Hal Leonard (the legendary sheet music and educational publisher) has joined digital leader Muse Group in a partnership set to revolutionize access to popular music and creator tools for musicians worldwide. And as makers of the world’s most popular online libraries, tools, and community spaces for audio creators, including MuseScore, Ultimate Guitar, and Audacity. This partnership further drives Muse Group’s position as an industry leader in music content and creation. Muse Group and Hal Leonard will retain their respective HQs in the USA and Cyprus, as well as distinct operational expertise.
This is supported by a growth investment by Francisco Partners, a key investor in industry giants including Kobalt Music and Native Instruments. And this agreement marks the next step in a close, long-standing partnership between Muse Group and Hal Leonard. Both companies share a vision to provide unparalleled access to the best content and resources for the passionate, global community of everyday music makers, educators, and learners.
Along with a major catalog of premier educational and classical music, Hal Leonard’s licensed arrangements include the world’s most iconic artists and scores, from Taylor Swift and The Beatles to John Williams and Disney soundtracks. Combined with more than 3 million expert and community-created tabs and compositions on Muse Group’s Ultimate Guitar and MuseScore, the joint business now includes a content library of over 5.5 million scores, tabs, books, video courses, backing tracks, and presets.
Musicians can now look forward to learning more from Hal Leonard’s high-quality arrangements and top-selling content in digitized, interactive formats on Muse platforms. With more than 300 million annual visitors and over 40 million accounts on Ultimate Guitar and MuseScore alone, a whole new global audience will discover Hal Leonard’s library.
Muse Group is also bringing significant creator software and technical innovation to Hal Leonard’s digital offerings. And Flagship Muse Group achievements include the award-winning, open-source MuseScore 4 notation app, cutting-edge Muse Sounds playback presets, plus StaffPad’s new machine-learning ‘Piano Capture’ composition tool. In addition to their invaluable licensing and arranging experience, the considerable educational expertise of the Hal Leonard team will provide impetus to expand Muse Group’s offering to music learners of all skill levels further through both crafted curriculums and pioneering AI-powered tools.
The Hal Leonard name and legacy as a cornerstone of music education for millions will continue, and all Hal Leonard employees will continue in their current roles. And the newly expanded Muse Group remains committed to continuing Hal Leonard’s valued partnerships with educators, retailers, distributors, suppliers, content creators, and license holders that serve the global music community.
Both Hal Leonard and Muse Group are historic trailblazers in the music industry. And Hal Leonard transformed print music publishing in the 1940s by providing arrangements of popular songs to school bands for the first time. For example, Ultimate Guitar (the forerunner of Muse Group) sparked a similar revolution in the late 1990s by providing easily accessible tabs to guitarists in the internet’s formative era. Muse Group and Hal Leonard are thrilled to continue pioneering new solutions for creatives, music makers, and learners as partners in the future.
KEY QUOTES:
“Our passion for improving the lives of all musicians has always been at the heart of Muse Group — and we’re immensely excited to partner with the Hal Leonard team who share that passion.”
— Eugeny Naidenov, Muse Group CEO
“This partnership will create more music makers worldwide and will lead to even more advances in music education technology, while also expanding ways creators and rights holders can make their musical works more widely available. Hal Leonard and Muse have been working closely together for over fifteen years and have built trust and mutual respect over that time. Combining the strengths of both companies is a truly exciting prospect, full of potential ways to grow the music industry in new directions.”
— Larry Morton, Hal Leonard’s Chairman
