Native Instruments: Statements on Insolvency

It has now been about a week since the Berlin-based company Native Instruments (NI), renowned worldwide as a provider of music software and hardware, applied for the opening of insolvency proceedings at the Charlottenburg District Court. NI CEO Nick Williams has since explained on the company's own blog that business operations for the company, with its brands Native Instruments, iZotope, Brainworx, and Plugin Alliance, are continuing as usual. Accordingly, hardware and software products remain available for purchase or download and activation. They are also working on developing and launching new products and features.

Williams also commented on the status of Native Kontrol Standard (NKS), which allows hardware such as NI's Komplete Kontrol keyboards and software instruments or effects from various manufacturers to communicate with each other. According to him, the responsible team continues to process NKS partner applications and provide licenses for the Kontakt Player.

“We are working diligently and responsibly to secure a healthy and financially sustainable future for Native Instruments,” the CEO assured. Plugin Alliance Manager Mo Volans announced on Facebook that his company division, with operations in Langenfeld (Rhineland) and the USA, is not affected by the Native Instruments insolvency.

When did things go wrong?

In the "Corona year" 2020, Native Instruments generated over 100 million euros in revenue for the first time in its company history. Speaking to Handelsblatt, Constantin Köhncke, who had previously taken over leadership of the Berlin company from Daniel Haver, speculated at the time that many people had used the time to produce music at home. Companies in other sectors, including video streaming providers and fitness equipment manufacturer Peloton, experienced a similar effect. However, after the pandemic hype, many of these companies struggled with massive revenue declines, leading to job cuts and, in some cases, extreme stock price losses.

Dirk Ulrich, founder of Brainworx and Plugin Alliance, whose companies were acquired by Native Instruments and who himself left the NI advisory board in 2024, commented on the reasons for his departure on the sidelines of the recently concluded NAMM music trade show in Anaheim (California) in an interview with the channel Produce Like A Pro: “Because these super-smart bankers thought they didn't need anyone in the company who understood audio, they told me: 'We want to do it ourselves.'” In 2021, the private equity firm Francisco Partners then acquired a majority stake in Native Instruments. (nij)