Can't download sheets for free anymore?
Why can't i suddenly download any of the sheets for free? They keep asking to go pro everytime i choose to download pdf. Is musescore no longer free? This is totally out of the blue
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See:https://musescore.org/en/node/277874
https://musescore.com/groups/musescore-updates-and-statuses/discuss/504…
MuseScore - the notation software - is and always will remain free. The score sharing website has both free and Pro accounts. The latter are required in order to download copyrighted music, as the revenue from the Pro account is what pays the copyright owners. For more information about msuescore.com, though, you really need to go over there, this site (musescore.org) is for discussing the software, which again, remains free.
BTW< the change happened several months and was announced there and discussed heavily. See for example https://musescore.com/groups/improving-musescore-com/discuss/5044610
In reply to MuseScore - the notation… by Marc Sabatella
I have paid for my subscription to musescore and cannot download files without starting a new trial subscription.
In reply to I have paid for my… by [DELETED] 38560662
That still is nothing we here at musescore.org can help you with.
And no, apparently ypou did not pay, or the paymaent didn't make it, you're not a pro user on musescore.com.
Contact support@musescore.com about that
Hi there. Interesting question. Sometimes I have the same problem. Thanks for the useful information.
Unfortunately, yes. Musescore has only allowed PRO users to download sheet music, midi files, etc. But I remember stumbling upon a GitHub post about downloading w/o premium.
In reply to Unfortunately, yes… by Formestaken
See: https://musescore.com/groups/improving-musescore-com/discuss/5060286#
Mostly, this is a free site - you're able to play and learn all the scores without paying. You should pay only for downloads and prints scores for copyrighted music. We pay copyrights holders for every view and every downloading and printing of such scores. So why should it be free? Why should we pay authors for creating transcriptions too? We provide contributors an opportunity to share their work with other people in an absolutely legal way, and this could happen only if the MU catalog is licensed.
In reply to See: https://musescore.com… by Shoichi
Right yeah sure. But where is everyone else going to go if they can't trust a site that's been giving out free sheet music? I mean shouldn't there be an option for people to not download the certain sheet music. Shouldn't "the licensing should focus on the rights of transcription/rearranging to the sheet music authors, instead of the rights of sharing the music on some websites." This was a total 180 on musescores side and I don't think the community was ready for it. I do understand this was debated about along time ago but come on if you are a pro user this wouldn't affect you like how it's affecting the rest of the users. "Also, there are many authors who created their own songs and posted the sheet music on musescore.com. Does musescore.com pay to those authors?". :)
In reply to Right yeah sure. But where… by Formestaken
As you may have noticed, you're in the wrong place. Take a look at https://musescore.org/en/node/277874
and try to discuss on the other site .com you can probably get clarification.
In reply to Right yeah sure. But where… by Formestaken
Just to briefly pick up on the
Also, there are many authors who created their own songs and posted the sheet music on musescore.com. Does musescore.com pay to those authors?argument.If those authors have a license agreement with .com and chosen to not allow free downloads of their work, then yes, they are payed for their work; just like any other copyright holder on musescore.com is if they have a license deal.
A transcriptor has no rights, so I don't see why anyone should focus on that. An arranger has some rights and musescore.com honors all of them; even going above and beyond so an arranger that doesn't have permission to arrange a work won't be prosecuted at all.
In reply to Just to briefly pick up on… by jeetee
But does musescore pay for those licenses.
In reply to But does musescore pay for… by Formestaken
Why do you presume it doesn't? (but lets move the discussion back onto that platform as I see you've posted there as well: https://musescore.com/groups/improving-musescore-com/discuss/5044610?pa…)
In reply to But does musescore pay for… by Formestaken
musescore.com has agreements with a bunch of major license owners.
Not of this is relevant here on musescore.org though...
In reply to Right yeah sure. But where… by Formestaken
As others have mentioned, arguing about copyrights and licenses and score sharing here on a software support website doesn't make much sense, better to discuss over there on the actual score sharing website in question. But it is is worth correcting misinformation here.
There should be no question of "trust" here. Copyrighted scores used to be free to downlaod not because MuseScore was generously allowing it and they they've changed their mind and decided to be selfish. That's not even close to the thruth. Copyrighted scores were free to download, yes, but it was completely illegal, and it was possible only because not enough people were suing MuseScore to remove their scores. There is simply no going back to a world where you can download copyrighted material without paying the copyright owners. They let this slide for years, but now they are asserting their legal rights, and we all need to to adjust our expectations accordingly.
In reply to As others have mentioned,… by Marc Sabatella
I mean that all sounds really good but I can't help but notice how much of Musescore's repertoire is pirated.
In reply to Right yeah sure. But where… by Formestaken
@Formestaken Based
In reply to Unfortunately, yes… by Formestaken
I understand that they need to pay the users, but why should we have to pay for a full membership when we only want one score? I have loved using muse score in the past and I hate that now I can’t even use it at all. I’m a minor so I don’t have a credit card and I can’t buy the membership anyway. I would happily pay for an individual piece, but I don’t want to make the commitment of paying monthly.
In reply to I understand that they need… by averyschaefer
To make comments or suggestions to the folks who run the score sharing website msuescore.com, best to go over there to that site.
In reply to I understand that they need… by averyschaefer
I could imagine, this could be a good option for users they don't need a pro membership, but want to download the one or other copyrighted score. But as mentioned, It's an issue of musescore.com, not of musescore.org - the forum for the free application itself - so it's a better place to suggest it there.
Hi there, I have been having the same issue. Have you been able to download music without paying for pro?
In reply to Hi there, I have been having… by AndriesJSmith
If the music is not free, but copyright protected; then you'll indeed need to somehow pay for it. On musescore.com that is possible via a subscription service.
But as this subject is about musescore.com entirely it is best discussed over there (see https://musescore.org/en/faq#faq-20657 for why that is so)
In reply to If the music is not free,… by jeetee
Musescore has somehow managed to arrange hundreds if not thousands of agreements with artists and labels to pay royalties based on user-made scores, and that every download results in compensation to the artist? "Pay us a fixed rate in a Pro membership and you can rest assured we'll somehow parse that out appropriately."
Sounds like someone's making a quick buck, and it's sure not the artists.
In reply to Musescore has somehow… by danem
One doesn't need to negotiate with the individual artists - most are represented by a much smaller number of large publishing companies. And yes, there has been a team legal team working on this for the past couple of years, it's a pretty big deal that they were able to accomplish it!
In reply to Musescore has somehow… by danem
Please don't take my anger personally of these or similar discussions, I don't want to offend you and not sure if I understand your trouble correct, it's just a reply of another user in another thread short time ago, he deleted all his scores and account as reaction because of this policy- and maybe better I should comment it on musescore.com.
Maybe there are big publishers, they don't care about breaking copyright laws. But I also see the these artists, they don't have these "big players" for marketing and earn their livelihood with it. So I personally can live with the policy of musescore.com.
In this sense sorry again, be sure, next time I'll try to reply more objective.
We should simply be appreciative that the owners of copyrighted music allow their scores to be made available in this way. They certainly didn't have to. And, we should likewise appreciate that MuseScore has created a convenient venue by which this can lawfully be done.
Owners of music know how important this sort of thing is to musical education. They provide their licensed material, not merely as a PDF or printed book, but in a form that you can manipulate and experiment with. They are able to do it because they are assured of royalty payments. The notion that there should be a paid-for "pro" section, and the paltry price that you pay to belong to it, is more than fair.
All of us as musical composers are entitled by law to be paid for our work and to retain the "copy right" concerning the thing that we have made. If we choose not to exercise that entitlement, if we choose to not to impose restrictions, that's our prerogative: by definition, the copyright (even if un-registered ...) still exists and we still own it. (Permissive "GPL" and "Creative Commons" licenses have been tested and upheld in international courts, and carry real legal teeth.) If other owners, whose works we wish to have access to, wish to be paid for a license, they must be. MuseScore has agreed to handle these payments on our behalf.
In reply to We should simply be… by mrobinson
I'm removing this comment
In reply to I honestly don't like… by Ty Baker21
Good
In reply to The MuseScore application… by Jojo-Schmitz
I'm removing this comment.
In reply to I'm talking about the online… by Ty Baker21
Even better
In reply to I honestly don't like… by Ty Baker21
To repeat what has already been said: the reason MuseScore needs to charge for downloads is to pay the copyright holders. The people who actually composed the music have the legal right to be paid for downloads of their music, and MuseScore is obligated to do so. That is why it is only copyrighted music that you requires a Pro account for.
As a musician yourself, hopefully you can understand why other musicians do insist on being paid for their work and not think too harshly of them for this!
In reply to To repeat what has already… by Marc Sabatella
I understand now, I didn't realize that pro users were paid. I'm sorry about my comment.
In reply to I understand now, I didn't… by Ty Baker21
They are not, nobody said that.
But some publishers are and they pay their authors.
In reply to I understand now, I didn't… by Ty Baker21
To be clear: it’s not the Pro users who are paid, but the actual composers of the copyrighted material. So if a user - Pro or otherwise - uploads their version of a piece written by some other songwriter, its that other songwriter who gets paid, as per copyright law.
In reply to To be clear: it’s not the… by Marc Sabatella
If he/she or his/her publisher has a contract with musescore.com....
In reply to To repeat what has already… by Marc Sabatella
the major problem is that even if a work is creative commons non-commercial, the website still adds an advert and prevents you from downloading unless you specify it as public domain or original work. Even if you obtain permission (e.g. I got permission from some composers and others such as Adam Sporka/Jan Valta, and some authors such as ZUN publically states that he will allow you to do whatever you want with his works as long as you dont say your adaption is not official content).
To add adverts to a non-commercial document and preventing a user is basically stealing. Unfortunately the only way around that is to state all works as public domain until this shit like this gets fixed.
In reply to the major problem is that… by ZdrytchX
Once again, since this discussiobn is about the score-sharing website musescore.com, discussion really belongs over there on that site.
But for the record:
"Public domain" in this context is just a convenient label to help separate out the which scores are downloadable and which are not. Applying that label to a score with a particular CC license should't be a problem at all - the license remains as is. That's my impression anyhow. Further discussion, again, belongs over there on that score-sharing website, not on this one dedicated to the notation software.
Also, there is very certainly nothing illegal or "stealing" about a website honoring its own terms of service. it's your choice whether or not to upload the music to a site that you know full will display ads. There is no known alternative universe in which there is even the slightest issue with that. If you wish to propose new alternative universes that would have that property, again, over there on that other website would be the place. Best to keep the profanity out of it if you wish to engage in rational discussion, though.
If you download the score as a musescore file, you should be able to access it and then print it from the software for free. The software is free as well.
It's a good question, but there are so many copies of different scores in google images. Why aren't these being taken down, and how can revenue be made by this.
In reply to It's a good question, but… by connorpb20
Because they are just images, not full scores.
In reply to It's a good question, but… by connorpb20
Images of copyrighted material are a violation as well. If you find some that don't include information that they were reprinted with permission. it's probably just a matter of time before they get sued too. Or not, if a website has just a small handful of violating images, they aren't likely to be attracted the attention of the copyright owners or their representatives. But musescore.com has over a million scores - you can't break copyright law that much and get away with it! Hence, the license agreements that are now in place.
if musescore is free then why do they ask for your visa or paypal acount
In reply to if musescore is free then… by jytjak
Please actually read this thread for the answer.
In reply to if musescore is free then… by jytjak
There is an optional speciality online service called MuseScore Pro hosted over on MuseScore.com that you can sign up for if you want to. Bbut that has nothing to do with MuseScore itself - the software itself is free, as are the regular non-Pro online accounts over there on MuseScore.com
In reply to There is an optional… by Marc Sabatella
I have a pro account and have had it for a long time but now when I go to download a score or music it asks for credits. If a pro account can no longer download or print, there is no reason to have a pro account!
In reply to I have a pro account and… by kbyrdwell
See:
https://musescore.org/en/node/298277#comment-997305
In reply to I have a pro account and… by kbyrdwell
Pro accounts can still download most score - just not the “official” scores provided directly by the publishers. That is not a change; they have never been downloadable with Pro accounts since those official scores were added. The reason for Pro remains as it has been for years - to download copyrighted arrangements and transcriptions uploaded by other users.
As mentioned Multiple times, for further discussion of that website, please ask over there, not here on the software support forums.