for a little more detail on the changes - that's reassuring to hear, but the proofs in the pudding of course.

and there's Adam Fielding interrupting the doom and gloom party with perspective and positivity just to remind you that he's not just a better musician than you, but also a much better person. looking forward to some more livestreams next time you're in the mood!

although the new CEO's background is obviously a bit of a mystery, it would be a Propellerhead type thing to hire someone they think is the right fit instead of someone with the right looking resume. i feel better about this than I did yesterday, perahps i will buy the last three or four rack extensions i don't own during the sale afterall.

[two shoes]

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?

it's hard to look at, but in many ways it's state of the art. pro tools is still arguably better for intensive audio editing and logic is better for midi sequencing in some regards, but on the whole i'd have to give the nod to cubase. it might be reaper five years from now the way they develop that thing, but for some reason reaper seems to have plateaued in terms of market share, or at least i have that impression. i'm talking about mainstream consumer daws now - there's niche stuff like sadie and sequoia which some live sound, broadcast, and post pros swear by that i don't have much experience with. Props could do a lot worse than to have a hard look at Cubase's sequencer when they're figuring out how to update theirs.

[Goriila Texas]

Finally, someone else to takeover horay!!! I was just about to sell my license too because Reason is too far behind Studio One imo and I got komplete for everything else.

The old regime acted like they hated change with their old and stubborn ways. I've been a user since 2.5 and have been smh at the direction of this company throughout the years. I honestly felt that the man behind PH didn't want the company to succeed. Who would make a slave only DAW and keep it that way?? I've felt PH only added vst support and other features because they were forced too with because of dwindling sells even though I had no proof. I've always hated the secrecy and non-user inclusion with features.

I welcome the new CEO he is young and no doubt has some great ideas for PH,hopefully for sake of the company he cleans house of all the old heads with an out of date mentality who never wanted to push Reason to a higher evolution.

[antic604]

Finally, someone else to takeover horay!!! I was just about to sell my license too because Reason is too far behind Studio One imo and I got komplete for everything else.

The old regime acted like they hated change with their old and stubborn ways. I've been a user since 2.5 and have been smh at the direction of this company throughout the years. I honestly felt that the man behind PH didn't want the company to succeed. Who would make a slave only DAW and keep it that way?? I've felt PH only added vst support and other features because they were forced too with because of dwindling sells even though I had no proof. I've always hated the secrecy and non-user inclusion with features.

I welcome the new CEO he is young and no doubt has some great ideas for PH,hopefully for sake of the company he cleans house of all the old heads with an out of date mentality who never wanted to push Reason to a higher evolution.

You're cofusing a strong vision with out-of-date mentality. You might not agree with the vision of Reason being closed to only work with native & RE devices, but many of us do, as that was its strength and had numerous benefits. Actually myself, despite owning well over 100 VSTs, I have them disabled in Reason and I'm still getting new REs, because this is why I got Reason - to see everything right there in the rack, to cable stuff conveniently, to have single browser for all the presets, to one-click instal & update everything, to be sure it won't crash because of some shoddy VST code, etc.

[adfielding]

and there's Adam Fielding interrupting the doom and gloom party with perspective and positivity just to remind you that he's not just a better musician than you, but also a much better person. looking forward to some more livestreams next time you're in the mood!

Woah now, let's not go too carried away

But seriously though, that's incredibly kind of you to say - thank you! I've been in the mood for more streams for flipping ages, but unfortunately life has a knack for getting in the way.

[WillyOD]

Super disappointed you couldn't find a new boss from inside the company and had to bring in an outsider. I understand if you didn't have a right person, qualified or willing to do it, otherwise.... Truly and purely a money smelling decision that does not bode well for Props (I understand that a company's purpose is to profit, but at what cost, and at what point is a company making enough money?!)

But then again what do I know, and it's not like I've made any music in forever. At least summer is finally here!

[WillyOD]

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

I don't think redheads go grey. They might be the ultimate leaders.

[boingy]

Super disappointed you couldn't find a new boss from inside the company and had to bring in an outsider. I understand if you didn't have a right person, qualified or willing to do it, otherwise.... Truly and purely a money smelling decision that does not bide well for Props (I understand that a company's purpose is to profit, but at what cost, and at what point is a company making enough money?!)

But then again what do I know, and it's not like I've made any music in forever. At least summer is finally here!

The bit you've missed is where Ernst says (in this thread): "It's been planned for a bit of time, you can say since Verdane made their investment." The new guy has been chosen by the venture capitalists. It won't end well.

[telecode101]

I thin know that 10.3 officially release, PH should kick back at Steinberg with a cross-grade offer of their own. Turn up the heat a bit in the market place. What the Steinberg offer has actually done now is also gotten a whole lot of longtime Cubase customers look more closely at what the cross-grade from products are. Just my speculation.

[Marco Raaphorst]

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

You're gonna pick up the blogging again, right? Seriously. Would be nice

[ernstnathorst]

The old regime acted like they hated change with their old and stubborn ways. ... I honestly felt that the man behind PH didn't want the company to succeed.

[Magnus]

The old regime acted like they hated change with their old and stubborn ways. ... I honestly felt that the man behind PH didn't want the company to succeed.

Reason is one of the best-selling cross platform DAWs after Pro Tools; Propellerhead is hardly a company that hasn't succeeded!

[Ostermilk]

I'll be 59 this year.

Young whippersnapper! Get off my lawn.

[bxbrkrz]

"The new guy has been chosen by the venture capitalists. It won't end well."



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear,_unc ... _and_doubt

[MannequinRaces]

Ernst is still on the board, the rest of the team is still the same. Give the new CEO a chance.

[ProfessaKaos]

Thanks for everything so far, Ernst.

My guess is he'll sit back and be like Yoda giving his approval and suggestions to new endeavours put forward. His opinion will be well respected and listened too.

[Magnus]

Super disappointed you couldn't find a new boss from inside the company and had to bring in an outsider. I understand if you didn't have a right person, qualified or willing to do it, otherwise.... Truly and purely a money smelling decision that does not bode well for Props (I understand that a company's purpose is to profit, but at what cost, and at what point is a company making enough money?!)

But then again what do I know, and it's not like I've made any music in forever. At least summer is finally here!

Absolutely my feelings. When the money creeps in, it always fucking ruins everything that's good.

[chimp_spanner]

The old regime acted like they hated change with their old and stubborn ways. ... I honestly felt that the man behind PH didn't want the company to succeed.

Maybe it's just me but I feel like if someone was gonna purposefully destroy a program there'd be easier and quicker ways than releasing 10 full versions over 18 years of sustained development

Said it before but Reason pays the rent, despite its flaws, warts and quirks. So thanks Ernst! Have a virtual beer on me.

[diminished]

Super disappointed you couldn't find a new boss from inside the company and had to bring in an outsider. I understand if you didn't have a right person, qualified or willing to do it, otherwise.... Truly and purely a money smelling decision that does not bode well for Props (I understand that a company's purpose is to profit, but at what cost, and at what point is a company making enough money?!)

But then again what do I know, and it's not like I've made any music in forever. At least summer is finally here!

Absolutely my feelings. When the money creeps in, it always fucking ruins everything that's good.

It might also mean that the company will be more competitive and is moving away from the often cited "glacial speed" of progression. When they're suddenly not content anymore with what they have. This may also result in better prices for us, and hey, maybe they even take user requests more seriously.
Expansion and a broader user base is probably the #1 priority at the moment. All I hope is that mobile development doesn't draw too many resources from the Reason core.

[Magnus]

Absolutely my feelings. When the money creeps in, it always fucking ruins everything that's good.

It might also mean that the company will be more competitive and is moving away from the often cited "glacial speed" of progression. When they're suddenly not content anymore with what they have. This may also result in better prices for us, and hey, maybe they even take user requests more seriously.
Expansion and a broader user base is probably the #1 priority at the moment. All I hope is that mobile development doesn't draw too many resources from the Reason core.

Whilst I love your optimism, when a company is acquired it usually ends up that its culture gets eroded over time to match the culture of the parent company. Nowadays, as a reaction to that, you'll get both external and internal PR telling customers and employees alike that what makes that company special won't get lost in the transition. But in my experience it always happens sooner or later, for better or for worse. To quote Bob Dylan; "money doesn't talk; it swears".

It will be interesting to see just what this new culture will be and if it cares more about kiddie not-really-musician hipsters or if it cares about actual serious grown-up power users having the best in class tools to make a living with. This press release might give us some indication; https://www.verdane.com/article/2338 or then again it might tell us nothing at all.

[diminished]

Whilst I love your optimism, when a company [...]

To be fair, I'd also tell my kids something positive and how much I love them when facing inevitable death by a meteor falling down on earth..