I believe that "got to get it out prior to Christmas" timeline was the culprit.
If PG Music wants to give people a boxing sale, they can do so in the new year as well. There is no need to rush the release.
However, releasing a half finished product, will severely harm PG's sales.
Take this MTV as an example, how many first time customers would be scared off, and never want to consider Band-in-a-Box again, when they watch the new feature video on YouTube and realize MTV is so difficult to use.
Yes, PG Music will probably release tons of update patches in the new year. Doesn't matter. The potential customers are gone already, and will not know the patches.
I have never seen a single young person ever talks about Band-in-a-Box on YouTube. Guess there must have been a reason.