The Berlin based company Native Instruments seems to be in trouble. The world’s leading provider of software and hardware for computer-based music production is laying off 20% of its workforce globally.
This news comes as the company’s CEO and founder Daniel Haver made a statement to CDM about the restructuring. According to Haver, the new direction is called ‘One Native’. This is the centralized system behind the move. Native Instruments assured the layoffs are not related to financials.
Today is a very emotional day for the Native community. We’ve been driving innovation in music creation since the 1990s. First through software instruments, then by expanding to an integrated ecosystem with complementing hardware and now by creating a unified platform experience for the modern music producer…to make this transformation successful, we needed to adapt our strategy, including a centralized functional setup that can support our vision of ‘One Native’. Unfortunately, this also means we had to make some tough decisions and part ways with a number of employees. This has been the hardest part of this transformation.
This is huge news for Native Instruments, who employs around 500 people globally. It is also clear the global market around music is shifting. Earlier this week, I reported changes in the Mixcloud subscription membership plans, slashing features for free users. Even Apple cut iTunes earlier this summer, announcing it will no longer be available on new Apple products. A shift is occurring in how we access music. As a result, the music hardware/ software industry seems to be effected as well.