Which Musescore is Which?

• Mar 12, 2020 - 04:55

I sort of get it? Musesore.com and Musescore.org are completely different entities.

But how does this guy declare himself " CPO of MuseScore" without any qualification?

And what is a "CPO" anyway? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CPO

They ask for a Credit Card payment to sign on: how on earth does anybody know if this is not a scam. I see other posts speaking to that.

This site too just adds to the confusion and adds to panic peddling flavor:
https://musescore.com/groups/improving-musescore-com

Over in the fine-print it casually mentions musescore.org.
I would have have thought that musescore.org had cornered the related ip address or copyrighted the name? Given this confusion maybe a name change is needed? Maybe something like ________ (I cannot come up with a better name maybe someone else can).

On the other hand I tried to download what I thought was Musescore.org score tonight, well within the cut of date and a popup appeared demanding I sign up for an account. I figuring that is a musescore.com hustle?

I have decided I will need to live without the *.com features just because of the tone and tenor of the presentations. It all hits a very sour note

Comments

• Mar 12, 2020 - 05:50

It's not correct to say that musescore.com and musescore.org are "completely different entities". They are different websites, sure, existing for different purposes, but they are both run by the same MuseScore company. My understanding is that David is indeed the CPO (chief product officer, I believe), and my sense is that his area of responsibility mostly extends to the musescore.com side.

I suppose any offer one gets could be a scam, but anything coming from a musescore.com should be assumed to be legit, and in any case, assuming you refer to the email that went out recently, it certainly is. Since it relates to musescore.com specifically, though, best to ask any further questions about the offer over there.

Not sure what you mean about downloading "Musescore.org score". The only place musescore.org offers scores for downloads is if someone happens to post one here in the forums (especially the "Made with MuseScore" forum, of course), and no account is required for those. On the other hand, people sometimes add links to musescore.com in their posts here. Those will still require accounts - free is good enough for PDF or original scores, Pro required for copyrighted material. That's because the score itself is one musescore.com whether you happen to get the link from here on musescore.org, or if someone posts it Facebook or anywhere else. If a copyrighted file is being downloaded from musescore.com, the copyright owners need to be paid.

Reply

• Mar 12, 2020 - 19:19

I'm not understanding how people feel they are so expert in the inner workings of the MuseScore company that they feel qualified to comment on whether any individual person's job title is appropriate or not. No one questions Jeff Bezos when he says he is CEO of Amazon, no one questions Vinni when he says he is the owner of Vinni's Pizza, no one questions Dr. Davenport when he says he is the head of the music department at the school where I teach, etc. Presumably no one would question anyone else on this thread if everyone were to disclose their own job titles. On what basis could someone even make such a challenge?

Reply

• Mar 12, 2020 - 19:41

I'm not understanding exactly what he's head of. Do you report to him (I know the answer is "no")? When Vinni's Pizza also has an operation in the basement called "Vinni's", which isn't exactly pizza and run by outsiders, I may not have the right to ask or to say that Vinni's title is inappropriate, but I have a right to be confused and appreciate the confusion of others. Is the "CPO of MuseScore" in charge of what is in the MuseScore desktop application, or not?

Reply

• Mar 12, 2020 - 21:39

I don't have a ton of insight into the inner workings of the company, so I can't say exactly what David is the head of. My sense is that it is mainly musescore.com/mobile. But I certainly would never try to claim that the title is "overbroad', or that he or his right to his title is "without any qualification" (phrases that raised my eyebrows). It's OK to ask questions in order to further one's own understanding, but leveling value judgments before actually gaining that understanding seems presumptuous to me. In the end, I can't see that it matters. He's clearly the person who had the responsbility of sending out that email and following up with the discussions on musescore.com. That should answer the only relevant question here and settle the matter.

For the record, no, I don't report to David, or in fact to anyone directly - I'm not an employee of the company. I operate as an independent contractor, really, just to establish the legalities of the "Mastering MuseScore" book, website, etc.

Reply

• Mar 12, 2020 - 21:44

That (your role) was indeed my understanding. What about the misunderstandings of people who wonder if the program they are using called "MuseScore" is indeed managed by the "CPO of MuseScore"? Is what the British call "Northern Ireland" "part of Ireland" or not? What about Jerusalem, Kashmir, or, getting close to home, Crimea? What about people who came from Belarus when it was part of Russia (the Soviet Union)? Are they from Russia? These are similar historical relationships; people are within their rights to be confused.

Reply

• Mar 13, 2020 - 02:14

Why do I care about the internal structure? It is because of the email that looked like spam and wanted my credit card for the special deal that's why. Knowing that both entities are are under the same umbrella makes the offer credible and takes away the spam flavor for me. But for the life of me I have been unable to find a description of the features and benefits of the Pro account that justify the expenditure. Maybe somebody could clue in this newbie using everyday language?

More specifically I get the following statmement easily enough but what are features that will be unlocked once I have paid the fee?

Musescore.com, this site, is a sheet music sharing social platform. Anybody can create a free account and upload their music, to share with the world or to be kept as a private backup. A PRO account is available to unlock more features of the site, but Musescore.com will always offer a free account.

Reply

• Mar 13, 2020 - 02:19

The MuseScore application is meticulously, comprehensively, and up-to-datedly documented online (by crowd-source with guidance). The ever-changing (usually for the better) features of the MuseScore.com site are barely, if at all, documented. User contributions neither solicited nor accepted.

Reply

• Mar 13, 2020 - 13:35

I get that the email could potentially have looked suspicious, especially if you didn't already know who David was. So to me, the whole discussion could/should have gone like this:

Q: I got this email from a David Mandelshtam who lists himself as CPO of MuseScore. I wasn't familiar with him before. Is this legit?
A: Yes.
Q: Thank you. But I'm confused about some details about musescore.com
A: Then best to go over to that site.
Q: Thank you again.

Note that nowhere in there was there a need to say things like "how does this guy declare himself CPO of MuseScore without any qualification" (you've never heard of him before and yet somehow you know he's unqualified?), or say that his title is "overbroad", etc. That's what I'm objecting to here - unwarranted personal attacks on the messenger.

As for what MuseScore Pro entails: to be 100% clear: it in no way has anything to do with the MuseScore notation software. Nowhere did the email suggest or imply that it did as far as I know. It is only about msuescore.com and the mobile apps. And thus, further questions about the details are best asked over there on that site.

But for the record, the details have changed very significantly over the last year and are currently in flux, hence the email. For many years, it used to be that a free account meant you could download all you want, but could only upload 5 scores (well, it was more complicated than that, but that was the gist of it). So, you were paying for more uploads. Now, this is reversed: free accounts can upload as much as they want (this change was announced around a month ago), but downloads are limited to non-copyrighted music and only a certain number per day (this change was announced almost a year ago). Beyond that, Pro members get a few other benefits, relating to use of the mobile apps, extra capabilities on your uploaded scores. Again, you'd have to go over to musescore.com for more information on the current details or further discussion.

Reply

• Mar 13, 2020 - 11:31

No one here interferes with the internal structure of musescore-com.
The problem here is that this email (and deliberately) makes novice users think they have to pay for musescore software.
When you ask, of course they will say: "No, we wrote this for Musescore-com".
Because it is a masterfully written e-mail, you can understand the content in either way.
This is actually hitting the ax on the stone.
Because if you make people feel bad about Musescore software, dot-com site will have no purpose.

Reply

• Mar 13, 2020 - 12:11

There is an old joke about a professor presenting a math proof, who, at one point, writes a line on the blackboard, saying, "and thus.....x = 42...it's trivial." A student raises their hand and says "no, it's not trivial." The professor goes outside the room for 20 minutes, and returns, declaring, "no, it's trivial." People who stumble on "why does MuseScore cost money? I'd heard it's free" are neither stupid nor unreasonable, just new to a complex subject rooted in history that they do not yet understand. It's not trivial. "One company, two products, and they're both called MuseScore!" Simple enough? "An empathetic approach to how people feel can be good for everyone".

Reply

• Mar 13, 2020 - 13:54

Which specific sentence of the email do you feel would make anyone think they had to pay for the MuseScore notation software? I didn't get that impression at all, and that was not what anyone here was claiming either.

But no doubt, the email was not as clear as it could be on other matters - like the fact that the download restriction applies only to copyrighted music. Over on the site for such discussions - msuescore.com - David Mandelstam has already acknowledged the oversight and clarified.

Reply

• Mar 13, 2020 - 17:44

Ah, no doubt you're right. Sorry for the noise, then. Still, there is no particular reason to assume one person couldn't be in charge of both, nor is there any reason that should have been relevant to the actual discussion at hand. Again, if the question was, "is the email actually legit", the answer is yes, regardless of whether the sender's job title happens to encompass both sites or not.

Reply

Do you still have an unanswered question? Please log in first to post your question.