Website paves the way to fame

Musicians are racing to fame and fortune thanks to the launch of a new website - scorchmusic.com - which allows composers and arrangers from anywhere in the world to publish and sell their music to a global audience. Scorchmusic.com has already attracted thousands of musicians who entered its launch composing competition, judged by a panel including acclaimed film composer Michael Kamen.

The site is powered by Scorch, the Sibelius Group's technology for viewing, playing and printing scores online, which is already used by the world's leading music publishers.

Scorchmusic.com is an invaluable resource for anyone wanting to find an unusual or previously unperformed piece of music. Customers can search for music by title, composer, instrument, style, etc., or can be guided by charts of popular titles, reviews by visitors, and recommendations from scorchmusic staff. Before printing, customers can view and play back titles, and change the key and instruments to suit.

Composers pay nothing to publish music on the site, and can choose whether they want to sell scores or give them away. They also get their own web page on the site featuring their biography, photo, list of music and contact information. Adding a new piece of music is so quick and easy that a score is often on sale on the site the same day the composer finishes writing it.

Composer Johnathan Wales has already reaped the benefits of promoting his music on scorchmusic.com. "Because of this site, I just sold 1000 copies of my church music books. I linked my web site to some of my songs here, and marketers that I have been trying to get to see started calling me."

Ben Finn, chief executive officer of the Sibelius Group, comments:

"The launch of scorchmusic.com is a really exciting development for musicians, as it allows anyone to reach a worldwide audience. The popularity of their music is entirely determined by customers' response, demonstrating the free market at its most efficient."