“Finale is no longer the future of the notation software […]. We’ve made the decision to end its development”
The end of an era
Yesterday, August 26th 2024, breaking news dropped. Greg Dell’Era, MakeMusic’s president, announced their decision to stop developing Finale, the industry’s leading music notation software.
After 35 years being one of the main players in the industry, Dell’Era stated that “Finale is no longer the future of the notation software […]. 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”.
Please, don’t panic! For now, Finale still works on any device where it’s currently installed. However, MakeMusic has announced some immediate and future changes that you need to keep in mind if you’re a Finale user.
- From now on, “there will be no further updates to Finale or its tools”. And it is “no longer possible to purchase or upgrade Finale” through MakeMusic.
- Beginning in August 2025, “it will not be possible to authorize Finale on any new devices or reauthorize Finale”, the company reports. One year from today, official technical support will no longer be available.
Dorico, the future of notation software programs?
In the same announcement, Greg Dell’Era made a strong statement about his vision of the direction of the music notation industry for the following years.
“There is a new future for the notation industry: Dorico, developed by Steinberg […].”
MakeMusic also reported about their partnership with Steinberg Media Technologies. Germany-based, Yamaha subsidiary Steinberg, is a music hardware and software company that develops Dorico and Cubase.
The partnership allows “users of any version of Finale or PrintMusic to purchase Dorico Pro – the highest tier of the product – for just $149 USD”. If you are a Finale user, your 75 % discount for Dorico Pro 5 is available for purchase on your MakeMusic account. According to the company, the discount will be available only for a limited time.
Looking forward to welcoming Finale users into the Dorico community, Steinberg’s managing director Clyde Sendke declared that they know “it is difficult to leave behind a trusted tool”. However, the company is “confident that users will come to rely on the powerful, efficient workflows provided by Dorico Pro”.
Easing the Finale-Dorico Shift
Both MakeMusic and Steinberg are already releasing plenty of resources to make Finale users’ switch to Dorico Pro 5 as smooth and easy as possible. We have listed some of them below, but undoubtedly there will be even more to come.
Steinberg’s product marketing manager, Daniel Spreadbury, shared a blog post providing more information about this big announcement, After Sunset: your path from Finale to Dorico. On it, Spreadbury explains in detail Finale’s path since its introduction in 1988 and offers further support to its users with a FAQs page.
Additionally, Steinberg has asked expert Finale user and Dorico convert Ben Byram-Wigfield to produce videos introducing Dorico to Finale users. They are now available as a YouTube playlist, on Steinberg’s channel.
MakeMusic’s Farewell to Finale
Dell’Era and MakeMusic say goodbye to the Finale users: “While Finale has come to an end, we know your musical journey has not. I want to sincerely express our warm and deep gratitude to all of our loyal and passionate users. Our entire organization thanks you for your trust […]”.
At My Sheet Music Transcriptions, we have supported Finale and other notation software for many years. We will immediately shift gears to adapt to the music industry and continue supporting notation software like Dorico, Sibelius, Musescore, and GuitarPro among our music editors and transcribers.
Surely, more news is yet to come — stay tuned!
6 Responses
Finale was my workmate, every day for decades. It’s crazy that there are people in the world who can ruin other people’s lives like this. I feel robbed.
This happens when there are people in charge of situations who don’t know and don’t understand.
Finale was musical notation, killing Finale is killing musical notation. Now we have to wait for some idiot who will decide to kill the alphabet and we will lose writing, then the wheel, the fire…
There is no future without memory of the past
I’d love to know exactly how you feel? Having used Finale now for 35 years, I am majorly bummed. I am a professional freelance musician and until 35 years ago (when I was 35) my career was playing, conducting and teaching. As soon as I discovered Finale I began to do more composing and arranging and now that has become a huge part of my career. I have not only composed, arranged and published with Finale but also been involved with helping authors with music textbook examples. Presently in my studio? I have 8 year olds who are composing and arranging on Finale. I tried out Sibelius decades ago and found it slowed down my progress greatly so I ditched it and continued on with Finale. Upon previewing Dorico, I find it also looks to be prohibitively cumbersome.. basically “dumbed down”. I have never understood why a true musician with a brain would find Finale to be difficult. With Finale I have been able to basically engrave as I create because I find that composing and arranging is as much visual as aural.. and with Finale I don’t have to enter another “mode” to immediately apply articulations, dynamics, bowings, etc. because often how something looks or is played is integral to what you are creating. I have both Dorico (I cringe even typing that word) and Sibelius installed on my computers, but I will continue to work with Finale until the last possible moment I can. Lastly, it was absolutely diabolical releasing all this information just before the teaching season. Those of us who also teach are focused on starting the new school year and have no time to fret about this or thousands of xml files. It was badly executed with little to no consideration of the Finale customer base and for that reason alone I am very reticent to spend any of my precious free time ramping up to Dorico. Such a debacle.
Retired, not composing much anymore, all my stuff is on Finale. I bought a new computer, and I can’t access any of my files. MakeMusic/Dorico is unhelpful (at best)—no humans to talk to at all. Any suggestions?
Hi John,
We’ll be very happy to help you with our Finale files. We have professional music editors who can convert the files into your preferred notation software, and make them usable again.
Just get in touch with us via e-mail: info@mysheetmusictranscriptions.com
My old computer with Finale crashed and my new laptop can’t open my finale files or reinstall Finale. I’m trying Musecore but finale files won’t transfer.
HELP???
Jeff
Hello Jeff, we can help you with that! 😊
Just write us an email to info@mysheetmusictranscriptions.com explaining your problem, and we’ll find a solution for you.
Looking forward to receiving your news! 🧡