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Where do you go to buy sheet music for piano in 2024? A vast array of digital platforms offer everything from classical masterpieces to modern pop hits and sacred music. In this article I’m going to cover some of the popular websites and why you might choose to use one over another. I am not receiving any kickback or sponsorships from these websites, and am listing them in alphabetical order. Amazon Yes, your go-to website for everything from a recurring delivery of grapenuts to enormous halloween lawn decorations also sells sheet music. I have bought a lot of print books of sacred and popular piano collections from Amazon, and many of them are also available in Kindle edition. Many pianists I know like to use a separate PDF app to organize their digital sheet music, so if that is a requirement, you might want to steer clear of buying Kindle editions as there is usually digital rights management in place that will prevent you from using the music in another app. Furthermore, other platforms have an app specifically designed for organizing, transposing, and practicing your music. If you’re not sure what you’re looking for and want to filter by, say, musical genre, or instrument, you’ll find Amazon’s filters disappointing. But a quick search should give you some solid options from major music publishers, and self-published volumes (such as my Piano at Daybreak series) can be found as well. Pros:
Individual composer or arranger websites Now, I feel a little selfish including this, but if you come across music by an artist that you have come to like, check to see if they have a website where they sell their music. It’s an extra step, but it may be mutually beneficial: there’s a good chance that they can keep a higher percentage of the payment, and you might save money yourself. The other distribution platforms in this article might be taking 50% off the profit to cover the distribution costs, and might also be setting minimum prices regardless of how long or difficult the piece is. For my website, I pay a yearly fee, but keep 100% of digital music sales. However there’s a little problem called “discovery” that I haven’t quite overcome despite my frequent posts on social media platforms. So, at the moment, I’m earning more from other platforms, but if people purchased music directly on my site instead, they would get much better value. Pros:
IMSLP (International Music Score Library Project) Ok, I said this article would be about buying music, but I feel obligated to mention IMSLP because I see a lot of classical and otherwise public domain sheet music for sale on other platforms that can be found for free on this site. Note that they follow Canadian copyright law, so you’ll want to make sure the piece is in the public domain in your own country before downloading it. That said, pieces by long-dead composers such as Mozart, Beethoven, and Pachelbel are safely in the public domain everywhere, so this is the place to go for the classics. While pretty much everything here is free, there is a subscription tier to cut down the wait time on your download, among other benefits. There is also an app if you’d like to manage your pieces here, but everything I have seen is also available as a PDF to download. Pros:
Cons
Musescore Musescore is a free and open-source music notation software, but there is also an active community of users contributing their own arrangements. Music can be downloaded as PDFs, or accessed through the Musescore app, which lets you transpose the music and make use of practice assistance. As of this writing they have over 1.6 million piano arrangements! Quality will vary in any platform with user-contributed content, but using the filters and looking at the user ratings will help you narrow down your search. In addition to since pieces, they have recently added a songbooks section. If you’re looking to improve your craft, try out the video courses. Subscription pricing is between $65 and $85, but depending on when you look there might be a deal to take advantage of. Pros:
Musicnotes Musicnotes started in 1998, and at the time of writing they have over 150,000 works for piano available, which is a bit less than other platforms. But they have staff-edited transpositions and music by major publishers as well as self-published music (including mine!) The Pro membership for $15/year will get you discounts off of your purchases and unlock the sync feature in the app across your devices, and the Premium tier adds on free music and credits for $50/year. One thing I found interesting is the app is available on Mac, Windows, iOS and Android, as well as in a web app. And, the AirTurn pedal will still let you turn pages in the web app! Pros
Noteflight Noteflight is an online music notation program and with a library of music on the smaller side - about 103,000 piano pieces currently. The few pieces I looked at were sloppily notated, so I wouldn’t bother spending much time here as music sales does not seem to be their focus. But, I’m sure things will improve over time. Pros
Sheet Music Plus and Sheet Music Direct Sheet Music Plus is a global retailer that has been around since 1997, so there’s a good chance you’ve already used it if you have bought sheet music for piano before, be it digital or print. They have almost one million pieces for piano in their catalog with more than half of that in digital format, so it’s a great place to buy collections and individual pieces. Pros:
Sheet Music Direct is the younger and cooler sibling of Sheet Music Plus. It has a similar catalog but offers a sleeker website and digital pass subscription. So if you use a lot of music, this is probably the best value you can find. The Sheet Music Direct app lets you transpose the arrangements, and you can add your own PDFs. Pros
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AuthorIan Good is a published composer and arranger. ArchivesCategories |
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