On the run up to the 1 millionth download of their free music creation, video editing and music notation tools, Pro Tools First, Media Composer First, and Sibelius First, each day one person would win a 1-year subscription to Pro Tools, Sibelius or Media Composer and the one-millionth person to download an Avid First Product would get a FREE 2-Year Subscription and software add-ons.

At IBC 2018 Avid has announced that they have passed the 1 millionth download milestone and that aspiring creative people in nearly every country have downloaded Avid First creative tools for free to help them develop their craft and accomplish their best possible work in music and video and get on the path toward a successful career in media and entertainment.

John Ashton Thomas, Orchestrator, Black Panther told us…

I use Sibelius on every single project I work on in film, concert music, and production music. Sibelius First makes the essential tools I use every day available for everyone – for free.

Scott Jacobs, Assistant Editor, Despicable Me 3, The Bourne Legacy told us…

Knowing Media Composer is integral to our job because if you want to work in Hollywood, 90 percent of the films being made are being edited by using Avid.

Jeff Rosica, Avid CEO and President explains…

Hit TV shows, chart-topping music, and blockbuster films come from celebrated creative minds who are telling amazing stories with help from Avid’s creative tools. By getting the tools the pros use into the hands of more than a million beginners around the world, Avid’s fostering a whole new generation of content creators who will grow to delight and inspire audiences everywhere.

As well as announcing the 1 millionth download Jeff Rosica, at IBC 2018 in Amsterdam, the new CEO an President of Avid outlined some thoughts and observations on how the industry has changed and how Avid is responding to those changes.

Firstly Jeff acknowledged that there is a massive shift and disruption going on across the industry that is significantly impacting the business of Broadcast, Media & Entertainment…

Our industry is already many years into the disruption—it’s the “new normal”. Attracting or retaining an audience in a shifting viewer landscape is putting pressure on participants and the industry is experiencing new levels of business complexity, the likes of which this industry hasn’t seen before. This shift or disruption is not just impacting the business aspects of media but also a profound impact on all operational functions, and how production teams and creatives get their best work done. The industry wants more efficient workflows to get work done faster, easier and with less resources with better tools with much more powerful collaborative capabilities.

Jeff explained that the user base in broadcast and media is changing; younger users with different expectations and demands; open, mobile-first, app-led world. He acknowledged that Avid need to think through this more and act differently and we need to work together in new ways…

The industry still very fragmented with way too many technology suppliers vying for their share, with significant vendor complexity and high costs of integrating, deploying and maintaining so many disparate systems.

Jeff reiterated the demands from Avid’s customer base are for lower costs, simpler integration, faster deployment and easier to maintain systems and technical environments. As a result Avid has been taking some unique approaches in how we leverage technology, design our products, and think about our customers and users.

We need to carefully consider these market dynamics and trends in our strategy; working in unique ways with our customer, user and partner communities to ensure we’re aligned and properly prioritize our efforts to best meet their needs.

Jeff stressed that it all starts with the Avid Customer Association and that the ACA is for everyone and truly impacts the direction of the media industry, and heavily influences the direction of Avid, and our partner community.

To round up his informal style of presentation Jeff concluded…

Avid’s unique platform approach, and push for a fully open ecosystem behind it, is an important part of our strategy. Our strong partnership with Microsoft combines the unique, but complementary strengths of each company to create an industry-leading approach to revolutionize media workflows and lead the industry into an intelligent cloud world.

It was interesting that for this presentation Avid chose a more informal settings, with no technology, no Powerpoint presentations, no slick videos, just a passionate man wanting to share his vision for the future.