“FL Studio’s duty is to get more people to stick with music-making”: CEO Constantin Koehncke on FL Studio 2025 and beyondHow many DAWs are getting 30,000 downloads a month? Not many, right?
FL Studio is hitting that figure every single day, according to its maker Image-Line. Even CEO Constantin Koehncke admits that number is “pretty staggering” and “definitely insane”.
But it’s not downloads alone that put it among the world’s most popular DAWs. Myriad music fans with even a passing interest in music production have heard about it. That includes the millions of viewers who watch FL Studio users “speedrun” beatmaking on TikTok, plus fans of Grammy-winning producers like Mustard, Kaytranada, Hit-Boy, and the late Avicii, who’ve all expressed their reliance on the software. Known as FruityLoops before 2003, the DAW has long been the gateway to music-making for millions of beatmakers, producers and engineers.
But as Image-Line prepares to unleash the newest version, FL Studio 2025, it’s once again out to prove that FL Studio is more than just a toy for newcomers. Keen FL Studio users may have even noticed a few teasers of fresh innovations appearing on the Image-Line forums.

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“We have a pretty close engagement with the community,” says Koehncke in our video call. “Typically, in the teaser thread on our forum, we’ll say, ‘Hey, we’re building this; here’s an idea of what the UI could look like’. It gives us some feedback in the development process, which is helpful, and it’s a part of the DNA of the company to build FL Studio in this way.”
Image-Line CEO, Constantin Koehncke. Image: Image-Line
Koehncke joined as Image-Line’s CEO in October 2022. Over those 30 months, he’s overseen some groundbreaking launches in FL Studio: FL Cloud, the integration of software developer UVI, and the rollout of innovative AI features such as in-DAW stem separation and chord progression assistance.
The German-born CEO is used to such grandiose releases by now. Before his role at Image-Line, he was CEO at Native Instruments, having climbed the ranks from 2010 as a marketing manager. During that time, Native dropped products such as Maschine+ and hundreds of bleeding-edge plugins. And before he was coordinating major product releases, he wrote about them as a music tech journalist and publicist for a German magazine.
“50% of FL Studio trial users are under the age of 20, and many of them don’t end up choosing another DAW or music-making tool; they just stop making music altogether.”
Koehncke used to produce and DJ himself, but today, he doesn’t find the time to do so actively. “The next best thing to making music yourself is making it easier for many other people to do so”, he says. Having lived and worked in major music hubs — Los Angeles, London and Berlin — he’s found inspiration from various genres, cultures and artists around the world. That’s one reason he feels so well placed as CEO of Image-Line.
“Continuously speaking to producers around the world – big and small – is helping me to think about where we go next, and what some of the bigger problems are that we can solve for users.”
Image-Line CEO, Constantin Koehncke. Image: Image-Line
Of the 30,000 daily downloads of FL Studio (it even reached 71,000 daily downloads in 2018) Koehncke says that most are newcomers not just to Image-Line’s DAW, but to music production altogether. One problem that the team are trying to solve is how to keep people inspired to continue creating music — and ultimately staying on FL Studio.
“50% of FL Studio trial users are under the age of 20, and many of them don’t end up choosing another DAW or music-making tool; they just stop making music altogether,” continues Koehncke. He’s reluctant to directly agree with his competitor Niklas Agevik at Reason Studios, who told us that the DAW’s main competition is “Netflix and Steam.” Koehncke does say, however, that in music production, there is “an attention capital that we’re competing for, at this point.”
“It’s our duty as a company to try to get more people to stick with music-making,” he adds. “Being the first touch point for many global music makers, it’s our duty as a company to try to get more people to stick with music-making.”
Image: Image-Line
In an era where all recorded music is instantly accessible, FL Studio’s goal seems to be ensuring that all music-making tools are as accessible, too. Koehncke’s tenure at Native was during a time where Berlin established itself as the ultimate hub for music production. Within walking distance from Koehncke’s office were his colleagues and competitors at Ableton, Beatport, LANDR, SoundCloud, Skoove and Orchestral Tools.
“These were companies that could essentially [let you] start making music, define your sound, and get yourself published and distributed,” Koehncke explains.
“We can all maybe relate to how painful multiple installers and multiple subscriptions can be at times. Our mission is to provide users with the fastest way from their brain to their speakers, so providing them with everything they need right at their fingertips is key to that.”
Can one company really provide for producers in a way that would once require multiple companies? Image-Line isn’t far off.
Since Koehncke joined, Image-Line has brought some serious power to producers — it’s had to, given the competitive DAW market right now. FL Studio has introduced new AI-driven features like Stem Sepatator and the Chord Progression Tool for chord creation. FL Cloud, meanwhile, is a platform that gives producers millions of accessible samples and presets, AI mastering, a marketplace of plugins from different developers, and music distribution via DistroKid. And the company is still committed to its Lifetime Free Updates pledge.
In 2025, FL Studio is expanding this offering, collaborating with more music tech companies, and starting to consider how, and where, producers really want to make music.
“We’re going to continuously expand our offering in FL Cloud,” says Koehncke. “For example, we’ve tripled the size of our sound catalogue since we launched. The goal is to have access to the right set of tools, some free, some paid, but most importantly, all integrated directly with FL Studio to make it easy and fast for users to get creative.” From a business perspective, it’s a no-brainer — but Koehncke jokes that “we can all maybe relate to how painful multiple installers and multiple subscriptions can be at times. Our mission is to provide users with the fastest way from their brain to their speakers, so providing them with everything they need right at their fingertips is key to that.”
FL Studio 2024. Image: Image-Line
Image-Line has recently partnered with Minimal Audio, Baby Audio, with Antares on AutoTune, and with Koehncke’s previous company, Native Instruments, among others. He promises that “There’s still more to come on a regular basis.”
“My view is, if the customer and the user are getting something really valuable to them, then it’s a worthwhile partnership.”
Of course, Koehncke’s keeping the major unveilings a secret — despite our nudging. But he does stress that switching FL Studio’s updating convention from version numbers to year of release (FL Studio 22 to FL Studio 2024 and this year FL Studio 2025) doesn’t change how the team improves the DAW. Image-Line still relies on collecting user feedback, improving on its backlog of ideas, and coming up with new ideas. If anything, the change in process relieves pressure for both Image-Line and its users.
“We’re a small team — Image-Line as a whole, but FL Studio in particular,” says Koehncke. “[The new update convention] just helps us focus on delivering the features and updates that people want, and doing that in regular, continuous fashion, rather than saying, ‘Here’s the big bang, and now we’re going to hide away for another two years and come up with something that might disappoint people, because times might might have changed.’”
FL Cloud. Image: Image-Line
FL Studio has kept apace with modern advancements. Its AI integration is commendable, for example, but how can it compete with the likes of generative AI platforms like Suno and Udio?
“These platforms are becoming an entry point for some users, says Koehncke. “Maybe they give you the [music-making] bug, then you can come and use FL Studio — or any other product — where you can shape your own sound and develop as a producer.”
“Why should music making, as a whole, be different from graphic design or word processing or gaming, where you pick up from where you left off on different devices?”
“Our users are really in it for the joy of making music and the creative process. We want to be a helping hand in that process, not take control of the wheel. We look at AI tools as an unlocker of creativity and as a way to make the hard tasks in music-making easier.”
Still, Koehncke adds, the topic of AI often leads to “ferocious” discussions at Image-Line HQ. The company, like many other audio brands, is still trying to solidify its role in the development of AI in music, and what it means to introduce such tech to music makers. The main topic, as always, is finding ways to lower the barriers for newcomers while empowering the most skilled producers in its userbase.
For Image Line, the goal is to lower the barriers for newcomers while empowering their most skilled producers, and ensuring that technology serves creativity, not the other way around.
Beyond AI, Image-Line is considering the ways that you take the music-making process with you. Most people are making music on laptops and mobile phones — but there’s still an element of friction between the two. Starting an idea on a mobile and switching to a desktop can be fiddly. What if DAWs performed like cloud platforms?
FL Cloud. Image: Image-Line
“Why should music making, as a whole, be different from graphic design or word processing or gaming, where you pick up from where you left off on different devices?” asks Koehncke. Although there are logistical barriers, such as file formats, third-party plugins and saving metadata, Koehncke believes the technology is there. “We should try to solve problems for the customer, and that would be a real benefit to any DAW user.”
Video games are also in Koehncke’s peripheral. FL Studio Mobile has seen notable success, he says. Perhaps that’s an indication that there is a market for more non-desktop DAWs?
“We think a lot about the commonalities between gaming and music making in terms of experience and the joyfulness of learning while you’re playing,” Koehncke continues. You get this dopamine rush when you complete something, and there are a lot of analogies in our community — words like “cheat code” are used a lot in relation to FL Studio. We see a lot of overlap and commonalities in how people interact with music-making software and specifically FL Studio.”
Does that mean that by FL Studio 2026, you could be making music on an FL Studio app on Xbox and PlayStation?
“We just want to be wherever somebody’s thinking about creating music; it’s about being wherever your users might be.”
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