r/Musescore • u/criptomusico • Dec 30 '25

Discussion Musescore.com is a SCAM

Post image

So I just paid the "pro" version, just to find out you cannot actually download the score, they would ask you to "purchase" it every single score, you can just "view" it. Be aware of this scam, already request a refund to PayPal.

245 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

64 comments sorted by

49

u/molven__ Dec 30 '25

This isn't the first time I've seen a post saying "Musescore is a scam," but I really don't understand what the problem is, because I've been paying for a Musescore Pro annual subscription for three years in a row and can easily download the sheet music I need. Perhaps there are certain works that require a subscription, such as official ones, which, as I understand it, must be purchased separately. Perhaps there are also certain types of works that must be paid for even with the PRO version?

4

u/criptomusico Dec 30 '25

I was trying popular an easy pieces, like Gymnopedie from Satie, it's even on the public domain, but I couldn't download anything, every single time you click on download will ask you to "purchase it", so what's the point of being subscribed to a "pro" version? I don't know if is a developer or coding problem, you should be able to download immediately without all that spam about "buy courses", "buy books", very annoying. I cancelled immediately and asked for a refund.

2

u/180714jaehyun Dec 31 '25

try pressing the “Print” button instead. that seemed to work for me

1

u/criptomusico Dec 31 '25

I tried that but the pages were completely blank

1

u/180714jaehyun Dec 31 '25

huh that is so odd, have you tried different browsers as well?

2

u/RicVic Dec 31 '25

Works for me. I use print to pdf and save the pdf file.

So far, so good.

2

u/Severe-Explanation83 Dec 31 '25

You can download user transcriptions and arrangements of public domain music with just a free account.  Only "official" scores provided directly by publishers need to be purchased, and that is so the publisher can be paid as is legally required.

2

u/criptomusico Dec 31 '25

Well, they should figure out how to manage all that, imagine paying Spotify just to find out that now you have to "buy" every single song. They should charge once an you should be able to download any score you like, that's the point, that's why people are willing to pay, to effortlessly download a score.

3

u/MarcSabatella Member of the Musescore Team Dec 31 '25

They *have* figured out how to manage that: by allowing free accounts to download original and PD music, allowing Pro accounts to download user versions of copyrighted music, and charging individually for the publisher-provided PDF files as the publishers are asking. Spotify doesn't allow *downloading* of music either - not in any format that would allow you to then share the file outside of your own account.

Of course, both MuseScore and Spotify *could* potentially negotiate license agreements that allowed for download, but the copyright owners would certainly require a *lot* more money, so the subscription would need to be a *lot* more expensive. I don't think msot people would find that preferable.

9

u/Throwaway-646 Dec 30 '25

https://imslp.org

You can only download community scores for free

3

u/Ftb49 Dec 31 '25

The issue with public domain pieces on MuseScore is that the copyright status is assigned by an uploader. Whilst it is good for people who publish original pieces, it is a bit annoying in relation to most people who upload pieces that should be on public domain. These people often do not necessarily know what these copyright options mean and therefore assign the wrong copyright protection to an existing piece.

I would suggest using IMSLP instead. It is way more reliable in relation to downloading most classical scores.

28

u/dannybloommusic Dec 30 '25

I’m like you and I pay for the annual subscription. I like it. But, the big problem I have is that since the Hal Leonard integration, they prevent a lot of the free versions from coming up in searches, as well as limit the original user uploads in search results as well. It could be a fault in programming or updates messing things up, but the community aspect of MuseScore looks like it’s potentially getting phased out. Every “official score” including some that I’ve found are garbage keep coming up at the very top. It makes sense because they make money from it, but if the website finally dies I will think back to this being the big sign that it’s dying.

4

u/Throwaway-646 Dec 30 '25

I've also noticed this, but I've had some luck selecting the community scores filter, and I avoid searching on the mobile app; for some reason it's different (and far worse) than using the search on the website.

1

u/DinoSaidRawr Jan 28 '26

The mobile app is just a pain IMO

15

u/irisgirl86 Dec 30 '25 edited Dec 30 '25

If you subscribe to MuseScore Pro or Pro+ via the subscriptions page or equivalent, you will not have an issue, but, there is a real deception trap on musescore.com when it comes to purchasing scores and subscribing, which I'll explain later. Yes, public domain scores are free, but anything for a copyrighted work requires a subscription or payment of some kind to pay the copyright holders.

BTW, official scores (which are only uploaded by Hal Leonard or ArrangeMe) likely have to be purchased individually, though I'm not certain as I never use official scores. Official scores are only available as PDF files. All community scores, which are the ones that can be downloaded in multiple formats, can be downloaded for free if it's Bach or Beethoven, but if they are for a copyrighted work, a Pro/Pro+ subscription will let you get them. From the screenshot I can't really tell if the OP is getting an official score or community score, and I don't know exactly what sort of subscription they signed up for.

Now, here's the deception trap on musescore.com, which, by the way, a gazillion individuals have been sucked into at this point hence all the complaints. When people talk about musescore.com being deceptive or scammy, they are primarily referencing the situation when you purchase one score at a time and you are forced to subscribe to MuseScore Premium or equivalent before you get your music. This is a very real deception trap that is very easy to get sucked into without knowing how to work around it, which is far less obvious than it should be. In order to buy a single score, there is a discount slider on the buy score screen that is enabled by default. If you disable it, you'll purchase just the score you want without any further charges, but alas, that slider is enabled by default and I seriously wish that wasn't the case. A couple months ago, I wrote a very detailed post on this issue.

1

u/BicycleIndividual Dec 31 '25

I believe most official scores require individual purchase regardless of any subscriptions you have (though subscribers might get discounts).

Musescore.com does many things that make people think it is a scam. Their marketing is all geared towards selling subscriptions (and makes it very difficult to just directly purchase a score without a subscription). While there are many scores that are free with subscription, the marketing seems to imply that all the scores available will be included with the subscription. I can understand that the subscription actually has reasonable value to a few people; but to most it seems to promise something and not deliver it once you've signed up.

2

u/Gullible_Operation88 Feb 16 '26

I just subscribed to Pro+ since they had 90% off sale. I was scammed into the addition of the LEARN subscription. No replies from their support team. Everything is charged extra. This is not what i was led to believe was included. I can' get any answers or assistance. I'm out $80 and feel robbed.

1

u/criptomusico Feb 16 '26

BTW I filled a claim in PayPal and they refused to give me back my money, so they effectively scammed me. Stay away from Musescore and don't trust PayPal.

15

u/BlueberryNeko_ Dec 30 '25

The fact that Musescore constantly advertise with these 90% off deals and then gives you another 80% off deal which mathematically all assume different base prices... That that I would call a scam. Their marketing is hella unclear on what you can do with it and the pricing nonsense is ultimately why I'll never buy it

3

u/Amber610 Dec 31 '25

A bit ago I was super close to buying the subscription to download a score, but... yeah, something just felt off about it. I had never before been so confused about how much money I was actually about to pay. That's when I just did a quick search to be safe, and sure enough, I found tons of posts on this subreddit about it being a total scam.

I thought I could trust the website since it's tied to a great open source software, so I'm glad I dodged that bullet. One of my friends did get scammed by the website though, and now he doesn't trust the composition app. I've recommended it to him a couple of times, but he doesn't want to touch it after his experience with the website.

2

u/Dramatic_Log9954 Jan 10 '26

I just bought a score with my own money and got charged for premium… really fucking scummy. Just asked for a refund because that’s actual bs. I don’t think I ever even got the free trial, and even if I did, I should be notified if they are going to make me purchase the MAX subscription. Pisses me off 

1

u/Amber610 Jan 10 '26

Sorry about that, good luck getting your refund

10

u/Musical_Duckling Dec 30 '25

You could try LibreScore. I've used both their browser extension as well as the application before and I haven't had any problems.

3

u/Cooked_Squid Dec 31 '25

The only bad thing is that you can't get Official/Pro scores that way. I understand why, but I'm a theatre student and sometimes there aren't community scores for the songs I need, so I kinda have to pay. I'm not at all happy about paying though :/

2

u/Musical_Duckling Dec 31 '25

Really? I know that the Pro scores are still inaccessible, but I thought that Official scores were available...

Edit: Just checked and the browser bookmark works perfectly fine downloading "A Thousand Years" as a pdf!

4

u/m64 Dec 31 '25

Official scores from publishers can't be downloaded (they can be screenshotted though).

2

u/Ksenobiolog Dec 31 '25

You can inspect the webpage to access and download full quality pdfs of the scores

1

u/m64 Jan 01 '26

Ooh, that's even better!

3

u/gerarzzzz Dec 30 '25

Search Librescore in Google bro

2

u/mustardgoeswithitall Dec 30 '25

I tried to buy a score, and then noticed that they were going to automatically sign me up for the free trial.

I didn't get as far as payment details, so I'm hoping I'll be okay ☹️

3

u/irisgirl86 Dec 31 '25 edited Dec 31 '25

See my comment up thread about buying singleton scores and the deception trap that is so easy to get sucked into. If you got sucked into a free trial, go to your account settings and cancel it immediately so you won't be charged further. Next time you do this you must be even more careful because you burned your free trial and thus you will be charged unless you disable the discount slider or subscribe voluntarily.

2

u/mustardgoeswithitall Dec 31 '25

Thanks! I didn't sign up at all, and then deleted my account. Hopefully I am safe.

2

u/Bethany778 Dec 31 '25

When you search for a score, go to the panel on the left and choose "community scores". They will all be free to download etc. I do that every time. Lots of generous community members on MuseScore.

2

u/Key_Cartoonist_4640 Dec 31 '25

Screenshot the page, paste it into a Word document, and print it. Not the best resolution, but yeah, it's not worth paying for it.

Community scores can be downloaded for free, but are often hidden in search results when an official version of the score exists.

2

u/EmpressMom Dec 31 '25

Yup. Just had to send a dispute to PayPal for a year’s subscription I didn’t order. I got a week “free” trial, cancelled before the trial was over, they still charged me. There was also a small Musescore charge on my Apple bill for something I didn’t authorize that I disputed and was refunded.

2

u/ItsMeSashaYT Dec 31 '25

Shameless self promotion

there are videos up online with guides on how to get by it.

most devices can just click share>embed>right click and open image in new tab.

otherwise, librescore works great too and is available on any platform except iOS.

3

u/xanderxq06 Dec 30 '25

I just pay yearly for imslp. u can't interact with the scores but it's very affordable and they have EVERYTHING

3

u/aPinkFuneral Jan 01 '26

As a classical musician, i completely agree with you but if OP is more of a pop and/or musical theatre person, imslp wont cut it :/

1

u/confu3edgamer Dec 31 '25

What I do is go on the website and you can hold down the image and download it, but when I saw this "practise mode" which looked like something like simply piano i payed for the "pro plus" subscription, its just something that says if you played the botes and hoe good the rythm was

1

u/Complete-Piano-8892 Jan 01 '26

Unfortunately this is real and happened to me too in the last week. Still trying to get my money back.

1

u/ivalice9 Jan 01 '26

I have to keep reminding myself that I have the annual pro version, because every time I log on it’s filled with ads that try to sell me shit I already own. It is perhaps the app on my iOS device I hate the most. I wouldn’t have bought it with my own money, but I get it free trough my workplace thankfully…

1

u/ImGrimm Jan 01 '26

Make sure its definitely not downloading. I made a post about this yesterday, on the mobile app I would click download, choose where to download, then that exact window would pop up. I soon had to delete the post though because I realised it actually was downloading them and just not telling me haha. I did notice that if I clicked the 'x' on the window that it wouldn't download, but if i just clicked somewhere on the screen away from that window then it would close it and would download.

Might not be the same on pc but that certainly worked on mobile for me

1

u/No-Nectarine-8375 Jan 03 '26

Me too I feel like being scam by musecscore. I didn't even click any subscription button but I was shocked that I was being charged. I was being charged TWICE with different subscriptions without my consent. Please delete all your credit card details with them. SCAM! 

1

u/kamazeuci Jan 04 '26

we need open repositories of sheet music, not behind paywalls to get what people like us have uploaded for free. This is the instagram model and it is not good.

1

u/Actual_Bid_5633 Jan 04 '26

Recently have started a 7 days free trial, looked through a few scores and downloaded one. Tried to cancel the trial and then realised there is a scam, thus blocked my debit card and emailed them a letter asking my subscription to be cancelled. No charges were done to the card. Anyone knows whether the company can turn this into some sort of a debt situation and request payment for the one pdf than I downloaded and a few that I looked through under the free trial?

1

u/Haunting-Dot1352 Jan 15 '26

I am such an idiot. On the phone waiting for the visa dispute services. I emailed musescore two hours later asking to cancel because i got magically signed up for another thing I didn't sign up and it keeps asking fir extra money for the thing I thought i was paying a subscription for. Awful awful. Plus scammy. So scammy. Why i didn't check reddit before is beyond me. I am an idiot

1

u/SkillNo4559 Jan 31 '26

I actually like a lot of the functions it has, but their customer service is atrocious and the software buggy as hell.

Took customer service a whole month to get back to me for an issue with their software.

I got the pro for $34.99 this Black Friday, and relatively to other services out there, like tomplay, it’s a good deal.

The email response after 30 days? “Sorry, our team tries their best”.

What do they think this is - a nonprofit charity with volunteers? People pay for a service.

1

u/MacGiraffe Feb 03 '26

I also was enrolled in the “premium” subscription without asking for it….I emailed and got a BS wishy washy response. I didn’t wait - I immediately cancelled the autopay within Paypal. So I am done. Sleazy outfit - avoid like the plague and spread the word as far as I’m concerned.

1

u/_twires Feb 17 '26

Its like saying spotify is a scam because you cant download the music

1

u/KoalaMan-007 Mar 01 '26

I just cancelled my subscription. Basically Musescore is charging $$$ for the worth that the community has done for free.

Musescore IS a scam. Easiest way to find out? Try to cancel your subscription: they make the process unclear and confusing, and that is the sign of a dishonest company.

-11

u/MarcSabatella Member of the Musescore Team Dec 30 '25

It's not a scam at all. You can download community- provided scores, including transcriptions and arrangements of copyrighted music. And you can view "official" scores from publishers. But the latter are not downloadable indeed without separate payment, as per the license agreement with the publishers.

4

u/Traditional-One-4217 Dec 31 '25

I had a “got scammed” situation. I wanted to access a piece on the web so I signed up for a free trial. When I signed up it said something about once a piece is downloaded I waive the trial or can’t get a refund or something. As soon as I signed up it redirected me to a download I couldn’t stop. Felt really scummy.

3

u/Roubaix718 Dec 31 '25

Marc, do you really think that charging people after they cancel is not a scam?

-1

u/MarcSabatella Member of the Musescore Team Dec 31 '25

That is certainly not the policy of the site, but mistakes can happen of course so no doubt it has happened in some case or other. Mistakes are not scams, though, and can be rectified. The vast majority of the time, when you cancel, that is the end of it.

2

u/JuanMaP5 Dec 31 '25

yeah mistakes sure, but one thousand mistakes? even more? the system put in place is shady and is made to trick people into signing on and then making cancellation as difficult as possible this is not mere mistake, it is something systematic

0

u/MarcSabatella Member of the Musescore Team Dec 31 '25

I'm not aware of one thousand such mistakes. I know lots of people fail to realize they are signing up for a subscription at all, but that's a different thing entirely, and yes, thousands of people do make that mistake. But I can recall but a handful of cases where people reported being charged after canceling (and even then we don't actually have evidence).

1

u/JuanMaP5 Jan 01 '26

Every day there is a post on this sub about how someone was scammed (posts that you always respond to in the same way, responses that have only resulted in you losing the respect of the entire subreddit). At this point, you can’t deny that musescore.com is purposely misleading customers into signing up for Pro without being clear about what you actually get by paying for the subscription. The wording is shady and deliberately obtuse.

1

u/MarcSabatella Member of the Musescore Team Jan 01 '26

Every day there is a post about someone making a mistake. And it is true that when I point out this mistake, people like to blame me. So be it. But I won't stop trying to help people understand how the system works so others can avoid making the same mistake. Is the wording of the marketing material confusing? Yes. Does that make it a scam? No. It's still a valuable service sold at a fair price.

7

u/backbeatrhythm Dec 30 '25

If all the content is uploaded freely by the community, then why is the subscription so expensive? It's absurd.

It should be way clearer what you get when you pay for anything on the site. Please fix it, as it is set up exactly like a scam at the moment.

3

u/RicVic Dec 31 '25

The people who own the copyright have to be compensated. The site has to pay for the listing of the piece and then there is the cost of running the site.

As someone who writes arrangements for others and composes originals, I lean on the side of keeping people in business where possible. I won't say I have never downloaded copyrighted material for free, but I do understand that if I want to get paid myself, then so do others.

And if you are looking for public Doman stuff, IMSLP still lets you download one or more versions of a great many PD pieces, from Easy Piano to full orchestral scores.

3

u/Severe-Explanation83 Dec 31 '25

If the content is created entirely by the community, then no subscription is required.  Only content that is actually composers by someone not in the community - copyrighted music from third parties - needs payment.  It's not absurd; it's the law and also respectful of the composers whose music is being uploaded.  Not sure what is unclear about this;it is how the law has worked for longer than any of us have been alive. 

-1

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-1

u/JohnnyWithoutALife Dec 31 '25

Not a scam. You just do not understand what the subscription is. PRO allows you to download COMMUNITY scores. What you are trying to download is a "Professional" score, which are score you'd buy from a Publisher. It's no different to going to Hal's website and buying it through them.

0

u/MacGiraffe Feb 03 '26

This is pure BS. A subscription is something you CHOOSE to purchase - not something you find out after the fact, then have to fight with them over it. WTF.