Makers of Finale Music Notation Software Backtrack on Shutting Down New Activations as Development Ends

As BroadwayWorld previously reported, MakeMusic (formerly known as Coda Music Technologies) announced earlier this week that effective immediately the music notation program known as Finale would shut down operations. The company will begin selling Dorico, a product made by Steinberg, a subsidiary of Yamaha - who also make a popular music making software called Cubase.

The company announced it would no longer release any updates for Finale or its associated tools (PrintMusic, Notepad, Songwriter), and by August 2025 it would be impossible to install or authorize finale on any new devices.

After immense backlash from the music industry, the company has relented and said that they are working on a way for activations of Finale to continue beyond a year - allowing for those with extensive archives of thousands of files to continue to access them.

The company has also announced they are working on a solution for those who upgrade to Dorico to access the latest version - Finale 27 - if they are using an older version, so that they may get the full life of the current edition for as long as it will run on a user's operating system.

The news of the shutdown shocked the industry, in which Finale was the standard for decades for crisp, computerized music notation. The software also allows users to play back their creations in real time using synthesized instruments. Those who have been in the business for decades could have upwards of thousands of files stores in a proprietary Finale format that they would have to figure out how to port to a new program.

While Finale is able to export files as midi or MusicXML, much of the original work and typesetting would be lost in translation to new software.

Still, expanding access to Finale 27 and extending the activation period will allow for a slightly easier transition - though the outlook for dedicated Finale users is still fairly bleak as they figure out which solutions to migrate to and begin the work of converting all their files.