On 22 Aug 2004, at 08:28 AM, dhbailey wrote:
I wouldn't be surprised to find (although I can't prove this and it is purely conjecture) that Sibelius is offering better deals to school labs, and I also wouldn't be surprised to find that Sibelius is sending free copies to undecided music teachers who are in charge of school labs, just to win the contract.
I don't know if the specifics above are true or not, but the gist of what you say is absolutely true. Sibelius has VERY, VERY, VERY aggressive and effective marketing. They are constantly sending reps out to try to set up demonstrations in schools, music festivals, band camps, etc. They are persistent, too -- they're constantly calling up BMI asking "Is there anything we can do for the Music Theater Workshop? Is there anything we can do for the Jazz Composers Workshop?"
Finale has to work harder to ensure that the notation software young musicians use first is Finale
Yes.
and they should leave off on their silly SmartMusic product!
Absolutely not. SmartMusic has been a huge financial success for Coda.
MakeMusic's own press release on their finances admits that Finale is a relatively high-margin product, so why are they spending so much energy on the lower-margin SmartMusic?
Because it's a largely untapped market that they have mostly to themselves. Also see the Finale-SmartMusic integration in Fin2005.
even to the point of sending around clinicians (I'm available Makemusic, are you listening?) to teach the teachers how to use the product and to offer to teach a class or two as an outside expert.
Yes.
It worked for Apple computers, and it appears to be working for Sibelius.
Apple doesn't give away the store for free, and I don't think Finale ought to do that either. However, they *do* set up some pretty sweet deals for bulk buys, though -- I think it's Duke that bought tens of thousands of iPods to distribute to every freshman? I would hope that the Coda reps are aggressively trying to persuade schools to buy up thousands of Finale licenses -- to give away to their students, or to sell at a steep discount (far below the regular educational price).
- Darcy ----- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Brooklyn, NY
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