SMM strategy for Cakewalk

[Asato Maa]

Cakewalk needs proper positioning on social media!

I am writing this post not only as a Cakewalk user since 2003, but also as a marketing agency owner and business consultant.

Of all social networks, the Facebook page is the most active https://www.facebook.com/CakewalkInc
But even here there is some boring news about new releases and updates.

It's sad to look at Instagram from Cakewalk in general - https://www.instagram.com/cakewalkinc.
Latest news about Cakewalk - 21 October 2019.
Almost 2.5 years of silence from developers in one of the most developing social networks in the world!!! ?

Some statistics of Cakewalk on Instagram:

• 194 publications
• 4 921 subscribers

For comparison:

Ableton on Instagram

• 478 publications
• 556 thousand subscribers

Bitwig on Instagram

• 163 publications
• 14.9 thousand subscribers

Cubase on Instagram

• 12 publications
• 10.9 thousand subscribers

Studio One on Instagram

• 50 publications
• 4 099 subscribers

Another moment. Cakewalk in Instagram needs a separate hashtag that does not overlap with others.

The marketing strategy should consist of:

1. Creating a goal for the year in numbers (attracting users, working with ambassadors, working with strategic partners - manufacturers of midi keyboards, for example).
2. Create an action plan

• short videos for social networks
• long videos for youtube
• feature articles and short posts
• expert articles for music magazines
• publications in industry news portals
• creating a content plan
• etc.

Content examples:

• live podcasts and recordings,
• video reviews,
• live broadcasts with famous musicians and sound engineers using the Cakewalk,
• interesting information about the developers and the team itself,
• plans for the development of the program for the year,
• expert articles,
• results of participation in various events,
• etc.

This is just a sketch of ideas and possible activities that I sketched in half an hour ?

I would like the Cakewalk to develop in the Internet space, and new musicians, composers, and sound engineers join it! ?

@Morten Saether@Jesse Jost
I am ready, if necessary, to connect to the creation and implementation of a promotion and marketing strategy together with your team! ?

PS. Colleagues, please support the idea with a like!

Edited January 26, 2022 by Asato Maa

[Mark Morgon-Shaw]

Yeah I find it odd that after being bought by the company that has highly popular music making App , this is still the state of affairs.

I thought they would be all over that stuff. 

We don't even get a regular column in SOS magazine any more despite the author being a regular around these forums. Whilst "lesser" more niche DAWs seem to.

I've been bangin' on about this ever since Cakewalk got rescued, whilst I love and understand it pretty intimately this is not the case for the younger generation of music makers.  The way people make music has changed.  They want fast and easy ways to make Trap and Hip Hop beats and manipulate sample packs for starters. Give them that and they'll probably stay around but as it stands other platforms took the lead years ago and it's as though Cakewalk don't even want to cater for them. 

As it stands I think professional users look down upon Cakewalk ( wrongly IMHO ) and the younger generation haven't been given the tools they need so it's stuck in this kind of nowhere mans land in the middle full of balding middle aged guys making terrible prog in their spare rooms just to get away from the wife. 

It's not just about marketing, it's about fulfilling the need of the end user. You have to work out who that is first.

Edited January 24, 2022 by Mark MoreThan-Shaw

[IgoRr]

@Asato Maa

Not a bad idea... in theory! Although, looking at what is happening in the music production environment, it seems to me that it will not be possible to save Cakewalk. The reason is very simple - at the present time, the fate and popularity of any program depends not on the number of subscribers in social media, and not even on the number of users, but on the commercial position for this program on the part of plug-in manufacturers or tools for it.

And in this matter, from the moment, when Bandlab decided to make Cakewalk free, it began to be openly squeezed out of the market by its main competitors. The most important examples are - Audiobro, Cinematic Studio, Native Instruments and some others, which fundamentally do not apply "integration into DAW" in relation to Cakewalk. Over the past 3 years, our beloved DAW has completely disappeared from the list of "best music production software", while Cakewalk remains in the spotlight only thanks to private enthusiasts who dedicate their reviews to it. I already know quite a few professionals who, after 20 years of working with Cakewalk, are now switching to Cubase or Logic Pro, although right now Cakewalk is in the best shape ever.

Unfortunately, the commercial policy of Bandlab does not depend on our opinions and will not change, which will inevitably lead to a complete drop in user interest and Bandlab's refusal to continue working on it.

Edited January 25, 2022 by IgoRr

[Xel Ohh]

I agree with @Mark MoreThan-Shaw and @IgoRr they have to find out who they want to pitch to before they can even think about social media.. @Asato Maa Bandlab is focused on the younger generation it seems that deal with something fast to release but Cakewalk doesn't seem to know where it wants to go it really is in limbo... It does not cater to the young and not enough for the old that's why people are choosing other DAWS.. integration is important.. stability is important.. tools are important to make things faster these are the things that will attract people but they need to decide what they want to do and choose which way they want to go.. but updating the IG would be great to see lol.. I think they have stuff from like 2 years ago on there... Lol..?

[IgoRr]

@Lord Tim

In today's world, where literally everything is based on profit, the number of users has little effect. And the examples I have given above confirm the tendency to squeeze out Cakewalk from this media environment. I partly agree that Bandlab does not introduce amenities for beatmakers and hip-hop lovers, but Steinberg or Logic Pro do not do this either, nevertheless, their popularity and authority in the professional environment is only growing.

I'm not exaggerating, I remember very well that 6-8 years ago, Cubase or Logic Pro were first of all compared only with Sonar, and now Cakewalk is practically not mentioned, except by individual enthusiasts. But from every iron you hear about Studio One or Reaper.

And I repeat once again: now Cakewalk is in the best shape for all the years of its existence, it has much more creative tools, it has become much more convenient, but it is less and less in a professional environment, as long as it rests on the pure enthusiasm of users.

[garybrun]

I think that a lot of this is also because Cakewalk is free.
You used to be able to read tutorials and other interesting items in the main magazines..   now its not even mentioned.
Why is that when a product  is for free and in some cases rivals those out there.
I've been a cake walk user for nearly two decades and I can remember when it was one of the really big names.
I even have the Sonar V Studio system which was a lot of money  quite a while ago.

Edited January 25, 2022 by garybrun

[Starship Krupa]

These are all fine ideas, but they require employees or consultants to do them. As far as I know, the only staff on Cakewalk are the developers and support. From my observations, BandLab's promotional budget for Cakewalk is next to nil. The only money I've seen them spend was sending some staff to Anaheim for the NAMM Show a couple of years back when we used to have NAMM Shows.

I've suggested that there be Cakewalk laptop stickers and t-shirts made available for purchase.

I've done some cleanup work on a few of the legacy Wikipedia pages, and made sure that Cakewalk by Bandlab is on all of the lists of DAW's and audio software, but there's still no page for Cakewalk by Bandlab itself.

[Will.]

I also think it is because every commercial studios out there own Mac systems leaving Cakewalk that are on the same level and standards as The top 7 Absolute.

FL Studio

Logic Pro 

Pro Tools 

Ableton

Cubase 

Reaper 

Studio One

All of these DAWS have a fully function version for Macintosh and Windows systems except for one of course.

It's for this reason I had changed to Mac too. My Cakewalk system is now my personal computer in the main house in the study room. I often sit infront of it when I do beats for myself. So, I think it's for this reason that Cakewalk went dead - Macs are the standard system in Studios and Cakewalk doesn't have one. Sonar tried, but it was a fail. I guess they didn't have enough resources to keep working and perfecting it - dont know.

Then of course, there's the youth. What teenager these days own a windows system?  I'm going to my mid 30's and was forced the past two years throughout the pandemic to invest in a MACINTOSH business wise, because of the demands from clients sending and requesting Mac files and I can say with confidence, I'm not disappointed. 

Cakewalk will pickup overnight when there's a Mac version available to promote at NAMM should they decide to create a Mac version the next 12 months. This of course will not happen. 

I'm willing to create one quality short Video for their IG page weekly. 

[Byron Dickens]

Or so Mac fanboys would have you believe.

[Will.]

1 hour ago, bdickens said:

Or so Mac fanboys would have you believe.

I guess you live under a rock then. 

[Will.]

53 minutes ago, Lord Tim said:

I actually don't know any teenager that owns a Mac, to be honest. It's not quite the ***** measurement appliance down here that it is in some other parts of the world.

You're missing the point. Logic with all it's flaws is attractive ridiculous amount of youth in. The OP's discussion is about Marketing, not so? and that Cakewalk is losing out on it, right? Well, ding-dong! 

Logic is attracting a lot of traffic and that means, a lot of teenagers are investing in Macbooks or the Desktop. Having a Mac means that they can run Logic or Ableton (Another big "name DAW" among them for some reason) which are both on mac and windows available. 

Ask around whats their favourite DAW? Logic pops up 70% of the time. So again seeing that you're missing the  crucial key words and phrase about, here it is again. 

If Cakewalk should get a mac version of the DAW i guarantee you, it will rocket to the top in studios OVERNIGHT! 

Cakewalk was there before. It was in most Major studios around the globe, but because it was unstable at the time - studios shelved it. 

Edited January 26, 2022 by Will_Kaydo

[IgoRr]

40 minutes ago, Will_Kaydo said:

...Cakewalk was there before. It was in most Major studios around the globe, but because it was unstable at the time - studios shelved it. 

 

A little different: Cakewalk was shelved not because of its instability, but because of the sluggishness of the guys from Boston, who, at a key point, could not (or did not want to) agree with Steinberg in terms of using ASIO. And while Cakewalk was looking for its analogue of this driver for 10 years (!!!), most of the dedicated Cakewalk users and some professional studios switched to MAC.

Sometimes this is how you can literally break the course of History.

Edited January 26, 2022 by IgoRr

[Byron Dickens]

6 hours ago, Will_Kaydo said:

Then of course, there's the youth. What teenager these days own a windows system? 

What teenager owns a Mac either? I don't know where the hell you're from but here in the real world not many teenagers have very much disposable income.

6 hours ago, Will_Kaydo said:

demands from clients sending and requesting Mac files

I gotta call BS on this. I have never heard of anyone giving a rodent's gluteus maximus what platform a file came off of as long as they can use it on theirs. And since most DAWs that aren't Cakewalk or Logic are cross platform....

 

1 hour ago, Will_Kaydo said:

Ask around whats their favourite DAW? Logic pops up 70% of the time.

More BS. The two names I see most often are Ableton and Reaper.

[Will.]

1 hour ago, Lord Tim said:

Having a Mac version would be great, but realistically it isn't going to happen, no matter how much anyone may want it to. The Bakers have pretty much said as much. There was a reason the SONAR Mac alpha never continued to be developed.

 

You're taking my words too literal. 

7 hours ago, Will_Kaydo said:

 should they decide to create a Mac version. This of course will not happen. 

I already said it here. 

[Will.]

28 minutes ago, bdickens said:

What teenager owns a Mac either? I don't know where the hell you're from but here in the real world not many teenagers have very much disposable income.

I gotta call BS on this. I have never heard of anyone giving a rodent's gluteus maximus what platform a file came off of as long as they can use it on theirs. And since most DAWs that aren't Cakewalk or Logic are cross platform....

 

More BS. The two names I see most often are Ableton and Reaper.

Must you always start an argument and insult people on this forum? Life is to fragile for things like that. Calm down, ice cream always help. 

Have yourself a great day. 

Edited January 26, 2022 by Will_Kaydo

[Will.]

1 hour ago, IgoRr said:

most of the dedicated Cakewalk users and some professional studios switched to MAC.

I've been saying then this the whole time.

Plus, the up and coming teenagers (producers, mixing engineers, Dj's, rappers and singers) that are making money out of their craft amongst one another, that's investing in Macbooks too. 

Edited January 26, 2022 by Will_Kaydo

[Will.]

FWIW: There's millions of teenagers that are famous on TikTok, Vine, Youtube, that does music. 14 to 19 year olds (a k.a "TEENAGERS") that have little studios in their bedrooms. Billy Eilish is still one.  

[Will.]

6 minutes ago, Lord Tim said:

There is NO WAY this could happen overnight, not in any reality.

 

Like i've said: You're taking my words to literal. OVERNIGHT success does not exist. It is but only an expression we all use. 

There's also the keywords "Should it" that I had used in the quote. 

[Starship Krupa]

I'm not of the opinion that Cakewalk is losing share in the overall DAW market. Compared to 4 years ago, there are now multiple YouTube channels dedicated, or largely dedicated, to Cakewalk tips and tutorials. There's a good balance, too, with, for instance, @Xel Ohh and @AdK Studios covering hip hop/EDM methods and @Creative Sauce leaning more toward the traditional "recording studio" approach. There are others, too, and they're all very good, I've learned things from all of them.

As for why there's not more coverage in traditional print media, I think that's down to the aforementioned zero budget for marketing, and, unfortunately, the free license model. BandLab don't buy ads, period. Now whether magazines are biased toward companies who do, I'll be charitable and say that it helps keep them off the radar, because the magazines' staffs don't pay attention to the product. There has always been a certain amount of quid pro quo in publications: buy our ads and we cover your products. BandLab are outside that loop, despite owning multiple music publications. The magazines know that even if they did a cover story on Cakewalk, BandLab wouldn't buy an ad in the issue. I think REAPER has the same issue: Cockos don't spend money on advertising, and consequently are never featured in SOS or CM or Beat.

The fact that it's Windows-only, IMO has little to do with it, as Logic is regularly covered and only made for a much smaller platform. Mixbus and REAPER even run on Linux and you never see articles about them either.

As far as hardware and other integration, sadly, our cherished freeware licensing model likely impacts that, as companies may see users of a freeware DAW as being either broke or cheapskates who don't like to spend money on music making tools. Something that also impacts it is that there are no staff dedicated to selling other companies on the benefits of integration with their products. The way it works is that at the very least, someone reaches out via phone or email and pitches the other company on how popular their DAW (or whatever) is and how their users are clamoring for better integration with their devices, how they'll both benefit from the companies being able to advertise (oh, that word again) the integration. This is one of the things that going to NAMM in Anaheim is great for, it lets companies be visible to each other and the press, and gives them a chance to stop by booths and schmooze. But we've lost the NAMM Show due to the pandemic. It used to be a good way to catch headcolds, so the caution is well-founded.

That's my take on why Cakewalk gets so little press.

What's worked well for REAPER is grass roots advocacy by an enthusiastic user base. That can be annoying at times, as it can come across as proselytizing. But suggesting it when someone on a forum or IRL or wherever asks "what's a good DAW?" helps. Also mentioning in notes on your Bandcamp or SoundCloud page that you made it in Cakewalk. I try to do my part and "give back" by helping people out on this forum (and occasionally on Facebook), creating multiple themes for public consumption, and submitting thorough bug reports, and the aforementioned Wikipedia editing. Remember, anyone can edit Wikipedia. There are entries for Sonar, Cakewalk, Inc., and the original program called Cakewalk. They were a mess before I edited them; grammatical errors, factual errors, timeline errors, missing information. The current program is still waiting for its own entry.

So I think that for now, at least, grass roots promotion by the userbase is all Cakewalk can get. The dev staff are all industry veterans who know their way around, but they were really hired to develop, not market. Noel does keep the KVR entry up to date with each release.