Behringer’s horrible marketing & product strategy
And how they’re starting a war they’re probably going to win…
I was planning to write an article a few weeks ago about the whole Loopop incident with Behringer but I didn’t. As the weeks went by, Behringer’s direct attack on synth “influencers“, YouTubers, and gear-related media is getting out of hand so here we are trying to understand what’s happening and to set things straight.
The Loopop Incident
Loopop, one of the biggest and most well-respected synth channels was accused by Behringer on a Facebook comment that he hasn’t been reviewing Behringer gear because they did not send him the gear for free. Loopop responded that this wasn’t the case.
That was the comment that Behringer made mentioning Loopop that made Ziv (Loopop) respond the following:
This is my response they deleted/blocked:
Hey Behringer this is Ziv – Loopop, please stop spreading the lie that I stopped reviewing your units because you wouldn’t send me any for free.
I first reviewed your synths without any contact with your (Model D, Neutron). At that point, you offered to send me a few others, which I accepted and disclosed. When you made the offensive video about Peter Kirn and started copying affordable products from existing manufacturers with zero innovation (swing), I became disgusted with your corporate culture, which I see now includes spreading lies like you did now. A couple of years ago, you disclosed to me your entire roadmap and offered anything I’d like, and I refused because of what I mentioned above, as I explained to Dan. I’m happy to share this correspondence if you insist on lying about why I stopped reviewing your gear. If you apologize and at some point change your ways I would be happy to explore interesting affordable innovative products, whether you send them to me or not – they’re not that expensive compared to the time and costs of making my videos.”
After Loopop’s answer, Behringer only changed its initial answer by removing the part of the “free gear“ and calling it a day. No apologies, not an official statement to make things straight for Loopop. A lot of people in the synth industry stood by Loopop and called out Behringer for its claims and overall strategy so a couple of days later, they responded with another post.
The first thing that’s wrong about this statement is that instead of taking the blame for a false public comment and apologizing, they blamed their social media team for not knowing the “complete history“. It’s okay to mess up but it’s definitely not okay, to not take responsibility for your actions and put the blame on your employees publicly.
Another weird point is that they claim not to send free gear to anyone but “they may offer free equipment to individuals who actively contribute to the design, testing, or create performances and tutorials as compensation for their time“. That is so contradictory as synth YouTubers and Synth Media do exactly that - Performances and tutorials. Loopop in particular is not a reviewer but more of a video tutorial/manual YouTube channel that definitely falls in that last category they mentioned.
Their marketing team is desperately trying to have a customer-centric strategy claiming that their customers know best, they are calling themselves disruptors, and that they are ensuring the integrity and authenticity (really??) of their products.
To me, all these come out as arrogance. Way before this whole situation with Loopop, I’ve written this post about their ridiculous teasing strategy and I still think they’ve kind of lost it. And as they’re trying to fight back to the public’s outrage, they’re only making it worse. They even went out a day later and claimed that Behringer is a non-profit organization because they re-invest their profits and sometimes sell products below their cost. That is completely ridiculous and almost illegal to say in my opinion. And the thing is that no one ever said synth companies (or any type of company) should not make profits. The problem people are having with Behringer is HOW they make their profits.
Becoming a bully instead of a “hero“
So after all that, their stance not only did not change but started to become more aggressive, and currently they use the same statement in all their posts claiming the following:
Let’s break down each point they’re trying to make and look good to their audience:
Many media outlets and “influencers“ have decided not to support us anymore because we don’t pay for ads, don’t provide free products for reviews, or they simply don’t like us for whatever reason.
Firstly, they are totally lying claiming they don’t send free gear to reviewers. We’ve never received free gear from Behringer but there are lots of people and YouTube Channels that have. We don’t want to name the ones we know but they do exist. So, lie number 1.
Secondly, who are those media people and “influencers“? As BoBeats said in one of his stories, by telling this publicly you immediately accuse everyone in the industry and the audience will just project this to anyone that they consider as “media“ or “influencer”. In our case here at Sinesquares, we’ve featured a lot of Behringer’s (or other brands that are bought by Behringer) products on our lists and we would continue to do so if they didn’t start this war with everyone else in the music gear industry.
They claim that the reason people “simply don’t like them for whatever reason“ is mainly because they are not getting paid by them or getting free gear while the true reason is that their product strategy is horrible and they’ve made so many continuous releases ripping off other companies’ designs and original ideas while their original products are still in production. Oh, and they sell their own knock-offs at a cheaper price just because they can afford it.
In all fairness, there are also many other outlets that share our content or review our products in an unbiased and honest manner because they do what is best for you, the customer. We truly appreciate those people and we’re happy to support and feature them on our channels.
And who are those people? Are they media people? Influencers? YouTubers? Do they send free products to those people?
And why do they claim they can tell when an opinion is honest and unbiased? Who actually gave them the right to be the judge for this?
The two following sentences they post on every post they make are contradictory, manipulative, and totally arrogant. They think they can just shoot in any direction, falsely accuse people that many of them make a living out of this, and get away with it. At Behringer, they consider themselves the Robin Hood of the synth and music gear industry but they’re missing the point. Robin Hood stole from the rich and gave the money to the poor, while in Behringer’s case, they’re ripping off the designs from companies that are way smaller than them and selling their “clone“ products at much lower prices so that all those smaller or boutique companies will go out of business. This is definitely not a Robin Hood story. It’s a story where capitalism, globalization, and mass production can suffocate a small company and never let it grow (I borrowed the Robin Hood metaphor by Jorb).
Let’s just mention a few products that Behringer ripped off and their prices:
XAOC Devices Batumi 315€ / Behringer Four LFO 105€
Moog DFAM 755€ / Behringer Edge 244€
Intellijel Quad VCA 211€ / Behringer Four Play 102€
Arturia Keystep 139€ / Behringer Swing 111€
Yes, the customer who doesn’t know the whole story or the customer who doesn’t really care about business ethics may benefit by getting a product at a much lower price than we would if he/ she just bought the original product that the “X“ smaller company made. While the funny thing is that when Behringer rips off, let’s say a module that originally costs 200€ and sells it for 100€, they are probably making more profit than the company that originally designed it and is selling it at 200€.
That’s the way economy and capitalism work, but to claim that people are fighting you while you’re being the “good guy“ is ridiculous, outrageous, and honestly infuriating.
Starting a war they’re probably going to win…
I highly doubt that Behringer’s staff and marketing people are that clever but it turns out they started a war that they’re probably going to win in the end. The public’s opinion about influencers and media is already intense and people don’t know who they can trust. So fueling that emotion and at the same price giving people what they want for cheap is possibly going to make you look like the good guy in the end. People don’t know the full story, they don’t really care, and will probably never know that a small module manufacturer will close because Behringer copied their most successful products and offered them at less than half of the price.
Media, influencers, and YouTubers have also played their part in this and lost people’s trust. When you get a piece of gear for free, or you’re getting paid to review it, it’s becoming really hard to offer an unbiased opinion. When this is your full-time profession and you rely on these paychecks to make a living for your family it’s even harder to say bad things about companies and products that pay your rent and put food on your table. Earning people’s trust takes a ton of time and as they know you get money to review something it’s a lot more difficult for them. This is another huge topic that I also want to address in the near future so stay tuned for that too.
So, Behringer’s attack has a very easy target and a lot of people will applaud them for dissing all the “bad influencers“. If you read the comments on Behringer’s posts, you’ll quickly realize that their strategy is somewhat working.
Is Behringer going to be affected by all of us trying to uncover the full story of their unethical strategy? I don’t really think so. Are they going to stop to steal other people’s ideas and hard work for profit? Definitely not. But it’s a fight, we have to give. Not for us media people but for the people that work in this industry and try to make beautiful products and leave their mark. I’ve talked and worked with dozens of people in synth or pedal companies and they all have one thing in common. They love making gear that people use and make music with. And they put this first before profit.
Everybody has the right to do whatever they want. But it’s important to try and be just a bit more ethical when it comes to supporting a company or not. Behringer’s unethical practices must be known and then the choice is yours.
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