I am writing way too many posts on this issue, I know, but I feel it is important to once again say:
I’ve never had any issues with Paul asking for money. In fact, my statement about the annoyance of public radio campaigns was meant as a compliment to such campaigns. I have issues only with Paul asking for money in snarky, negative ways. That is not how you convince people to support you.
Or another idea… over on the forums, there’s some discussion about creating a custom set of stickers (for the keyboard etc). Is this something that Ardour could sell? e.g. $10 + postage - or if someone donates $30 or more they get a free sticker pack?
nevermind
Just as an aside… many of the pages on Ardour’s web site seem to be carrying sponsored advertising links. Some of these are for big name companies such as Abbey Road Studios and McMillan Cancer Care. I assume Ardour is receiving payment for these links so could that avenue be expanded? There must be some music related organisations who’d want to place links on Ardour’s site.
Were are all the other comments remained? I saw a long discussion thread and now it´s gone.
-Erdie
P.S. Sorry, now i can read it, it just seems to be a technical issue, sorry for my commend.
This is a very interesting thread and subject.
Firstly I think that this project and its developers personally could greatly benefit from ‘sharing the load’.
There is an enormous community of FOSS supporters out there who have all the skills you could need.
Harnessing the power of the community to make paul’s life easier seems, to me, to be the way to go.
The most successful FOSS projects are often easiest for the lead dev/founder, because everyone else does most of the work.
Promote fan artwork, fan websites, fan blog material and how-tos. This kind of thing is great marketing and raises the profile and use of a project very quickly. Ardour is a very sexy app both in what it can do and its interface. Its perfect for getting artistic community members excited about. With greater awareness and support should hopefully come greater donations.
This goes for development too - I don’t know how paul feels about this, but getting more devs on board would surely be better for everyone, not least paul. If people keep pining for vst support then wouldn’t it be better for those people who need it to put in most of the work themselves? This would allow paul to focus on other areas which are more important and he may feel happier with.
I think that a number of tasks that paul takes on him self could be out-‘sourced’ to good effect. It would relieve pressure on paul and hopefully make sure all those targets are met with room to spare.
Regarding hiring a sales/marketing person - why on earth would you pay someone to do that? This is just the sort of thing that the community excels at - spreading the word, generating hype and interest, providing user support etc…
From the sounds of things its not that paul or ardour are lacking particularly, but rather its supporters. In my view it is the responsibility of the existing users and fans to find ways of being useful and putting them into practice. Problems with awareness etc. are surely largely the fault of users – the devs are already giving us a revolutionary app for free – if we cant manage the marketing ourselves what good are we?
That being said, project leaders in paul’s position can act in ways to promote and stimulate strong community support (Eric Raymond writes at length on this subject).
Eric Raymond’s essay ‘The Cathedral and the Bazaar’ seems very pertinent to me regarding ardour’s problems, such as they are. Currently ardour looks much like a cathedral, with a few dedicated people puffing and panting and suffering to give all things to all people. Perhaps a more bazaar like approach could bring benefits.
A quote from Rasmus Lerdorf, creator of PHP: "I was getting frustrated and sick of it all, [thinking]: ‘why are all these people expecting me to fix their code? They’re not paying me. What the hell am I doing working my ass off for these folks? I don’t even know them - what the hell is going on here?’.
So he changed his approach: “The guy who had been complaining about the oracle extension, he’s been a pain in my ass for years, so its yours now buddy. Any further issues or complaints about oracle go straight to you!”.
Ardour is great, paul is great, its primarily we supporters who are lacking. Someone should be appointed, or appoint themselves, as community coordinator or something similar, and someone else as head of promotion or the like. Others should write an article here or there, or write to editors to try and get coverage in magazines. I think this site could do more with a non-forum section on bands currently using ardour, and another with example projects for download perhaps. And if paul is responsible for managing all the website then that’s one thing that could be someone else’s responsibility in a flash - why does he need to waste his time on the site when somebody less skilled could easily remove the burden - at least partially. You’re already using drupal which is perfect for multiple users with different roles. An article on pauls financial support model for ardour would fit beautifully into a number of widely read printed and online magazines, and would do wonders for use, awareness, and hopefully consistency of donations.
Secondly I think that we are all getting very heated over only 5-10% of paul’s target being missed. It is important that these targets are met so that paul can continue to work comfortably and confidently, but still; 90-95% of the goal was reached last month, which is an amazing achievement, and the fact that the target usually comes so close and is only ever a little way off is testament to the success of his approach so far. It wouldn’t take much to turn that 95% to 115% - a few hundred more users? A few more successful bands as regular contributors? A single free record company that uses ardour in studio (like magnatune or amazing radio perhaps?).
Ardour is an incredible project, its already a magnificent achievement is destined for all sorts of great things. Its worth the support that it needs from the community to keep the demands on its devs reasonable.
@paul, first let me say I hold you in the highest regard, and respect your work with Ardour.
Second, a little background. I am precisely your target audience. I am a Linux enthusiast for 10 years, on the user (not developer) level. I presently use Linux for everything I do with a computer, EXCEPT music production. Still stuck with Sonar on Windoze for this.
I have been eagerly awaiting the day I can switch to Linux audio, of which I’m sure Ardour will be a huge part.
What has kept me from switching is all the usual stories… but the bottom line is that I have yet to encounter an elegant, streamlined, all-in-one solution for audio. By this I mean a customized distro, already to go with ffado, with all the good Linux audio apps (ardour as the centerpiece).
Now, with this context, here is my philosophizing:
I think you are expecting too much from financial support for Ardour. Ardour, as F/OSS software, is part of the infrastructure. This is how you set it up (GPL), and thank you for that. History has shown that it’s tough to make money doing this, most major F/OSS applications are patronized by corporations these days. Why should Ardour be an exception?
If you want to make money at this, my suggestion is to “productize” ardour, and offer for sale a Linux distro, tweaked out with Ardour and plugins, etc., along with tech support. In other words you should set up as a business, since that’s what businesses do: make money.
Perhaps with the new Mixbus release, you’d have a good opportunity to do this, though obviously Harrison will have something to say about that. 