Composers Derek Williams (L) and Howard Goodall (R)Composer Derek Williams, has expressed concern about the recent Avid announcement to close the UK office of the Sibelius development team. In a carefully written open letter he calls for those with the means to ‘rescue’ Sibelius and invest in its future. Writing in the strongest terms Williams wrote;
“Shutting down the nerve centre of this confluence of genetic brilliance is an act of such banality, expedience, corporate vandalism and rank stupidity, that by this act, Avid has proven itself unworthy to marshal such a resource into the future.
While the board of Avid has been busy shutting down Sibelius, with all that connotes for the staff in human terms, its CEO has meantime quadrupled his salary without a scintilla of prudence or frugality. There is only one conclusion to be drawn. This board are nothing but corporate raiders, feathering their own pockets while presiding over the destruction of one of the greatest software accomplishments the world has ever known.”
He went on to write;
“Before Avid got hold of it in 2006, Sibelius had won the Queen’s Innovation Award; its founders, the Finn twins both received MBE for their achievement. Along with television, penicillin, tarmacadam, anaesthesia, the railway engine, and Alan Turing’s computer - the very machine that it lives on, Sibelius is a uniquely British creation. It cannot be transplanted in Kiev or Asia, with all its development team pensioned off. Even if retained, staff clearly are not going to uproot themselves with all the family commitments they surely will have.”
He continued;
“Make no mistake: under Avid, Sibelius is doomed. The only viable outcome will be a sale of the asset while it still has value. As the world’s best selling scorewriter, Sibelius may well be a cash cow for Avid right now, but once the development team have departed, it will implode, suffering the fate of its forebears, MOTU Composers Mosaic, Encore and Opcode Vision.”
Profit is a perfectly acceptable motivation for any business, but profit without vision is a Highway to Hell. That’s where Avid is headed in my estimation, along with its reprehensible self serving policies and the directors who dreamed them up.
I encourage anyone with with the means, knowledge and power to move in the direction I advocate above, to act swiftly before Avid assassinate the goose that lays the golden egg. They are not to be trusted.”
Derek joins other composers such as EMMY, BRIT and BAFTA award-winning composer Howard Goodall, who are speaking out publically on this matter, Goodall tweeted last week “Avid to Close UK Sibelius Office appalling news: what do you get for inventing the world’s best notation software? Nowt.”