Some questions about JUCE Starter

[coffeeshot]

Hello everyone. Some starting points:

• I plan to distribute a VST3 plugin commercially with closed source and I’m considering using JUCE for this purpose.
• I plan to start as an individual without registering any kind of company. But it’s a subject to change - if I see that things are going well, I may register a local company in the future.
• I don’t mind using the paid JUCE license, but I want to start free and see how it goes first.

Now, questions:

• When using JUCE, do I still need to apply for Steinberg license for distributing VST3 plugins? Or is it by any chance “included”?
• With the Starter license I can commercially distribute my products and I don’t need to publish the source, i.e. it can be a commercial closed source product?
• With the Starter license for an individual (not business), what kind of income is counted towards the limit? I assume (based on my interpretation of “1.2.1. Annual Revenue or Funding Limit”) that it’s only the income generated by the corresponding products (the ones that are built with JUCE) - not my total income from other sources (like my salary). Is it correct?
• When/if I hit the Starter revenue limit - would it be as simple as switching to the Indie license and moving on? I.e. I won’t need to create a new product to go with the new license?
• Do I have to provide my financial reports to JUCE in any form so that JUCE can confirm that I’m still within the quota? Or it’s more of a “fair use” approach?
• What happens if I run on, say, Indie for a while, get tired of this business and decide to close it. I understand that I will have to stop the development and distribution of the plugin, but all the copies that were sold before are out of the picture, right? I’m not required to “withdraw” them from people who bought them and they will be able to keep using them?

P.S. I see that many similar questions have been asked on this forum before, but a lot of them have been asked and were answered in, like, 2020 and they were related to previous license versions. So I’d like to double-check my understanding of the current license (8) and the state of things in 2024 (2025 soon).

[t0m]

Apologies for not replying sooner - this thread slipped through the net.

@coffeeshot

When using JUCE, do I still need to apply for Steinberg license for distributing VST3 plugins? Or is it by any chance “included”?

You will need a separate VST3 license from Steinberg.

@coffeeshot

With the Starter license I can commercially distribute my products and I don’t need to publish the source, i.e. it can be a commercial closed source product?

Yes. In most respects, aside from revenue limits, the starter license works the same as the paid licenses.

@coffeeshot

With the Starter license for an individual (not business), what kind of income is counted towards the limit? I assume (based on my interpretation of “1.2.1. Annual Revenue or Funding Limit”) that it’s only the income generated by the corresponding products (the ones that are built with JUCE) - not my total income from other sources (like my salary). Is it correct?

For an individual, that is correct.

@coffeeshot

When/if I hit the Starter revenue limit - would it be as simple as switching to the Indie license and moving on? I.e. I won’t need to create a new product to go with the new license?

You just switch to the Indie license.

@coffeeshot

Do I have to provide my financial reports to JUCE in any form so that JUCE can confirm that I’m still within the quota? Or it’s more of a “fair use” approach?

We reserve the right to audit your finances if we suspect license abuse (10.3 in the EULA).

@coffeeshot

What happens if I run on, say, Indie for a while, get tired of this business and decide to close it. I understand that I will have to stop the development and distribution of the plugin, but all the copies that were sold before are out of the picture, right? I’m not required to “withdraw” them from people who bought them and they will be able to keep using them?

You are not required to withdraw software from people you have already distributed to.