The Business of ReBirth

Wednesday, February 23rd, 2005 | 10:15 am and filed in ReBirth, Propellerhead.

Some old time Propellerhead Software users might recall a survey conducted on the props site a many months ago. Researchers from the Copenhagen Business School were gathering data on the interaction between users and a company, namely the Propellerheads and the rest of us. They sent me a final draft of the research paper that revealed some interesting information about the type of people who use Reason, ReBirth and ReCycle along with the Internet.

Lars Frederiksen and Lars Bo Jeppesen had interviewed me via telephone and email correspondence in the course of their research, and recently they contacted me for a follow-up. Lars Frederiksen is concentrating on the Music Industry, and his PhD dissertation uses the Props as a model of his research. As chance has it, Lars Bo Jeppesen was in California to present a lecture at Stanford Business School, and I met with him earlier this week.

Basically they are trying to figure out why people made ReBirth Mods and gave them away for free, and why some people dedicate so much time to helping fellow Reason users figure out problems. I met with Lars for lunch up in Palo Alto, and we had a really nice discussion about this new style of business relationship where corporations genuinely dedicate their time and interact with their users. There are several different models including some research that involves Lego users who create templates and blueprints to share with other users — and I though some of us Mod makers were crazy! I’m sure Lars disclosed some information thats priveledged, and I shouldn’t divulge some of the names of these financial institutions and game companies. Needless to say, I was quite enlightened about the field of economic sociology.

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