The silent downfall of Pioneer DJ
Table of Contents
- Who is Alpha Theta / Pioneer DJ?
- How we got here
- Stability
- The change
- Business tip
- Slow website
- Conclusion
Who is Alpha Theta / Pioneer DJ?
AlphaTheta is company specialised in DJ products.
AlphaTheta is the industry leader in the market.
It releases both DJ hardware: like players, mixers, sound effect machines and DJ controllers.
It releases also DJ software: Rekordbox, Serato, WeDJ.
AlphaTheta CDJ 2000, CDJ 3000 players are used by almost every club in the world.
These players can use USB drives that are prepared with Rekordbox software.
How we got here
1994
When pioneer launched the CDJ 500 in 1994 they did something truly amazing.
For the first time you could play a CD at a variable speed using a jogwheel, making a great alternative to Vinyl.
It was new, ground braking… but you weren’t a “real DJ” if you weren’t spinning with vinyl.
2001
Pioneer launched the CDJ 1000.
This was the first CD player with a proper Jog Wheel that allowed you to scratch.
There was no wow, no flutter with as much bass as you like because the needle didn’t jump out of the groove.
It was revolutionary!
Every club in the world had them, and it made Pioneer market leader.
2009
In 2009, Pioneer launched the CDJ 2000.
The advantages of digital completely overshadowed analogue vinyl.
- You could play music from a USB drive, instead of only a CD
- You could place Cue Points and Hot Cues.
- You could create loops
- You could quantize
- Rekordbox became the preparation software to analyze the music, set cue points, and set loops was born.
2012
Pioneer launched the CDJ-2000 nexus.
Now you could:
- Slowing tracks up/down while maintaining the key of a song (master tempo)
- use Slip mode
2014/2015
In 2014/2015, the DJ division split off from Pioneer, and was now called: Pioneer DJ. (source)
Immediately Pioneer DJ was sold to investment company KKR for $551 million (source).
From that moment on, things started to go south.
2020
On January 1st 2020 the company “Pioneer DJ” was renamed AlphaTheta (source).
Then in March 2020 it was sold again to Noritsu.
Rekordbox 6 was released and it introduced a subscription model.
Now the Rekordbox performance mode (formerly known as Rekordbox DJ) was now free.
(A tactic to keep the competition at a distance instead of innovating?)
In September 2020 the CDJ 3000 was released, which I will talk about later.
New features included:
- Improved loading speeds
- Improved audio quality
- improved jog wheel (they were pretty fragile)
- bigger display
- streaming support
- no CD player
2023
In 2023 Pioneer DJ buys Serato, a competing DJ software company.
Instead of innovating, they are starting to buy up the competition for their innovations.
Pioneer stated to use Serato’s technologies in future products.
2024
In 2024 Pioneer DJ officially changed also their branding to AlphaTheta (source).
I personally hate the name AlphaTheta: it is hard to read, write and pronounce.
It sounds like beta, an unfinished product.
Rekordbox 7 was released, tightening their grip on the market with dark patterns to lure customers unwillingly in their subscription model.
Now you have to pay to get a menu-structure like the CDJ’s.
Stability
When companies getting tossed around like a bag of potato chips, it is generally not a sign of a healthy stable company.
When a company has multiple brand names : Pioneer DJ, Rekordbox, TORAIZ, KUVO it gets confusing.
But where it gets REALLY confusing when you rename your company from “Pioneer DJ” to “AlphaTheta”, and you still keep using “Pioneer DJ” and “AlphaTheta” brand names interchangeably.
When on top of that a company changes its modus operandi: from being the innovator to the copy cat.
It all screams instability, not a good look.
The change
The first CDJs were amazing, Pioneer was amazing and on top of their game.
They invented, pioneered and lead the way for others to follow in their large footsteps.
Inventing and pioneering was in Pioneers name and blood.
But since the sale to KKR, pioneer hasn’t invented anything.
It seems like Investors had gotten their greedy little money-hands on an amazing company and intent to milk it for every single penny:
Quick short-term profits over long-term vision.
But where did the passion for DJing go?
Pioneer went from a company that was first, to a company that had to catch up.
The release of Rekordbox 7 made that painfully clear:
- It took them 4 years to make Rekordbox available on Apple silicon, 4 years after it’s release.
- Automatic detection of cue points/hot cues, which every other DJ software already had
- Speed improvements, because Rekordbox was slow and sluggish compared to other DJ software (and still is).
- Able to search in the preferences screen
The SC5000 was embarrassing
When Denon released the SC5000 in 2018, it obliterated Pioneer’s latest flagship product (CDJ 2000 NXS2) in every aspect, except sales.
- It was faster and more responsive.
- It had a sleek, more intuitive User Interface with a modern looking waveform
- It had a bigger screen that took the functionality of the touch screen to a new level
- It introduced streaming on DJ players
- WiFi support
- It introduced 2 layers on each deck with each a separate output
- Pitch bend (instead of only Key-Match)
- Beat slicer
- Beat roll
- Color screen in the middle of the Jog Wheel
- 8 hot cues (instead of 4 on 2 banks) at your fingertips instead of leaning over the machine (with the chance of accidentally touching it).
The CDJ 3000 came out 2 years later, and was the SC5000 in Pioneer flavor.
The CDJ 3000 was a product to catch up with Denon, but there was nothing innovative about it.
Lack of innovations
The Denon SC5000 is just one example of Pioneer’s lazy attitude.
There are countless others where Pioneer was late to the party, like stem separation and automatic key detection.
Business tip
If AlphaTheta wants to make more money, here is a business tip that benefits both investor and customer:
Simplify your product offering!
There are two reasons
- Offer less, sell more
Studies have show that when you offer your customer less choice, you will sell more products.
Instead of offering 10 flavors of ice cream, offer 3 and you will sell more ice. - You can cut costs.
You need less development time, less marketing and less components in stock for repairs.
Henry Ford said that you could order cars in every color, as long as it’s black.
Why do you need 10 DJ controllers that basically all do the same thing?
Why not offer a cheap one, and an expensive one?
Why do you refresh these controllers so often? while the new one does exactly the same as the old one?
My old DDJ-RB does exactly the same as the newer DDJ-FLX4.
No innovation, no Pioneering.
“But now the layout changed and looks more like a CDJ”
Maybe a better question would be: why was there a difference in the first place?
“But now you can connect via bluetooth”
Great, so besides a laggy Rekordbox, there is more even more lag.
On top of that, it introduces the risk of a loosing connection during a gig in a room with a lot of people with interfering mobile phones.
Why do you have 5 all-in-ones machines (player+mixer) that all do the same thing?
Why not just one?
The same goes for players, mixers and effect machines.
Slow website
Why is Pioneer’s website so slow?
It sometimes takes 2-3 minutes to get a response.
When Punjab from India wants to visit your website with his 3G phone, he is left in the dust.
Also, why are there no Pioneer branded products on AlphaTheta’s website, but there are AlphaTheta’s on Pioneer’s website?
When you click on “support” on Pioneer DJ’s website, it is titled: “AlphaTheta Help Center”.
Why is it a separate website to begin with?
It’s confusing.
Conclusion
I am worried that investors destroying the greatest DJ company in the world, a company that I hold dear to my heart.
Just to make a quick buck, and leave it for dead once they have their quick win.
And let others pick up the pieces once they are done … if there are any pieces left over to pick up.
Dragging everyone down with their foolish decisions.
Pioneer is not the DJ company that it once was: a pioneer.
It’s sitting back with their arms crossed, waiting for others to innovate, so they can incorporate it in their products.
How long can they keep playing catch-up before a competitor takes over your market leadership because of first-movers advantage?
It’s not about IF someone takes their crown, it’s about WHEN someone takes their crown.
Denon came awfully close with their SC5000, Pioneer dodged a bullet.
But apparently no one to notice at AlphaTheta.
Even investors loose all their money when Pioneer is no more …
It’s a very dangerous game to play.
