As many of you know, I produced the tutorial videos for MuseScore 2 and I’ve been a big supporter of the program. One of the main reasons is that it’s free and open source. Now that didn’t mean the MuseScore company and people weren’t trying to make money, just that this was the model that they chose.
MuseScore has now been acquired by Ultimate Guitar, one of the largest online sites for guitar TABs. The site also includes news and forums.
My initial reaction was “oh, no!” But as I looked into it, I’m now more of a mind to wait and see. The people at UG are saying all the right things. MuseScore will remain free and open source and they are committed to keeping it that way. Considering that the TABs on UG are all free, it’s not a stretch to think they agree with the MuseScore philosophy. They also appear to have the resources to develop the program and are working on version 3 and improving the mobile version.
So, for now, I think this may be a good thing. I believe MuseScore is an important product and one of the best free programs of any kind available. It is my hope that it continues as an option for students and educators for a long time to come.
For more details, check out Philip Rothman’s post on his Scoring Notes blog
