“You’re leaving a lot of money on the table!”
That’s what the president of one of the biggest music publishers said to me seven years ago when I explained what a studio license was. If I had been quicker, I would have said:
“Yes. But we’re leaving it on the table for the teacher!”
Because the truth is: Yes! There is a lot of money that we could make if we sold books and sheets over and over again instead of selling a studio license only one time. But the studio license business model not only works for me, but it also works for the teacher. And isn’t that a win-win? Isn’t it possible in the business world that we can all be happy with something that financially benefits both of us?
The wonderful thing though is that not only does it work for the teacher, it’s actually a much, much better deal for the teacher and saves you hundreds if not thousands of dollars over your lifetime of teaching!
Let me explain.
What is the Studio License?
First, it’s important to know that the Studio License is a license that you get with each piece* on ComposeCreate that licenses you to use that particular piece with any number of students, provided you are the only one teaching the piece. Additional teachers wanting to teach the piece would need their own studio license.
So that means you can buy the piece just one time and use the piece 5 times, 10 times, 20, times, 100 times…as many times as you need as long as you are the only one teaching it to a student!
Our pieces are provided as high quality, professionally engraved PDFs and come to you in your email as soon as you purchase. So you can download and use it immediately!
It’s like getting an unlimited supply of that piece of Music Kids Love®!
How Does the Studio License Compare With Buying Printed Music?
Now compare the Studio License to buying printed sheet music. If you were to purchase that same piece as a sheet for 5 students, it would cost you $24.95 (not including shipping)! If it were really a stellar piece that your students ran to the bench to practice and you wanted to give it to 50 students over your lifetime of teaching, that would cost you $249.50!
But the studio license only costs you $10.99. That’s it. You never have to pay for it again. Here’s a nice image to help show this:
Hidden Perks of Studio Licensed Music
But this amazing value is just one of the perks of the Studio License. Here are some of the many other reasons teachers love this format:
- “I can print this music AT the lesson for the student. No waiting for the book in the mail!”
- “I appreciate that the younger sibling doesn’t have to play from a wrinkled, marked-up hand-me-down copy, but can have their very own!”
- “I can cut up the music and make some fun games and sight reading for the student and then give them a full score from my printer.”
- “There’s never any reason to worry that student has forgotten their music. I always have music to give them.”
- “I never have to worry about losing the music. All the music is in my account and I can just re-download again if I need to.”
- “Digital files take up way less space than supplemental books. I don’t feel wasteful with studio licensed music like I do with books where not all the pieces get played.” [And here’s an article about keeping digital files organized.]
Create Better Readers With the Studio License!
As we know from the 30 and 40 Piece Challenge, it is a pedagogically sound technique to give students 3 levels of music to work on at the same time. Music that is:
- At their level – Music that only takes a few weeks to learn and helps teach the new concepts in familiar contexts.
- Above their level – It’s a good idea to always be challenging our students with music they love, that we know they’ll practice, but that really stretches them.
- Below their level – Giving students music that can be mastered and polished in one week (not in one reading) can significantly help develop reading fluency!
And the studio license helps immensely because one piece of music can be used for so many more students because you have an unlimited number of copies to use in your studio. So not only is the piece good for the student for whom you bought it, but chances are, you have a number of students a little above and a little below that level that would love the music and benefit from it as well!
The more music our students read and learn, the better readers they become!
Nancy Did the Math:
Nancy was fairly new to studio licenses back in 2020 and I asked her about her experience with them. Here’s what she said:
I think of the first two studio-licensed pieces that were incredible hits in my studio: Fuzzy Facts and Go With You. The lyrics were hilarious! The music was addicting to the kids! Everyone loved these songs and they’ve been frequently featured in my recitals.
Right off the top of my head, I can think of a minimum of 20 kids that have learned each of those songs (and I have a small studio!). When I do the math and look at how much purchasing these as printed sheets would cost, the contrast is outrageous. At $4.99 per kid (doesn’t include shipping), it would have cost me $99.80 for all those kids to get the benefit from that piece.
But I just looked up my order. I bought both of those pieces in 2020 for $9.99 each. And now I can keep using them over and over and it will never cost me more!
Nancy Gilbert
What If I Don’t Usually Use a Piece Over and Over Again?
Here’s the thing. ComposeCreate is committed to only publishing Music Kids Love®, Music Teens Love™, and Music Adults Love™, – emphasis on LOVE! So we are confident that when you get a piece that students love, you’ll actually want to use it over and over again. Not only because they run to the piano to practice, but because it’s pedagogically sound. Here are just some of our most popular pieces that teachers want to use over and over again:
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Here’s what two ComposeCreate teachers say about this ability to use these dynamic and pedagogically sound pieces over and over again:
Tangy Tango creates a rare opportunity for first year pianists to feel powerful and express themselves musically with intensity…I’m thrilled to own a studio license for Tangy Tango so I can use this piece with new students over and over again!
Melody Dean
I want to thank you SO MUCH for offering the studio licenses. I often go back in time to reassign pieces I purchased from you years ago. There are some that are perennial favorites.
Robin
What if I Don’t Usually Buy My Students’ Music?
If you are like many teachers, you might tell parents what music to buy and they buy it. OR, you purchase the music and then parents repay you. While this might seem to be easier for you, it has a considerable amount of hidden mental stress that can weigh you down and waste your time much more than you might think:
- You have to wait for the parent to purchase and bring the music.
- You have to remind the parents who forget.
- You have to bill parents (extra work) and have to keep track of when and if they pay you (extra work).
- You sometimes don’t have the music in time.
- There’s a lot of mental overhead in keeping track of all of these things.
Now imagine for a moment that at the beginning of the year, you charge a $20 supplemental music fee. And then you tell parents that you’ll be supplying supplemental music for their kids this year (they still buy method books) and that they won’t have to do any extra work in getting the music. That YOU will take care of it all!
Now, as a parent, I would throw my $20 at you and beg you to take more so that I would have less work! And the great thing is that this gives you a BIG budget for your entire year so that you can purchase a number of studio licensed pieces to use with many of your students (not just one at a time). It’s a win-win because:
- It takes the workload off the parent. Many will thank you for this!
- It gives you plenty of budget for new music.
- You don’t have to keep track of who’s paid you for what music.
- You don’t have to wait on anyone else to choose your supplemental or recital music!
Teachers who have finally taken this step to create a supplemental music fee wonder why they didn’t do it sooner (see below). Read more on how to implement a Music Fee.
How Can I Budget for More Studio Licensed Music?
To create plenty of budget for studio licensed music, you can implement a Music Fee at the beginning of the year and then you’ll say like Robin:
Quite a while ago, you recommended adding a registration fee to cover new music. That tip alone has done wonders for my own motivation and excitement as I purchase new pieces, and see students thrive and grow with them. I love when I hand them a new piece and they say, “Oh, it’s a Wendy Stevens! I’m gonna love this!”
Robin Steinweg
What If I Only Have a Small Studio?
It only takes 2 students using the piece to use a piece of music for this to be an amazing value. Many would even say that the price of a studio license is a “normal” price for even one student using it because when you put shipping on top of a printed piece, it ends up being around $10.99 (actually $11.36 in this example).
And remember, you can use it for students in neighboring levels! It’s useful for students above and below the level of the piece when you look at is a piece at their level, or as a challenge or as a review piece.
Alternatively, you can have parents purchase the studio license themselves. Obviously, they can’t share it with anyone since they aren’t teaching the piece, but if they have multiple players in their immediate family in the same house, then they can use the music more than once as well.
Your Turn!
If you use studio licensed music, please leave your thoughts below especially for those who might be new to the concept. And if you aren’t using studio licensed music, let us know your questions and thoughts so we can answer them in a future post!
Get Updates About Studio Licensed Music!
Signing up for our webinars are not only the best way to not only get the best prices for studio licensed music, but also hear directly from the composers about how to use the piece, the benefits, and features. You get to a hear a large portion of the music and see the score! Plus, being with hundreds of other teachers is a great way to get encouraging camaraderie!
You can also sign up for the newsletter so you don’t miss updates. But remember to check weekly as it’s easy to miss an email! And you’ll need to open the emails to get the webinar invitations as well.
* There are just a few “single license” pieces on ComposeCreate about which this would not apply. We only offer single licenses for some of our more advanced music.
