Is it possible to download music on here without paying money?

• Mar 13, 2020 - 01:52

Anytime I try and download a piece of music it always forces me to upgrade my account to a pro account I don't know if there is some way to get out of that screen to download it or I have to pay money to download it, and then print it.

Comments

• Mar 13, 2020 - 03:50

You ask:
Is it possible to download music on here without paying money?

This forum here is musescore.org. (Check the address in your web browser.)
Any file attached to a post here can be downloaded without paying money.
For example:
Happy Birthday.mscz
(You never know what to expect here, as musescore.org caters to the free MuseScore editor software (i.e., the desktop - not mobile - app).

There also exists another website - musescore.com
Have a look here for an explanation of the difference:
https://help.musescore.com/hc/en-us/articles/210257565-What-is-MuseScore
https://musescore.org/en/node/277874

So...
On musescore.com -- original and public domain (PD) scores are available for download free of charge - but you have to be logged in - you can use a free account (no subscription or trial).
Here's a PD example:
https://musescore.com/james_brigham/scores/1494541
Also...
On musescore.com -- music protected by copyright is downloadable by obtaining a paid Pro subscription.
More info.:
https://musescore.com/groups/musescore-updates-and-statuses/discuss/504…
https://musescore.com/groups/musescore-updates-and-statuses/discuss/504…

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• Feb 2, 2022 - 21:40

If you use the "search for scores" field at the top, then indeed you'll be directed towards the .com sister site, as that is the online score sharing platform.

If you're logged in into your free account you can download all scores that are public domain (and correctly labeled as such) and all original score from users that have chosen to make them available for free.

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• May 8, 2023 - 09:31

@jm6stringer: Could you edit your excellent answer to also note that on musescore.com you must be logged in with a free account:
" original and public domain (PD) scores are available for download free of charge - but you have to be logged in - you can use a free account (no subscription or trial). "

This threw me off, and maybe other readers also. Thanks!

( Also, to create a free account, one currently the flow is Log in - create account - fill in form. )

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• Mar 23, 2020 - 20:34

Then contact support@musescore.com.
I've just visited that link without being logged in (using a private browsing window). Clicking the download button opens a popup with file formats to choose from.
I clicked on "MuseScore mscz" and was asked to log in or create a free account. Logging in with my free account (https://musescore.com/user/32983039) immediately started the download. No questions about Pro being asked.

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• Jan 21, 2022 - 04:00

You need an account to download anything on the score-sharing musescore.com, but a free account suffices for most scores. Only ones that are copyrighted protected require a paid account. So if you're logged in with a free account but are seeing that message, that's your answer right there - this is song under copyright protection.

For further questions about the score-sharing website musescore.com, best to ask over there on that site.

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• Apr 3, 2023 - 08:06

Wow did you hear those bum notes in there. Was this scanned from a PDF? Ive already been warned herein not to waste my time with these PDF/midi converters. I have seen why myself. So if the goods MS.com is selling has been as said - contrived, I wouldnt waste my time and money on it.

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• Apr 3, 2023 - 13:42

musescore.com doesn't sell goods; they sell a service. That service includes many things, but one of them is, the ability to download user-created arrangements of copyrighted music. The service itself works as advertised, but of course, since we are talking user-created scores, their quality will vary. There are truly professional-quality scores there, but also scores from people just learning music, and everything in between.

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• Sep 29, 2023 - 04:14

Yea that's dumb I shouldn't have to pay for someone's amateur arrangement of a copyrighted piece I thought the whole point of this site was that everything from the software to other people's arrangements were open source. I don't want to pay $50 a month or whatever to shitcorp #2001 so I can download the accompaniment score someone kindly made for a musical that wasn't written prior to 1930. I'm probably gonna have to just copy the score by hand onto a new .mcsz file so I can actually use it.

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• Sep 29, 2023 - 11:32

I thought the whole point of this site was that everything from the software to other people's arrangements were open source

Sentences starting with I thought often indicate that exactly this didn't happen...
And no, only the Software is Open Source. Whether the scores are PD or CC0 (the equivalent to Open Source here) is at the discretion of the copyright holder

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• Sep 29, 2023 - 14:27

Indeed, as mentioned, the software is open source. But that doesn't change the reality of copyright law. Your composition belongs to you just as someone else's composition belongs to them. Everyone gets to decide for themselves if they wish to grant others permission to publish arrangements for free or not. Most professional composers decide "no", because getting paid for use of your work is kind of the definition of "professional" here. The website - not this one, but the score-sharing site musescore.com - has license agreements with many of these composers or their representatives that allow arrangements to be posted and viewable for free, which is frankly amazing. But indeed, the agreements generally require payment for download.

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• Sep 27, 2022 - 16:47

If the music in question is protected by copyright, then the owner (estate ...) is entitled to royalties, even for scores. And so, that's where all of this comes from. (But there are plenty of public-domain materials which are free.)

Famously, a contemporary composer based a successful pop song on a composition by Rachmaninoff, innocently assuming that it was public. It wasn't. And so it was that a composer who died in 1943 was added to the author-list, and his estate now shares royalties from the tune.

Very Entertaining Citation: https://www.cmuse.org/you-cant-believe-how-much-rachmaninoff-influenced…

If you subscribe, then the accounting and payment of royalties is handled for you. And I find this to be an extremely valuable service. I'm grateful to the copyright owners who are so willing to make their works available, and to MuseScore for making this conveniently and legally possible.

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• Nov 12, 2022 - 23:04

I concur on anybody (who chooses not to pay anything) asking the uploader for this or that composition. In fact, I went through the significant labor to mirror ALL my MuseScore compositions on my music website - just for this reason. If Joe Average person wants any of my output for absolutely free, they need only take some extra time to go to my personal domain. They can get a MS native file, and a PDF plus MP3 / WAV audio rendering.

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• Jan 25, 2024 - 09:28

I face the same problem. Surely, it has no solution. It is very common in all piano sheets websites. Some even only give you the first page to view, which is very exasperating. Therefore, I always take screenshots of the piano sheet and convert them into pdfs by Adobe Scan. Then, I print them out.

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• Feb 27, 2024 - 18:20

How about music that's in the PD only in part of the world, like Villa-Lobos's music? Is there a policy for that or does the site actually check from where a download is attempted?

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