Online Collaboration Update: The Role of Pro Tools’ New MediaCentral Platform

The dictionary definition of “collaboration” is “the action of working with someone to produce or create something.” But that’s clear just from looking at the word: “Co” + “labor” is right there, assembled in the finest Latin tradition.

Today, the whole point of music production teamwork is to take the “labor” out of the equation and replace it with something more fun and creative. Since the introduction of online capabilities into the picture, expectations have been high for songwriting, recording, mixing and mastering to magically match up on the Web, bringing musicians and audio pros together for a world without limits or borders.

There have have been plenty of attempts since the 1990’s to solve the music space’s online collaboration puzzle. Although many have tried valiantly and come up short, arguably all of them made valuable contributions towards evolving the craft. Today, the industry is seeing a resurgence of problemsolving energy and venture capital interest in online music co-working, with the progress of sites like blend.io, which was acquired by ROLI in 2015, and Splice, which was founded by Steve Martocci, a co-creator of the GroupMe group messaging service which was acquired by Skype in a multi-multi-million dollar deal in 2011.

Along the way, one of the main driving forces that has emerged in online music production collaboration has been Avid’s Pro Tools. With the leverage it wields as the industry’s primary DAW, as well as the resources it commands as a publicly traded company, Avid’s interest in and ability to move online collaboration forward is apparent: With more audio professionals on its platform than any other, along with cloud computing advances and increasing access to high bandwidth worldwide, the possibilities of engineers and artists converging successfully within Pro Tools builds on itself with every license.

Ed Gray, Director Partnering Programs for Avid, has been part of Pro Tools since 1995.

One of the keys to growing Pro Tools’ capabilities in this respect is the partnerships Avid establishes along the way. While it’s easy to think of Avid as a unilateral actor with its #1 position, the reality is that initiatives like the MediaCentral Platform depend on outside partners to make it work, and grow a loyal user base.

Ed Gray is Avid’s Director of Partnering Programs, a DAW-development veteran who first signed on with Pro Tools’ original brand parent Digidesign in 1995. In recent years he’s been part of a team that’s not only empowering Pro Tools and its users, but also hoping to strengthen the ecosystem of it all.

How do they take steps to evolve online collaboration possibilities? How do Gray and his team decide who makes the cut as an Avid Alliance Partner? The criteria are clear, and they have the measreument tools to size their choices up. If you’ve got a product or service that may be a match, read this Q&A with Gray — the roadmap for getting involved and doing business with thousands of PT users is right here.

 Ed, how long have you been Director, Partnering Programs for Avid? Why is this a position you were attracted to?

Last November marked my 21^st anniversary at Avid, every year of which has seen me focused on partner relations.

I joined Digidesign in 1995 when the audio developer program was brand new. Our intention was to improve the program and grow a community of enthusiastic and productive developers who worked to multiply Avid’s engineering efforts.  Over time, the program has changed in countless ways as we work with our Alliance Partners to help them benefit from Avid Everywhere, our company’s strategic vision.

In the press release from January 19th, it says that Avid’s MediaCentral Platform is “addressing the industry’s most pressing collaborative challenges.” Exactly what are those challenges today – what are the current barriers to collaboration, and what advantages are available to those who can transcend them?

The MediaCentral Platform was designed to overcome collaboration obstacles.

Media professionals who are collaborating want to pursue the work they love with the peace of mind that comes from tools that are proven to work, and expected to stay working reliably together.  Successful collaboration requires that executives and buyers choose solutions that are expandable and future-proof and are known to work together on a common foundation.

With intense competition and shrinking deadlines, organizations benefit from aligning with the smallest possible number of professional suppliers and integrators, thereby taking the guesswork out of purchasing and ensuring a short route to support when it’s needed.

Avid is providing essential leadership in the design and improvement of a platform that is purpose-built for collaboration.  In 2014, Avid launched the MediaCentral Platform to unify workflows and respond to urgent needs expressed by Avid customers to achieve much needed gains in efficiency and productivity. It’s the foundation that makes it possible to streamline all operations related to media production and to enable access to the platform on any device.  It supports the entire media value chain from creation to monetization with greater flexibility, security and choice.

MediaCentral integrates with technology from Avid and our Alliance Partners, the latter working with us via the Avid Alliance Partner program.

Louis Hernandez, Jr. speaks of Avid’s “vision for a collaborative media network.” Is there a way to characterize that ultimate vision? If all partnership/collaborative goals were achieved, what might that look like?

The vision imagined by Louis Hernandez, Jr.  and the Avid leadership team is expressed in our corporate mission, which is to address critical workflow challenges and to deliver powerful tools and workflow solutions to create, distribute and optimize media, allowing our customers to focus on the work they love.

MediaCentral and the Avid Alliance Partner program deliver a large and fast growing range of powerful, scalable and highly accessible products. Together, with a large range of certified solutions that address key media production workflow needs, they simplify the procurement and maintenance process, and offer the peace of mind that large, complex solutions are proven to work on MediaCentral. This powerful, flexible media production network, engineered for growth and accessibility from any device, is at the heart of Louis’ vision.

What is it about today’s music production environment that not only makes collaboration more possible, but more essential? How has the definition of “collaboration” changed since prior eras in music production, such as before the creation of DAW’s or online connectivity?

Collaboration has always been about combining creative energy, expressive performance and excellent production technique to create music that inspires and entertains. As bandwidth becomes more available and cloud-based solutions more powerful, it’s about virtually achieving the above with artists and engineers many miles away, expanding the range of choices and providing a market for collaboration.

Modern digital collaboration can sweep away creativity killers like file swapping, import, and other media headaches. With Avid Cloud Collaboration for Pro Tools, collaborators can access their projects from anywhere and work with others securely in the cloud. Users can easily share audio and MIDI tracks, make edits and mix changes on screen, and communicate ideas and creative direction in real time.

All of this leads to a faster journey – from instruments and microphones to digital and broadcast outlets – of our creative work.

How would you characterize the overall evolution of Pro Tools’ collaborative capabilities? How have they been progressing up until the advent of PT 12.7?

Pro Tools Cloud Collaboration is relatively new, entering the scene only recently with Pro Tools 12.5 in early 2016.  Since then, there have been tangential improvements, including higher-value cloud storage offerings from Avid and the intelligent audio browser, SoundBase, which gives users instant access to tons of inspiring loops.

The Avid Artist Community is growing rapidly, not only in its population of users showcasing their talent and work, but also in close collaboration with three anchor partners – SoundBetter, TuneCore and Songtrust – which we introduced at winter NAMM in January.

Finally, the Avid Marketplace offers a large and growing range of AAX plug-ins through in-app purchases. Collaborators with different plug-in collections on their separate sessions can synchronize the plug-ins in a collaborative project, buying, downloading and installing plug-ins they need, then activating them on tracks, without ever leaving the collaboration process.

What have been the opportunities and challenges in building up the Avid Marketplace? What are the necessary steps, internally to Avid, before a plugin can be available through the program?    

Anyone who makes an AAX plugin is welcome to register as an Avid Marketplace seller, then submit their AAX plugins to the Avid Marketplace using our guidelines.

Plugins are plugging in to the Avid Marketplace.

Plugins differ in size, license management method, installer method and in other ways, so Avid tests each plugin individually once submitted and works with developers to resolve any compatibility issues. Those wishing to sell AAX plugins on the Avid Marketplace need to be certified in the development and onboarding process, and in the use of our development tools.

All of this works together to guarantee that plugins purchased through the Avid Marketplace are proven to be reliable and are delivered by experts who have mastery of our tools. We’re implementing enhancements to the Avid Marketplace as we speak, and they’ll be passed on to the seller community as soon as we test them. Anyone who wants to check out our developer programs can visit the Avid Website or write to us at partners@avid.com.

How does this process relate to Avid Cloud Collaboration for Pro Tools? In what ways is its utility connected to growth of the Avid Marketplace?

AAX plugins that are prepared for in-app purchase — which currently requires that a small file be added to the plugin’s installers — have a unique advantage for those working with Avid Cloud Collaboration.

If you have Empirical Labs Arousor and I don’t, as we sync our work in a project, I’m told that a plugin is missing and I’m one click away from dropping it into my session, never needing to turn my eyes away from the screen. Looking at the big picture, I’m certain that collaboration will expose users to a wider range of plugins that they can discover, try and buy. Inapp purchases, whether inside of a collaboration project or in a single-seat session, is a new channel for plugin exposure and sales.

In general, how are Avid Alliance Partners chosen for integration into Pro Tools? What are the criteria for a new partner to be considered?

Avid operates a corporate Alliance Partner Program that forms relationships with companies that seek to connect to MediaCentral, become certified, and sell their products through our direct and digital paths to market. Anyone is welcome to apply for this program, and we evaluate candidates based on strategic fit with Avid and the size and range of benefits that prospective partners stand to gain by participating in the Avid Marketplace and the Avid Global Sales Network.

Through the Avid Connectivity Program, we offer a large collection of toolkits for free evaluation by developers. From AAX and AVX plug-ins to EUCON and the great range of toolkits offered for use with our solutions for media enterprise, we encourage all individuals and organizations to check out our offerings and write to us at partners@avid.com with their ideas for collaboration.

As you will see at Avid Connect 2017 and the NAB Show this April, the community of partners is vast and overflowing with fantastic offerings.

For PT 12.7, SoundBetter, TuneCore, and SongTrust were all added as Avid Alliance Partners. What dimension did each of these integrations add to the PT user experience?

The Avid Artist Community was first launched as a destination for members of the user community to introduce themselves, exchange ideas, facilitate collaboration and make a portfolio of their creative work available for others to discover and review online. Through our work with these fantastic partners, Avid is extending the value to customers beyond audio content creation, which helps our preeminent client and user community get recognized and paid for their work.

Songtrust became an Avid Alliance Partner with the release of Pro Tools 12.7.

SoundBetter is the quickest path to locate a pro to build on the musical foundation you’ve created. TuneCore instantly gets the work syndicated to iTunes and other key digital outlets. And SongTrust offers state-of-the-art tools for licensing and rights management that help artists secure their work and earn the pay they deserve.

These partners offer some of the best solutions to help them pursue their hobbies and grow their careers. From our free Pro Tools | First offering to our subscriptions offerings, Pro Tools has become easy to get and afford, adding to the diversity and experience range of this population.

From there, how do you measure the efficacy of a Partner integration – how can you tell if it’s been beneficial to Avid users?

Most partner integrations take the form of solutions that are connected to MediaCentral. This ranges from simple Softube distortion plug-ins, to staggering archive solutions offered for the media enterprise.

In all of these cases, we look at actual sales of the integrated solution compared to our original expectations, estimate the effect on sales of connected Avid solutions, and input from the blogosphere and the Avid Customer Association, as well as the opinions of customers on Avid and third party forums.

Likewise, in what ways do you hope to benefit your Partners via inclusion in the AAP program?

The Avid Alliance Partner Program offers toolkits and services designed to help talented developers get their solutions in the hands of Avid customers, who represent a tremendous, fast-growing and influential media production community.

The program offers powerful toolkits, professional and solution certification, and unrivalled outlets for digital and direct distribution using the Avid Marketplace and the Avid Global Sales Network. We want to form close, multi-year relationships with developers and organizations that are capable of delivering unique, mission-critical Avid solutions to our customers.

What types of partners might you look to work with next as Avid Alliance Partners?

We are already processing a long and growing list, but our mission remains the same: We want to engage with sophisticated companies that can deliver unique and powerful solutions that speak to the big-picture goal of solving workflow issues and help our customers operate profitably with less downtime – a solid guarantee of compatibility and performance through Alliance Partner Certification.

The choice of which partners and products we certify is customer-driven and long-sighted in terms of delivering unsurpassed user value.

Finally, it may sound obvious, but what are the advantages of a DAW that can work in a production/business ecosystem, as opposed to simply being a mixing/tracking platform? How might these capabilities continue to effect music, creativity and commerce in the future?

I joined Avid in 1995 as Pro Tools 2.0 and TDM were rolled out, delivering the most capable digital audio production platform in the world – for tracking. I was the envy of my building with my 1GB SCSI drive, and I shared media using FedEx mailers with Jaz cartridges.

In a business ecosystem, Pro Tools is the heart of audio production. Nothing sits between my Pro Tools system and every other system. Pro Tools is the editorial window that looks out on the limitless horizon of audio media, and the best tools to manage, manipulate, move and monetize it.

Pro Tools is working on mastering the mix of global audio creators.

Once upon a time, customers would have to search for quality content and for plugins and other solutions to work with their systems. Now, the challenge is discovering and screening all of these offerings that meet our media production needs against tight deadlines, tighter budgets and competitive pressure.

MediaCentral delivers connectivity and unifies the media production process. The Avid Alliance Partner Program helps our partners to deliver and certify their solutions, taking the complexity and guesswork out of purchasing and support in the business enterprise. Together with the power and stability of the Pro Tools engine, the Avid Marketplace, Avid Artist Community and the Avid Customer Association, we’re enhancing the overall audio creation and management experience in the business environment — and our best innovations by far are yet to come.

• David Weiss

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