Vendor license policy collection

[joe_b]

Introduction
I finally followed up with the implementation of an idea that I had a while ago and created a public google doc that shall contain license information, transfer policies and fees of audio software vendors. It is free to everyone to add informations.

Actual content
Here's the public doc
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing

and here's the form to create a new entry:
https://goo.gl/forms/x4zCBuLQsoP2PVOy2

PLEASE LOOK UP IF THE COMPANY IS ALREADY IN THE TABLE BEFORE CREATING A NEW ENTRY!

Statistics:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIp ... wanalytics

The goal
The goal is to make license policies comparable, to create some pressure on companies with very strict or non user-friendly policies and also to create one single place people can go to and look up information when they plan to sell their licenses.

Old thread
Lots of information also in the old thread, especially on individual support cases and more vendors.The old thread is here, you might wanna use the search function:
viewtopic.php?f=43&t=354654.

Feedback
Comments and suggestions about form&doc are very welcome!
If you represent one of the companies you're welcome to contact me via private message if you have questions or if the information in the table is incorrect.

[joe_b]

I will regularly update this list with all the companies currently included in the spreadsheet:

8DIO
Acousticsamples
Acustica Audio
AIR Music Technology
Arturia
benn
Bitwig
Blue Cat Audio
Celemony
D16 Group
Eventide
FabFilter
FXpansion
IK Multimedia
iZotope
Klevgränd
Melda Productions
Mercuriall
Native Instruments
Oeksound
Overloud
Plugin Alliance
Presonus
Scarbee
Softube
Soundtoys
Spectrasonics
TAL Software
Toontrack
U-He
Valhalla
Vienna Instruments
Waves
Wavesfactory
Xfer Records
XLN Audio

[joe_b]

This post is reserved for a list of companies with very user friendly license policies
Amongst other things this means that these companies do not charge any transfer fees.

U-He
TAL Software

Arturia
Native Instruments
XLN Audio
Toontrack

[joe_b]

This post is reserved for a list of companies with questionable license policies.

Big transfer fees
Waves (horrendous transfer fees for bundles, need of active WUP)
Acustica Audio (25€ + difference of purchase price vs. current list price)
Spectrasonics (50$)
FXPansion (50$)

No license transfer possible
Mercuriall
Scarbee ("user does not own the instrument, only the right to use it")
Wavesfactory
Blue Cat Audio

License becomes NFR after sale
Xfer Records (now changed their policy to no license transfer possible at all)

Companies charging for re-downloads
Spectrasonics
IK Multimedia (after 180 days)

Honorable mention for the need of a hardware dongle:
Vienna Instruments

[joe_b]

Thanks to the first couple of people contributing to the list!

[chk071]

The goal
The goal is to make license policies comparable, to create some pressure on companies with very strict or non user-friendly policies and also to create one single place people can go to and look up information when they plan to sell their licenses.

Lol...

Why not just do the right thing, and don't buy, when you are not OK with a company's license policy? The "pressure" isn't there anyway. Who reads this? Who pariticpates in this? Really pretty straight forward stuff, when you use your head to think a little bit.

[dune_rave]

i was thinking on a similar list, but instead of license policies, we should list bugs that are not fixed. in many times, these information are well hidden, or buried in company forums...

[gejoreni]

The goal
The goal is to make license policies comparable, to create some pressure on companies with very strict or non user-friendly policies and also to create one single place people can go to and look up information when they plan to sell their licenses.

Lol...

Why not just do the right thing, and don't buy, when you are not OK with a company's license policy? The "pressure" isn't there anyway. Who reads this? Who pariticpates in this? Really pretty straight forward stuff, when you use your head to think a little bit.

In my mind this list is informing consumers as well - so they know what not to buy. I should not have purchased waves bundle, didn't love it and now am stuck with it because transfering costs more than I could sell it for.

[joe_b]

In my mind this list is informing consumers as well - so they know what not to buy. I should not have purchased waves bundle, didn't love it and now am stuck with it because transfering costs more than I could sell it for.

That's exactly what I was aiming at:
1) inform potential buyers BEFORE they buy
2) If people stop buying from companies with policies like Waves and complain in forums and social media it actually DOES put pressure on them.

[joe_b]

i was thinking on a similar list, but instead of license policies, we should list bugs that are not fixed. in many times, these information are well hidden, or buried in company forums...

I love the idea, but it would take a lot of effort to maintain this list.
License policies usually apply to all products of one company and don't change very often.
Bugs are (usually) unique to each product and DO get fixed lots of times.

But I am happy to help you set things up if you want to do it similar to what I did.

[dune_rave]

i disagree in certain degree: the FM8 64 bit ARP bug is there for many years(arp skips the first step) - so there are bugs that have a much longer life

[joe_b]

Added a question to the form whether or not re-downloads are free (yeah, talking to you Spectrasonics and IK Multimedia!)

[elassi]

Nice job, joe_b.

TAL (https://tal-software.com/faq)

License transfers
License transfers are possible if you bought the plugin in our own web shop. Licenses can be transferred free of charge after 9 months of ownership. Premature transfers are only possible for a fee of $10. We will send you a Paypal invoice in this case and transfer the license after the payment was done. Please contact us directly (support@tal-software.com) with your Paypal email address to prove your ownership. We need the full name and the email address of the new owner.

Blue Cat Audio (https://www.bluecataudio.com/Legal/Terms/)

Blue Cat Audio grants you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable license, to access and view any Blue Cat Audio’s contents on the Website.

[joe_b]

Nice job, joe_b.

TAL (https://tal-software.com/faq)

License transfers
License transfers are possible if you bought the plugin in our own web shop. Licenses can be transferred free of charge after 9 months of ownership. Premature transfers are only possible for a fee of $10. We will send you a Paypal invoice in this case and transfer the license after the payment was done. Please contact us directly (support@tal-software.com) with your Paypal email address to prove your ownership. We need the full name and the email address of the new owner.

Blue Cat Audio (https://www.bluecataudio.com/Legal/Terms/)

Blue Cat Audio grants you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable license, to access and view any Blue Cat Audio’s contents on the Website.

Thanks! I added the information on those 2 companies. Also, I created a google form to fill the table, so if you come across any other companies you can directly add it

[monomox]

This is gold, man, thank you very much.

I agree that this list should replace the old thread, which is haphazardly maintained, if at all.