Well, this isn’t the news any of us wanted to hear today. According to a report from Create Digital Music (CDM), Native Instruments – the Berlin company behind Traktor – has entered preliminary insolvency proceedings in Germany.
This essentially means decisions about NI’s future are now out of the hands of its executives and owners. The company’s assets will be sold off in some form as part of this process. NI is also the parent company of iZotope, Plugin Alliance, and Brainworx through its “Soundwide” umbrella.
So what does this mean if you’re a Traktor DJ?
Honestly? We don’t know yet, and anyone who claims otherwise is guessing. We have yet to even have this confirmed by our contacts at NI, who we’ve reached out to. Whatever though, Traktor isn’t going to stop working tomorrow – your software will still open, your controllers will still connect, your library will still be there. The concern is more about what happens down the line: future updates, OS compatibility, bug fixes, and all the ongoing development that keeps DJ software viable in the long term.
Insolvency proceedings can drag on for months or even years, and there’s every chance Traktor (along with NI’s other DJ products) gets snapped up by another company. Whether that’s good or bad news depends entirely on who does the buying and what their plans are.
If you’ve built your entire workflow around Traktor this is understandably concerning. You’ve invested time and money into an ecosystem, and now there’s a question mark hanging over its future.
This affects maybe 10% of DJs based on our Global DJ Census, but that’s still a lot of people who’ve chosen Traktor over Rekordbox, Serato, or the other options out there. NI has been part of the DJ landscape for over two decades, and whatever you think of their recent track record (Traktor development has been… patchy, let’s say), it’s not great to see any major player in this position.
We’ll keep following this and update as things become clearer. For now, there’s no need to panic – but it’s definitely something we’ll be following closely on your behalf.
Phil Morse
