In my opinion Pro Tools has artificially held the top spot for way too long, it always was far behind Nuendo, but it didn't matter because it was endorsed by the "professionals" Where are the professionals now? very few pro studios exist and boutique and even home studios can out compete them. Exit Pro Tools.
1 reply
Jumping to late 2017: I think a few big studios like Abbey Road, Todd-AO, and Fantasy will stick around if they're managed well. I think these kind of studios that can support orchestral recording and post services will be supported by the film and television industries. I've worked in post and I can assure you that whatever program allows single-keystroke splits will win because post is all about speed and efficiency. If Avid doesn't put out something miraculously stable and dongle-free by Q2 2018, they'll be in the same boat as Gibson. Which would be ironic because Gibson bought Opcode and Henry J. destroyed it.
Perhaps there's an ebb and flow to this, but from what I've seen, I think that everything related to recording music (not just buying gear) will shrink as fewer people learn to play real instruments, and still fewer lifelong players. There's been a slow cratering since the 2000's. When you couple this will economic stress and the era of social media gadgets to constantly distract us, it is the musician who is today's outlier.