Waves Forced Subscription Model - Have they lost their minds?

I think every music industry youtuber should make a "Best alternatives to Waves plugins" content soon.

This crosses the line, and marks the end of me and Waves.

They should just make this like an option to buying, not the only thing. Shame on you Waves.

I hate subscription model based services

Waves has made one monumental error in judgement. The vast majority of their customers, many of which are long-term customers, will see this action as the worst type of slap in the face. Our studio is done with them because of their unscrupulous businesses practices…and I am willing to bet that most of their customers will also go elsewhere…the plugin industry is totally saturated with developers looking for customers.

I bought 42 plugins from Waves and I was sure that the perpetual license was...perpetual, but now....now I'm speechless! 🤬 What can I do with all those mixes I have in my archive when I will update my S.O? I wasted my money, my time and my trust in Waves. R.I.P. Waves plugins.

RIP Waves!

I am currently in the process of updating all my DAW templates to replace all the Waves plugins that I have been using for years and years. I have essentially every plugin they produce but, you know what? They are absolutely not irreplaceable by any means. There is such a great choice in plugins out there at the moment that dropping Waves is easier now than it has ever been. And to think, my current Update plan (scam?) is just up and I was about to pay out for another one!!! Saved me some money there Waves, thank you

I've no problem with a software manufacturer offering a subscription service as such, but when Slate went All-Access, they still maintained the perpetual licences for their pre-existing user base and I can still download installers today. Here, Waves have closed off the option to maintain those existing licences going forward and have potentially sacrificed the goodwill of their user base. You mentio UAD - interesting that they are going the opposite way and recently made their plugins available native with perpetual licences

The WAVES booth at NAMM ought to be interesting in a couple weeks.

No way I'm going to pay a subscription when I already own almost all Waves plugins. They have thrown me under the bus.😢

"You'll own nothing and be happy."

Thats not a new business model, thats extortion. And they decided to aggressively force it that way because 95% of their library is either old or shit compared to their competitors. Nobody would pay monthly if they have the option to pay and own the plugins that are actually good, the "buy or subscribe" model would not work financially well for waves. This is why they decided to act like pimps and enforce "pay per hour or piss off". Im not giving them a single cent anymore!

Funny! 'Please stand by!" 🤣

I have many Waves plugins, I only use a few but, not a one I can't live without. I am definitely not going to rent a license perpetually if I am never going to own that license. This seems to be a "money grab" just like the WUP. If and "when" my licenses expire or just quit working, I will be disappointed. Not so much about the loss of the money I invested. More about the faith I had in this company as being reputable. I lost all faith in this company a few years back. Like I said, there is not a single Waves plugin I cannot live without.

Voice your concerns directly to Waves Audio : Gilad Keren, Nir Kozlovsky, Meir Shaashua, Yoad Nevo and others. Real people. Real decisions.

I think the biggest thing is everyone else is doing options. I can buy slate or uad spark stuff if I want to. I mean I buy the uad dsp stuff and I get the spark free. Plugin alliance even does a rent to own so you own them eventually.

There are times when a subscription model is a good option for people, but this move is just Dickish. To me, their “update service” was pretty borderline too. I’ll continue to use the Waves plugins that I already own, but if any of them fail, I’ll replace them with a competing product.

The update plan was already an insolence, but this is criminal - Rest in Pieces WAVES.

Too many companies seem to forget or not appreciate that it’s very difficult to put a value on good will. Once that is damaged extensively across a customer base, regardless of the net purchase value and profit level each customer may bring, they set off something that is very difficult to redeem. There are now so many good/decent plugin developers with competitive products that provide an alternative to Waves. In the end too, for serious use, how many plugins do you really need? Many customers don’t want and will never use a large percentage of their products. A lot of their stuff now is perhaps more on the gimmicky bells and whistles end of the spectrum anyway. There’s quite a choice of decent and very good LA-2A, 1176, Pultec (whatever) emulations out there and other very good products, a lot of which are available to buy and own individually that are as good or even better than the Waves stuff. Are they then shooting themselves through the foot (or perhaps ultimately even through their head)?