Gibson’s purchase of the Stanton, Cerwin Vega, and KRK brands wasn’t too much of a surprise. But the lack of anything new from the Stanton side of things was a tad worrying. But Gibson has just announced that they’ve bought Deckadance from Image-Line, thus giving Stanton an established DJ software of its own to rebuild Stanton again.
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We would like to announce that Gibson have acquired Image-Line’s Deckadance DJ music application and rights.Image-Line’s CFO Frank Van Biesen states, “Growing Deckadance any further required our expanding into hardware development, which would have diverted attention from our core business of developing FL Studio, our highly successful music production application and related software. With Gibson Brands building new products around Deckadance, not only will existing Deckadance customers receive ongoing support, but with Gibson’s proven hardware expertise Deckadance enthusiasts can look forward to a bright future.”
The core of Deckadance’s software team will remain intact to ensure consistency in future development, as well as make sure that future innovations are consistent with what users love about Deckadance. Because the sale was a friendly and strategic move for both companies, Image-Line and Gibson will collaborate closely to create the smoothest transition possible.
According to Gibson Brands CEO and Chairman Henry Juszkiewicz, “We have many exciting plans for Stanton, and projects that will rejuvenate the DJ scene in the years to come. Acquiring Deckadance is a huge step forward in that direction. We’re grateful to Image-Line for creating a strong foundation, and can’t wait to build additional innovations on that foundation.”
Message to our customers
As the sale was a friendly and strategic move for both companies, Image-Line and Gibson will collaborate closely to create the smoothest transition possible. You will receive instructions from us in the near future on how to migrate your Deckadance license and account to the Stanton side of the Gibson equation (under Stanton DJ). We will continue to host Deckadance 2.43 (and activation keys) on our servers for the foreseeable future, but do encourage you to download and save a copy for your use until Stanton comes on stream.
Please create a support ticket if you have further questions.
https://support.image-line.com/ticketing/
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Stanton Deckadance — it’s a thing now
I have to say that I’m really surprised by this move, but equally very happy. Stanton is a brand that many of us veteran DJs grew up with, and the 500AL cart is a classic to us just as Technics is. Gibson has certainly made it easy for the DJ world to think that Stanton was the runt of the litter in the original group purchase, especially when promoting nothing new for a few years now.
But this purchase is an interesting move, and gives Stanton some sort of foothold in the DJ software market. They’ve had an interesting ride in this side of things, having first (and simplifying somewhat) brought DVS to market with Final Scratch, but then massively falling out with NI over Traktor. And the lack of Serato love is telling too, but that’s another story.
What happens from here is anyone’s guess. Trying to take on Serato and NI would be folly, so Stanton could be happy with a minority share of the DJ software market. Or as seems to be implied in the press release they’re looking to have their own software offer to go with hardware. And the overall tone is bullish, and is backed up by whispers of new hires too.
Whatever happens, I’m glad that Stanton is off life support. I cannot for the life of me think why they haven’t aggressively marketed their turntables, especially when they were considered to be the natural successor to Technics. But having their own software now brings an interesting twist to an ever-changing market. NAMM 2016 could be interesting.