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US musicians reeling after notation software withdrawn

Arts Professional
2 min read

Theatre professionals have reacted with disbelief after music technology company MakeMusic revealed plans to withdraw its popular music notation software program Finale after over three decades.

Musicians in the US, where the programme is widely used, have criticised the move, which has sparked widespread concern among composers, copyists, archivists and publishing companies that rely on the software and will now have to invest in time-consuming conversion of their content libraries, as Finale files do not export in their entirety.

Finale President Greg Dell'Era said: "Finale is no longer the future of the notation industry – a reality after 35 years, and I want to be candid about this. Instead of releasing new versions of Finale that would offer only marginal value to our users, we’ve made the decision to end its development." 

Users can no longer buy or update Finale and its related products, including PrintMusic and Notepad, but they will continue to work on devices where they are already installed. From August next year, it will not be possible to authorise or re-authorise onto new devices.

One of a handful of notation products on the market, Finale’s main competitors include Sibelius, made by Avid and prevalent in the UK, and relative newcomer Dorico, which MakeMusic has recommended to its users.

Matt Smith from London Music Preparation Ltd said that although the closure's impact would be “devastating” for the US and Broadway, he anticipated the direct impact to the UK to be “minimal” as "the vast majority" of UK organisations and individuals use Sibelius.

However, with Finale’s endorsement of Dorico, he warned that a mass sector shift could see users of other platforms face a simillar fate further down the line. 

Writing on Instagram, film, TV and musical theatre composer Marc Shaiman said: "To all my compatriots freaking out about today’s announcement, um, it was right there in the name all along. FINALE! As Maya Angelou said, 'When someone tells you who they are, believe them!'"