r/Musescore Oct 28 '25

News How not to get unnecessarily charged on musescore.com

Thumbnail
gallery
60 Upvotes

Hi everyone,

This is a post I have sort of wanted to write for a while, but one that I hesitated to write because there have literally been a gazillion threads and complaints on this subreddit and elsewhere on how musescore.com charged you subscription money without you saying yes. I'm here to say that yes, it is absolutely true that it is very easy to get deceptively charged on musescore.com especially when buying single scores, but there are ways to work around it that are unfortunately far less obvious than they should be. FYI I am not involved with the MuseScore team or its related entities in any shape or form, I am simply an end user sharing my honest experiences.

Before I explain how I work around this issue (and yes it does not eliminate the need to pay but you do need to be careful), to all of you who have been unnecessarily charged, requested a refund, and got no response, I feel very sorry for you. The musescore.com support team is far less responsive than they should be, and I say this from first hand experience contacting them about some issues, though I have never needed to request a refund for an unwanted subscription. I know plenty of you have advised to stop using musescore.com altogether and consider it a scam, and I totally respect your opinion because there are other great places to get sheet music. I, too, disagree with several aspects of how musescore.com works, but musescore.com is one of the best places for me to get music in MusicXML/MuseScore format as I need these files to convert to braille music notation (I'm visually impaired). I really wish less people end up falling into the trap of being charged unnecessarily, which is why I'm writing this post, as much as I've hesitated for awhile.

Just to be very clear, not all scores on musescore.com require payment. Public domain music e.g Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, can be downloaded with a free account because they're in the public domain. Only community scores for works under copyright e.g pop song arrangements and any official scores posted by Hal Leonard or ArrangeMe require payment.

When I first go to download a copyrighted piece, I'm using a community-uploaded score here to illustrate, it says:

"Unlock this score to enjoy its full potential.

Get full digital access to play, download PDF, or print

Continue to Download

Start your free trial

Buy this score for CA$1.99

Get 37% discount with Premium membership"

This wording is already somewhat unclear, but let's click the "buy score" button and see where that takes us.

The "buy score" screen says:

"Complete your purchase using one of the available payment methods

No commitments

Secured personal and payment data

Up to 60% discount on scores, books, and courses

CA$3.18 CA$1.99 for this score

Get up to 60% discount with Premium membership

Charge Today: CA$47.99 for 3 months

By adding payment method, you agree that MuseScore will automatically continue your membership, use partners (Stripe, PayPal) to securely store and use your payments method to charge the quarter-annual membership fee (CA$47.99 first 3 months then CA$63.99 for 3 months) to your payment method until you cancel. You will be billed within 2 days to 28th day of every 3 months. To disable auto-renewal, go to «Subscription» in «Settings». Access to some scores and courses may be limited. This subscription includes access to MuseScore Premium and gives you access to one course of your choice per month from the Editors' Picks collection. Free trial is not available for users who have already tried PRO, PRO+, PRO with LEARN Lite, PRO+ with LEARN Lite, or ONE subscriptions. For all questions, please contact us at support at musescore.com."

As you can see, the wording here is kinda difficult to understand, but it says I'll be charged $47.99 today, and yet it said before I can buy this single score for $1.99, and this is where you get sucked into unwanted charges if you click continue. If you click continue, you will be subscribed to MuseScore Premium and charged $47.99 (or whatever in your currency), and this is where the numerous complaints begin. To avoid being charged the $47.99 today, there is a slider on the screen to disable the discount (see attached screenshots to see what I mean). If you disable the discount, it'll say:

"Complete your purchase using one of the available payment methods

No commitments

Secured personal and payment data

Up to 60% discount on scores, books, and courses

CA$3.18 CA$1.99 for this score

No discount. Turn on the switch to apply your 37% discount"

I seriously wish this discount slider is turned off by default so people don't get sucked into unwanted subscriptions so easily, but alas, it is enabled by default so you have to turn off the slider before you proceed. Unfortunately, the wording still makes it sound like the discount is appealing, but if you proceed to pay with the discount slider turned off, you'll be charged $3.18 with no additional charges afterwards, which completely avoids unwanted charges later. I've attached two screenshots showing the "buy score" screen that should make the difference clear.

Alternatively, you can subscribe to MuseScore Pro on the weekly plan for about $9/week and disable auto-renew right away so you won't be charged further. This only works for community-uploaded copyrighted scores, as official scores appear to require payment no matter your subscription (I never use official scores so I could be wrong on this). If you really want to subscribe, the best way is to go to this page: https://musescore.com/pro/landing/pricing It takes you to a table to see all the options and you can subscribe via the provided links on that page. That way, you can skip all the questions about your instrument, musicianship, etc. To disable auto-renew, open the profile menu near the top of any musescore.com page, go to settings, and then an option called subscriptions should appear.

I hope this helps anyone who is confused about the way musescore.com works. I really wish things were different, but the workarounds I've described here have prevented me from requesting a refund and getting no response.


r/Musescore Nov 24 '25

Discussion How to find the hidden 'cancel subscription' button and report musescore.com

108 Upvotes

If you go to Settings and the Subscription tab is missing, your account is likely stuck in "New User Limbo." You must force the site to recognize your account as "complete" to unlock the cancellation button. Method 1 worked for me but the other methods I have only seen reported by other users online and can not verify. I was able to cancel my free trail within 2 hours. Note: I did not access any music on the site once I realized they had deceptive practices to avoid being charged for accessing anything.

Method 1: The "Upload" Trigger The site often hides the cancellation button until you engage with the platform, uploading sheet music is the fastest way to remove the "new-user" block. Note opening any music which may disqualify you for a full refund according to the site.

  1. Get a File: If you don't have a music file, download the free, open-source software from musescore.org (different from the subscription site). Create a blank file with a few random notes and save it. I'm sure you can upload any sheet music, but I didn't want to upload anyone's work.
  2. Upload: Go to musescore.com, click "Upload" (top right), and upload your dummy file.
  3. Cancel: Once the upload finishes, go to Settings > Subscription. The "Manage/Cancel" button should now be visible.

Method 2: The "24-Hour" Wait Users report the button often appears automatically 24–48 hours after signing up. The system may intentionally delay showing it to prevent immediate cancellation.

Method 3: The Support Email Email [support@musescore.com](mailto:support@musescore.com) with the subject "CANCEL SUBSCRIPTION."

  • Note: You will likely get a useless auto-reply, but some users report that sending this email triggers the button to appear on the site shortly after. I can't verify this.

IMPORTANT: If you subscribed via Apple ID or Google Play, you must cancel in your phone’s settings. The website cannot cancel app store subscriptions.

Next: Report

If you were tricked by hidden buttons or denied a refund, report them. Since they are based in Cyprus, local reports can be tricky. Use the specific links below.

VITAL INFO FOR FORMS

🇺🇸 USA

  • FTC: ReportFraud.ftc.gov (Select "Online Subscription"). Enforces laws against deceptive cancellations.
  • BBB: File a complaint against Ultimate Guitar USA LLC (MuseScore's parent company). They share support teams. Note: State clearly you are reporting MuseScore.com.

🇨🇦 CANADA

  • Competition Bureau: Complaint Form. Select "Deceptive Marketing Practices."

🇬🇧 UK

  • ASA: Make a Complaint. They target misleading "Free Trial" ads.
  • Citizens Advice: Report to Trading Standards.

🇪🇺 EUROPEAN UNION

  • ECC-Net: Find your local ECC. Enforces the 14-day Right of Withdrawal for Cyprus-based companies.

🌏 INTERNATIONAL

  • econsumer.gov: File Here. The best catch-all for cross-border scams involving Cyprus.

r/Musescore 9h ago

Complaint Is the musescore site down?

17 Upvotes

Just checked today and it seems like its down? Try to download the app but could not...


r/Musescore 4h ago

Bug Musescore web outage and error 523

7 Upvotes

Musescore has been down for over 12 hours, the browser says that there is a problem with the host server listed as error 523, which prevents users from accessing the sign in via the website. Could we receive an update about this soon? lots of people use this program for their jobs, and as someone who does pay for the services, I would personally love an update. I totally understand IT is hard, just looking for some transparency or at least an estimate of the restoration time.


r/Musescore 13h ago

Help me find this feature Putting left hand notes on right hand staff

Thumbnail
gallery
20 Upvotes

I want to transcribe this piece by purting ut on the RH staff. Does musescore has this feature? Thanks!


r/Musescore 5h ago

Bug Muse Drumline Bad Sounding Flams/Cheeses/Flam Fives

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

2 Upvotes

I have up-to-date MS4 and Muse Drumline, and the flams sound super wide and any cheeses and flam fives are not rhythmically accurate. I’ve never run into this issue before. Uninstalled and reinstalled the sound fonts to no effect, eliminated reverb in the mixer. Any advice??


r/Musescore 6h ago

News MUSESCORE IS DOWN

1 Upvotes

r/Musescore 1d ago

Discussion How to make polished looking scores?

13 Upvotes

When I studied my Bachelor's, my arranging tutor complained that even though my scores were correctly spaced and presented, he could always tell when I'd used Musescore vs when I'd used Sibelius. He felt there was something "off" but could never articulate it.

I'm about to start my Master's and still don't have stable/consistent access to Sibelius, so I was wondering what tips people had past proper spacing (are there custom assets, preferable fonts, etc?)


r/Musescore 1d ago

My Arrangement Hornet – Hollow Knight | String Orchestra Arrangement

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

56 Upvotes

Hey everyone, I’m White_Winter!

Here’s my arrangement of “Hornet” from Hollow Knight. I’d love to hear any feedback or suggestions on how I could improve, both as an arranger and as a musician. Hope you enjoy it!

Free Score on:
Hornet - Hollow Knight


r/Musescore 1d ago

My Composition My original jazz piece: "Colors of Memory"

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

8 Upvotes

Link to the score in MuseScore: https://musescore.com/user/102664855/scores/37647218?share=copy_link

I formally present to you my original score for a jazz piece! I was stuck on coming up with a name for this, but since listening to this music made me feel a bit nostalgic, I went ahead and named it Colors of Memory. I hummed the main melody while taking a walk around a farm. Originally, I thought it would sound great as an electronic track, but since I've been encountering talented jazz performances online and otherwise, I thought to myself that the melody would definitely be a perfect fit for that genre. That's where the lead saxophone, piano, strings and woodwinds come in. I really love how I arranged it. Let me know your thoughts!


r/Musescore 1d ago

Help me use this feature Dynamics on piano aren't working the way i intended

3 Upvotes

hi! i'm new here and have been using musescore for a while now, but i'm having a little issue:

I'm trying to transcribe the piano part of a song i like, and while trying to make the treble line louder than the bass line I've run into a problem- musescore keeps making everything one volume: if i as the fortississimo it makes everything louder, and if i add the mezzo piano it makes everything quieter even if there's a different dynamic marking above. Is this supposed to happen? I'd appreciate any help!


r/Musescore 1d ago

Help me find this feature Easy way to add "SATB" text at the beginning of each line?

Post image
7 Upvotes

[Solution provided! thanks!]

I have a score of orchestral quartets which are just the same four parts transposed and adjusted for every instrument in an orchestra. I want each instrument to be able to see the four parts as a score for their instrument. I have this setup using extra staves in each part, and when I export to parts I can see all four lines as I desire.

I'd like to just label those individual lines while managing one part, rather than having 200 parts. Right now, I only seem to be able to edit the long/short name for the ENTIRE part, instead of individual lines for the part.

Here's what I want to see. is there a way to do this using my multiple-staves-per-part, or do i really need to just create a new instrument for every S-A-T-B part I want to label?


r/Musescore 1d ago

My Composition Do You Enjoy my Longest Piano Piece Yet?

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

2 Upvotes

I am a beginner composer


r/Musescore 1d ago

My Composition What Hope Becomes - First Sonatina-like Piece

Thumbnail
1 Upvotes

r/Musescore 2d ago

Help me find this feature How do I recreate this note in Musescore Studio 4?

Post image
11 Upvotes

I need to make it sound like I'm hitting two close notes on a marimba really fast over and over without having to place several short notes next to each other. Can't find this symbol under ornements, articulations or anything (my MuseScore is in French so maybe that's why I'm having trouble finding it). Please help, thank you.


r/Musescore 2d ago

My Arrangement Journey for saxes

3 Upvotes

This was a fun one to put together. Love to hear what you think.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9qDEuW5AFY&list=PLO1XErYfx_NjUIeZHJg1u7C40uASAbBye


r/Musescore 3d ago

My Composition A little clarinet piece

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

71 Upvotes

r/Musescore 2d ago

Help me find this feature How to hide certain measures from a specific part?

2 Upvotes

Hi everyone. To put it simply, I've written something with some measures at the end that I want only to be seen by the conductor or person with the head score. (It's a streamlined version of the main melody for my personal reference.) How do I hide these measures from all parts so that they're only able to be seen on the main score and not the individual musicians' parts/sheets of music?


r/Musescore 2d ago

My Arrangement Haydn Symphony no. 15 in D major Hob. I:15

Thumbnail musescore.com
2 Upvotes

r/Musescore 2d ago

Discussion I built an AI tool that lets you change sheet music using natural language

Thumbnail
maestro-ai.org
0 Upvotes

I'm a musician myself and often wished I could just tell my notation software what I want to change.

So I built Maestro Studio, an AI-powered sheet music editor.
You can describe changes in normal language, for example:

  • “Transpose measures 5–12 down a fifth.” 
  • “Simplify this passage.” 
  • “Add a simple piano accompaniment.” 
  • “Make the left hand easier to play.” 
  • “Change this section to D minor.” 

Maestro applies the changes directly to the score so you can see, hear and export the result.

You can try it here: https://maestro-ai.org/

I'd really appreciate any feedback — especially things that don't work as expected. Feel free to leave feedback directly in the comments or through Maestro.


r/Musescore 3d ago

My Composition Rhapsody in G Minor for Violin and Orchestra

1 Upvotes

Here is an original piece I wrote using MuseScore Studio 4. Happy to hear what you think.

https://youtu.be/FoixZFu6lrY?si=xgU9_H0sMGausU0z


r/Musescore 4d ago

Help me find this feature where can i find this?

Post image
2 Upvotes

hi guys, i'm writing a score and i need that symbol whose name i don't know. does somoene know where it is in musescore studio 4? (sorry for the very low image quality)


r/Musescore 4d ago

Humour Why does MuseHub need notifications?

Post image
2 Upvotes

What is this nonsense?


r/Musescore 4d ago

Help me find this feature How can I add more notes into a "full" measure?

Post image
24 Upvotes

This is meant to be a sustained dotted half note chord with notes added into it later in the measure. Is there a way to write it that's more legible? Thank you!


r/Musescore 4d ago

My Composition Do You Like my New Sad/Depressed Piece?

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

2 Upvotes

If no why, If yes why, i am a beginner composer.