[Ardour-Users] subscription support down, your ideas sought

[Patrick Shirkey]

John Emmas wrote:
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Paul Davis" 
> <paul at linuxaudiosystems.com>
> Sent: 13 May 2008 20:04
> Subject: Re: [Ardour-Users] subscription support down, your ideas sought
>>
>> the real goal here is see the support base broaden, not to push harder
>> into the pockets of those who have already done their part.
>>
> I'm not a Mac user so forgive me if I'm either talking rubbish or 
> re-stating
> an idea that's already been dismissed.  However in my experience, the 
> vast
> majority of Mac users are non-technical and probably won't want to be
> building Ardour from source.  I don't mean that as an insult to anyone -
> just an observation.
>
> Given the above, why can't the OS-X binaries be chargeable?  It 
> needn't be a
> massive amount.  And maybe there could be dispensations for special cases
> (students / academic institutions etc).  Or maybe the 'previous' version
> could be considered as 'Ardour lite' (i.e. a 'free to all' version) 
> but the
> most up-to-date binary is chargeable.  It needn't be unreasonably
> restrictive.  People could still get the most recent version for free if
> they build it themselves or if they qualify for one of the dispensations.
> But if they want all the hard work done by somebody else they have to
> pay for it.
>
Here's some ideas for consideration.

- The above is pretty standard procedure for a lot of apps.

- Why not put out a press statement that there will be no more public 
releases until x amount has been raised. That works for several projects.

Post it to every technical news media site and publication you can think 
of. Send it to your local and regional news papers as they will run it 
for local interest and tech filler. They might even ask you for an 
interview. Make sure the press release is perfectly worded and ready to 
post verbatim as editors are lazy and most will just copy and paste. 
Mention the amount of total users, the target audience, the goals of the 
project and the amount of money currently being donated and people will 
listen. Make sure to include the url for the payment gateway as that is 
where people will go. Have it translated and sent out to the rest of the 
world. It doesn't matter who you send it to the point is getting it 
printed/posted.

- Put a big bold statement on the website saying this is happening until 
further notice. Make sure there is an accurate counter so people know 
when the goal is getting close and will put in a little extra to bump it 
over.

- Get everyone on the list who has a blog post the link.

- If the content is well written and available in a few languages then 
you won't have to do much else than put it up on the site and send out a 
message here. There are others who will post it to every media outlet 
they can think of.

- Make sure the payment gateway is useable by everyone. Consider getting 
a visa processing account setup with one of the many companies that can 
host it these days. Paypal is one option but not the only way to pay. 
Provide options for google cart,  visa, mastercard, etc...

- I second the subscribe links in the help menu and a more forward note 
in the splash screen telling people how many users download and how much 
disparity there is for donations. Especially for first time users.

- Be forward about the need for cash. It does not mean you have sold 
out. Look at what Soma fm does. They run announcements every hour or so. 
It's acceptable because they don't have any ads and the announcements 
are non invasive and tastefully presented.




Cheers.



-- 
Patrick Shirkey
Boost Hardware Ltd.