Music technology company MakeMusic has revealed that they are shuttering their professional music notation software program Finale, which is in wide use across the professional theatre industry including Broadway. The move will likely kick off a troubling period for music departments on Broadway and beyond, with any Finale files having to be converted for use with other software programs.

Finale was one of a handful of music notation software platforms—another major platform includes Sibelius (a product of Avid). While it's impossible to know the exact market share Finale enjoyed in the theatre industry, the software has been in wide use at a number of major music preparation houses, including Emily Grishman and Russell Bartmus.

"Today, Finale is no longer the future of the notation industry—a reality after 35 years, and I want to be candid about this," writes Finale President Greg Dell'Era in a statement released August 26. "Instead of releasing new versions of Finale that would offer only marginal value to our users, we’ve made the decision to end its development." Dell'era goes on to explain that this means Finale (and its lesser sub-products, including PrintMusic, Notepad, and Songwriter) will no longer be updated, and are no longer available for purchase. They will continue to work on devices on which they are currently installed. Beginning in August 2025, it will not be possible to authorize or reauthorize Finale on new devices.

The company is recommending customers move to Dorico, a competing notation software that is available for Mac, PC, and iPad. MakeMusic has arranged for owners of any version of Finale or PrintMusic to purchase the top version of Dorico, Dorico Pro, for $150, a savings of roughly 75%.

The wrinkle is that files created using Finale will only open in Finale. There is not an easy way to convert Finale files completely into other platforms. Finale can export files into an open-ended format called MusicXML that is readable by most notation software, but many parts of the original file—most notably including page layouts for print and PDF editions—are not included. This will likely mean that many music departments across Broadway and beyond will have a long road of file conversion ahead of them.

This news was met with dismay among Broadway composers, with Tony Award winner Marc Shaiman writing on Instagram: "To all my compatriots freaking out about today’s announcement, um, it was right there in the name all along. FINALE! As Maya Angelou said 'when someone tells you who they are, believe them!'"

MakeMusic has posted a FAQ regarding the sunsetting of Finale here.