Sibelius helps UK teacher reach a worldwide audience

Works by a UK teacher are among the most downloaded by musicians around the globe according to the world’s leading producer of music notation software, Sibelius.

Using the SibeliusMusic.com website, which allows subscribers to publish and sell their own compositions online, Peter Martin – Head of Strings for Oldham Music Service for the past 27 years - has been able to give teachers worldwide the benefit of a lifetime’s experience of teaching, composing and arranging music.

SibeliusMusic.com is a unique website which allows users to publish and sell their music online. Using Sibelius’ Scorch technology, scores can be displayed within a web browser, from where they can be played back, transposed and printed. The website allows composers and arrangers to offer their scores for sale without the usual costs inherent in print publishing, whilst allowing musicians worldwide to access a vast array of sheet music instantly.

Peter offers educational string music on SibeliusMusic.com for all ages and abilities. Using the latest version of Sibelius’ award-winning notation software, he has created and uploaded sheet music for around 350 compositions, which have been purchased and downloaded by musicians in countries as widespread as Australia, the USA, Brazil and North Korea, as well as by many teachers in the UK.  His personalized area within the SibeliusMusic.com website receives over 1300 visitors per month, and sales of his scores have reached over $1500 per quarter.

Peter comments, “SibeliusMusic.com has opened up a whole new world to composers and arrangers. It allows the composer to decide what is published and when, and provides a highly competitively priced resource for any musician with internet access and a printer. Since being published on SibeliusMusic.com, my compositions and arrangements have received performances all over the world, and the positive feedback has been tremendous”.

Last October one of Peter’s works, ‘Divertimento for Strings’, was performed at the ‘Symphony of Hope’ concert in North Carolina, USA raising over $6000 for the American Cancer Society.  He has also had one of his pieces selected for inclusion in an examination syllabus by the ABRSM in the UK.

SibeliusMusic.com aims to make it as easy as possible for composers and arrangers to sell their music online.  It provides a simple, customisable and secure environment which eliminates the need to create and maintain a dedicated personal e-commerce site, whilst offering the additional benefits of huge visitor numbers.

SibeliusMusic.com subscribers are able to sell not only sheet music but also related items and merchandise, such as CD’s, directly to consumers around the world. There are no start-up costs, and the purchasing system and e-commerce functions are handled by Sibelius for a modest commission.

In August 2004, Sibelius launched SibeliusMusic Stores, which allows users to set up a personalized area for their music within the main website. SibeliusMusic.com now has over 42,000 subscribers and around 350,000 score views on average every month.

Recently, the site was instrumental in the publishing of the first complete opera for downloading, printing and purchase online. The new critical edition of Il Barbiere di Siviglia, by Brad Cohen, was premièred in London in April 2004 by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. The most popular arias and excerpts from the opera are available to download in full score, orchestral parts, and vocal score versions. The edition itself is based on Rossini’s autograph manuscript, and a Critical Commentary is also available online.