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Native Instruments has been acquired by music tech conglomerate InMusic for an undisclosed amount. The merger comes almost five months after Native Instruments announced it was filing for insolvency. Since 2021, NI has been majority owned by private equity firm Francisco Partners.
What does this mean for Native Instruments’ future?
This is major news for NI customers, but news that many predicted. Upon the announcement of NI’s insolvency, Reddit users foresaw an InMusic buyout, pointing to the group’s portfolio of historic music tech brands.
Many of Native Instruments products actively compete with those of the InMusic stable: its DJ brand Traktor is a direct competitor to Denon DJ, Numark, Rane and Stanton; Maschine is a fierce rival to Akai’s MPC range; Komplete Kontrol is a leading MIDI controller system that competes with M-Audio and Alesis.
Will InMusic eliminate its competition? In 2023, O’Donnell attempted to block AlphaTheta’s $100m acquisition of Serato DJ, saying, “In any market when you eliminate competition, it has an effect on consumers. It’s going to raise prices, eliminate innovation and limit choice.” It’s unlikely, then, that O’Donnell would seek to close any NI brands, and InMusic’s history with Moog and Rane has shown that it largely lets its acquired brands operate independently. This is, however, the first time it’s acquired a brand with such crossover amongst its own portfolio.
InMusic now also takes on the Kontakt ecosystem, which many independent software instrument creators rely on. If InMusic places any strain on this brand, it could see a significant backlash from the music production community and a potential loss in revenue.
In any case, the acquisition concludes a turbulent moment in Native Instruments’ 30-year history and brings an end to its private equity ownership.
Key Takeaways
- This acquisition signals the end of private equity control over Native Instruments.
- InMusic now owns multiple brands that compete with each other, potentially leading to conflicts or reduced innovation.
- The impact on independent software instrument creators who rely on the Kontakt ecosystem is a concern for InMusic’s future strategy.
The post Native Instruments acquired by InMusic, home to Akai Pro, Moog, Denon DJ appeared first on MusicTech.
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