As you can see, basically ALL customers feel wronged, because this IS wrong on so many levels. We don’t want a “special treatment”, just get it right.
14 Likes
This won’t solve the problem. I want to decide which plugins I need and want to buy. Do you really think that I will buy a subscription because the release of a new plugin? No, I won’t. As much as I hate to look for alternatives, I won’t play that game.
4 Likes
To be fair, I’m not surprised by this step from a company like Waves. They are showing for years that they dont care about der loyal users.
For me, not having monthly subscriptions was one thing that waves had over many other companies.
Not even giving their loyal users 1 year WAC for free is just so disrespectful, especially for all the live sound people.
Im gonna ditch waves for studio work and gonna start planning alternative setup for my live gigs!
4 Likes
“We value our customers very much” 
Straight up lying in our faces
12 Likes
That’s a pity.
This is a slap to the face of all existing customers. Been using waves for… years.
A BIG Thank you for erasing all my past & future support.
Shocked!
4 Likes
WOW! That’s all Waves may say about all users/customers etc…
That’s a shame!
2 Likes
What a joke of a company. I have bought many Waves plugins over the years and this latest move by Waves is just a big f*ck you to its customers. I will not be subscribing.
3 Likes
People were saying they hate this hidden subscription model and now you force them into it.
Waves was creating music bundles but deaf people are running the company, how ironic.
How is it possible you were still selling individual plugins, bundles and upgrades, the day before without any prior notice? Why can’t I f###ing upgrade to the latest version required to run on ARM for Mac? How much are worth my plugins now?
It should be:
- We are going subscription only in 12 months.
- All our clients will get access to WUP for another 5 years
- New clients can only use the subscription tier.
This would be how to respect a little tiny bit your customers.
Of course, allowing both perpetual and subscriptions would be the best option.
Will just change the Waves plugins I’ve been using to something else for my next projects
and will switch them in my old project each time I need to.
11 Likes
How do I update my plugins I purchased? I own 53 plugins I’ve purchased, more than half of them are on v12 or v13. The rest are on v14. Are you telling me I have to pay 15$ a month to update a plugin I already own? Whoever at Waves decided this needs to be fired. I’ve never seen anything this absurd in the music industry in my 25 years in it. Waves, you should be ashamed!!!
11 Likes
I’ve been a loyal Waves customer, user, and advocate for over 25 years. I own pretty much everything you’ve ever released (Mercury+, SSL/studio bundle, Abbey Road bundle, NX everything, virtual instrument bundle, etc…). I had planned on renewing my WUP in a couple of months to top off my licenses. I was really interested in the new Clarity plugin. And then… this! With absolutely no warning at all.
In fact, I think that’s the thing that frustrates me the most. I’m a hobbyist. I don’t make a dime from music and I never will. I’m on a limited budget. I can’t justify another subscription. The previous model worked for me. The most upsetting thing is that you didn’t give us a heads up. Most of your users need to plan upgrades and purchases carefully. I don’t have the budget for a steady stream of subscriptions. I can, however, make planned-for purchases when I know that I will own that and no longer have to continue paying for it.
To top it off, I feel like a real idiot that I spent so much with you guys over the years (and that my praise for your technology likely convinced others to do the same). It’s looking like this was one of the worst investments I ever made. Not only do I hate what you’ve done and how you’ve handled this, but other companies will as well, because I’m now going to be in a situation where I won’t be able to upgrade my DAW, and as a result other plugins and software, and even my hardware will now need to remain frozen in its current state.
If you had merely added the subscription plans to your existing model, you probably wouldn’t be getting any complaints. In fact, you’d be getting a lot of praise from people who hadn’t accumulated the majority of your products already. However, I’ve spent thousands upon thousands with you over the years. And, this just feels like a kick in the gut.
Even if you feel you MUST move to an exclusive subscription model, you could have alleviated much of the blowback you’re receiving by simply giving a heads-up to your customer base and giving them time to make arrangements or modify their purchasing plans. Heck, you probably would have even made serious bank with a mad dash of long-time customers buying one-off plugins they wanted to own before the change and even getting in final WUP renewals. The new customers who will be interested in the new subscription model would not have been affected. You’d still get them. You weren’t likely to get the old-timers like me on a subscription anyway, so giving enough notice of the upcoming change would have likely given you a large influx of cash right before making the switch. (I mean, if you offered Mercury owners a far better deal than just two free months. Seriously??? We at least deserve a half price forever on your ultimate plan or a number of years free. Then and only then would I even consider a subscription.)
Look, people take these things personally. I make decisions on principle. I don’t care how good your products are. This has instantly turned me against Waves and I plan to have nothing more to do with this company until and unless you resolve this in a meaningful way.
The best way to smooth this over, as far as I see it, is to simply bring back perpetual licenses so that customers can choose their preferred model. But, at the very least, you should give legacy customers 30 days to purchase single licenses, upgrade WUP, etc. before going fully subscription-exclusive. That would help to bring back some good will from your most loyal customers. Also, offering a multi-year free access period or at least a very deep discount on the subscription plan for Mercury+ owners would be a good idea. Even better, a percentage based discount proportionate to the number of products a person owns would be fair. Not sure how many would even take you up on it, due to the hard feelings at this point, but it would be worth a shot. Otherwise, you’ve lost the bulk of us as customers forever. (Honestly, I can’t think of a more destructive marketing move than the way you’ve handled this.)
Anyway, I’m fully prepared for this message to fall on completely deaf ears and to have absolutely nothing come from it. But, I practice what I preach; and, I’m giving you notice of my intention to completely walk away from your company for life. I’ll give you one last chance to win me back. You have 30 days.
11 Likes
All your loyal customers have been completely mislead.
It’s one thing to add the option for subscription but to completely f*** customers and force them to pay a sub model .and remove the option to update with WUP is beyond absurd to loyal customers.
With all the back lash i’ve seen everywhere from the forums, reddit, youtube and some news articles, I hope you guys really reconsider bringing back your old model. If you want to have sub as an option, fine…but don’t f**k your loyal customers in the process. That is scummy
8 Likes
Mercury/SSL/Abbey Road owner here.
Only idiots complained about WUP. It was more than fair. Pay if you need, get bonuses if you pay (2nd licenses), capped at a reasonable price. Now for two seats, you want me to pay more than double I used to pay in yearly WUP, and I have nothing at the end of it if I stop paying. How is this a good deal, for someone who has spent thousands on these licenses in the first place?
AVID lasted 12-18 months trying to force people onto subscription for PT. DAWs are far more central to workflow than plugins. I am confident this experiment will not work out in the long-run and perpetual licenses will be back sometime. It’s a shame you had to damage goodwill in the process.
Just about to give $1200 to UA for UAD Ultimate 11. First time customer. Peace Waves, you get access to my credit card again when you treat me with respect.
10 Likes
I am to a Waves customer who feels utterly betrayed. I was switching to a mac and waiting for my paycheck to rebuy some of my most favorite plugins from you. No I can’t and I am devastated. From hereon I can’T use your stuff anymore. And I was willing o leave at least 300 € with you. So damn you!!!
5 Likes
Subscriptions never end well if you’re not Adobe. Bye Waves.
7 Likes
This is 100%! Agreed!
4 Likes
It really is a capitalist policy! We knew it but this is too much!
We will move on to other brands Goodbye and thank you very much!
You are pissing off a lot of people.
3 Likes
The decision to create waves creative access is unjust for people like me who spent more than 10000 $ buying plugins and upgrading, and now treated as any other newcomer using creative access, you should at least give us free years each with the size of his investments in your plugins.
6 Likes
I spent a lot of money on plugins and hardware from waves. Now I’m very disappoined by this news.
2 Likes
There are alternatives for just about each plugin Waves has, I’m happy to dump Waves, and it appears my colleagues agree. I will never subscribe to any software.
1 Like
If the company were in Germany, this would now be a case for my lawyer. This is an expropriation of the purchased plugins.
5 Likes