Question for those module developers who have made modules for sale: what do you think of the experience?
I ask in part because I have an idea for a module that is better suited than most of my ideas to being sold. But I also like seeing my work being broadly used, and free makes that more likely. I’m certain that the amount of money at stake is far below what I could make by other paths, and I don’t really need the money, but making some revenue with a thing I enjoy making would be fun? I think? And I see a number of module makers doing it.
I started creating commercial modules not long ago. I already have a fairly substantial catalog of free modules. I’m making the commercial modules to provide myself a little bit of income. Plus I love making them.
The experience so far has been good! Here’s what I don’t like about it:
As you mentioned, you’re going to have a lot fewer users, and that’s unfortunate.
I get more stressed out about potentially shipping bugs.
I had to split my collection (and github projects) between “Voxglitch” and “Voxglitch Devices”.
Becoming a seller isn’t very automated. I had to essentially reach out to VCV Rack support (Andrew) and say, “Hey, I want to sell this module.” It’s easy, but be prepared to be patient.
I’m lucky in that I found a way to have both free and paid versions of my Entrian Sequencers modules (the free ones can’t edit sequences, but can import MIDI and can play patches created by people with the paid version). So I get lots of people using them, but I’ve also sold a lot of paid licenses.
You can also give away licenses, if gaining users is more important than the money - early in the product’s life I ran a “competition” where I gave away a free license to anyone who promised to make an interesting patch with it. That was a lot of fun. Maybe some of those people would have bought it if I hadn’t given it away to them, but it was well worth it.
For paid products, I feel more of a responsibility to maintain them than I do free products. That’s probably wrong, and someone will be along in a minute to tell me there should be no difference, but (for me) there is.
Another thing that maybe I shouldn’t admit to feeling: being paid for something you did gives you validation in a different way from praise. Telling someone you love what they’ve done is free, but getting your wallet out and paying for it has a literal cost. When someone does that, you have absolute proof that you’ve created something of measurable value.
I do greatly enjoy hearing from users. But I have long said that nothing says “I love what you’re doing” as convincingly as money, although that was mainly in regard to employers.
Making a video about/with my modules or using them in performance is actually even more convincing!
I’m terrible at coding, but might sell some patches for this exact reason. If it makes any small amount of income, that’s useful. Otherwise it provides validation that my patches have zero value to other people, and that could be kind of useful for other reasons!
Unfortunately $$$ is how we measure value in a capitalist society, so if you’re not making any then people perceive that what you do is worthless, which I think is a shame. Mylar Melodies did a great video on this topic recently, the pressure to monetise everything making hobbies feel like a waste of time. It makes it less fun. Then again, it would be nice to get a few quid for work you would have done anyway!
