Hey there tune technicians,
In news that has shocked the DJ world today, Alpha Theta Corporation (aka owners of Pioneer) have gobbled up Serato - it’s main rival in the DJ software space.
There are a few reasons to be cautiously optimistic, and plenty more to be worried about.
👋 Serato won’t go (…yet)
In the press release, Alpha Theta has said that Serato will continue to operate as it’s own brand.
What this means exactly remains to be seen. One of the primary reasons companies acquire each other is for operational efficiencies. This often means sharing (or getting rid of) resources. It almost always means shifting priorities.
Whilst the brand may be separate, it is likely the behind the scenes management and office politics are heavily intertwined - for better or for worse.
It is expensive to maintain, develop and run two platforms solving the same problem. If I was a betting man, I would say at some point we will see Seratobox or Rekorato being born.
🏃♂️Better features, faster?
Rekordbox users have looked longingly at Serato stems since Pioneer’s version ‘Track separation’ landed a few months ago. Let’s just say, they need some work.
By buying up Serato, there is a chance that Rekordbox could get some tasty upgrades to the code and give higher performing features to DJs.
Equally, Serato may get some Rekordbox-exclusive features like the ability to export CDJ-compatible playlists to USB.
💞 More compatibility?
One bright spot from this news is that we may get native controller support for both Rekordbox and Serato out the box going forward. You no longer have to choose a Rekordbox controller or a Serato controller.
Some higher end controllers like the FLX10 of course do this already, but this might introduce more cross compatibility at the lower end of the market where they are typically locked to one platform or the other.
💸 Monopoly - the game everyone hates
The biggest concern right now in my opinion is the monopoly Pioneer will have on the overall market.
They already own DJ booths and now they will own a vast majority of the home and scratch DJ market as well.
Monopolies tend to increase prices and reduce the innovation that competition provides. Now, Pioneer will be locking even more people into their DJing eco-system via those who choose to use Serato instead of Rekordbox.
There is also the possibility that they lock Serato down so non-Pioneer hardware can’t be used with it in future.
Pioneer has also been pushing hard on subscription based features. For example, they recently added BeatPort streaming to the CDJ-3000 (finally) - but it only works if you have a subscription offering CloudSync. So you have to have two subscriptions to make it work. There’s every chance they could bring this philosophy to the Serato eco system as well down the line.
inMusic, who own Denon, Rane and NuMark are probably the main competitors that can give Pioneer a run for their money. They have both a hardware and software offering in the shape of Engine DJ/OS.
Frankly, they have been forcing Pioneer to up their game for some time and I hope this news gives them even more reason to not be complacent.
Did Pioneer Just Kill Serato?
I talk through all the pros, cons and long term impacts of the news in the latest video.
Have your say
Here’s the full press release.