MusicWriter

Last updated
MusicWriter
Industry Sheet Music and MIDI
Founded1989
Founder Jon Monday and Lawrence Heller
Headquarters Los Gatos, CA, USA
Area served
Global
ProductsNoteStation

MusicWriter was founded in 1989 by music industry veterans Jon Monday and Larry Heller to develop and market NoteStation, a kiosk-based retail "point-of-sale manufacturing" system for the distribution and printing of sheet music. Besides having a very large library of songs across all music genres, the NoteStation was able to print the sheet music on demand in any key, as selected by the customer. This reduced the need for retailers to carry a large selection of physical inventory, which was usually only printed in one key. [1]

Early in the MusicWriter's history Warner Bros. Music and Thorn EMI, the two largest music publishers in the world, invested in the company and became board members. The company then was able to sign most of the major music publishers to offer their titles through the system.

MusicWriter was among the first applications of the new distribution paradigm of "Mass Customization" or "Point-of-Sale Manufacturing", where a retailer is able to offer a very large selection of a product, with virtually no inventory, and manufacture the customized product on the spot for a customer. This trend was documented in B. Joseph Pine II’s 1993 book, Mass Customization, The New Frontier in Business Competition published by Harvard Business School Press.

The company expanded its features to include producing MIDI files on demand and online ordering of music products from distributors.

The company was featured on CNN TV and written about in Fortune Magazine, Business Week, USA Today, San Francisco Examiner, San Jose Mercury News, and Popular Science.

Due to the major print music companies that fought against the technologies, in 1999 MusicWriter went bankrupt as online technology emerged and the decline of sheet music retailers made the in-store technology obsolete. However, years later online versions of the technology were introduced by other companies, such as SheetMusicDirect.com, MusicNotes.com, and SheetMusicPlus.com.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cash register</span> Mechanical or electronic device for registering and calculating transactions at a point of sale

A cash register, sometimes called a till or automated money handling system, is a mechanical or electronic device for registering and calculating transactions at a point of sale. It is usually attached to a drawer for storing cash and other valuables. A modern cash register is usually attached to a printer that can print out receipts for record-keeping purposes.

E-commerce is the activity of electronically buying or selling of products on online services or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, Internet marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data interchange (EDI), inventory management systems, and automated data collection systems. E-commerce is in turn driven by the technological advances of the semiconductor industry, and is the largest sector of the electronics industry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dell</span> American multinational technology company

Dell Inc. is an American based technology company. It develops, sells, repairs, and supports computers and related products and services. Dell is owned by its parent company, Dell Technologies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inventory</span> Goods held for resale

Inventory or stock refers to the goods and materials that a business holds for the ultimate goal of resale, production or utilisation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Print on demand</span> Printing business process

Print on demand (POD) is a printing technology and business process in which book copies are not printed until the company receives an order, allowing prints of single or small quantities. While other industries established the build to order business model, "print on demand" could only develop after the beginning of digital printing, because it was not economical to print single copies using traditional printing technology such as letterpress and offset printing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Point of sale</span> Time and place where a retail transaction is completed

The point of sale (POS) or point of purchase (POP) is the time and place at which a retail transaction is completed. At the point of sale, the merchant calculates the amount owed by the customer, indicates that amount, may prepare an invoice for the customer, and indicates the options for the customer to make payment. It is also the point at which a customer makes a payment to the merchant in exchange for goods or after provision of a service. After receiving payment, the merchant may issue a receipt for the transaction, which is usually printed but can also be dispensed with or sent electronically.

Personalized marketing, also known as one-to-one marketing or individual marketing, is a marketing strategy by which companies leverage data analysis and digital technology to deliver individualized messages and product offerings to current or prospective customers. Advancements in data collection methods, analytics, digital electronics, and digital economics, have enabled marketers to deploy more effective real-time and prolonged customer experience personalization tactics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Best Buy</span> Consumer electronics retailer

Best Buy Co. Inc. is an American multinational consumer electronics retailer headquartered in Richfield, Minnesota. Originally founded by Richard M. Schulze and James Wheeler in 1966 as an audio specialty store called Sound of Music, it was rebranded under its current name with an emphasis on consumer electronics in 1983.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Staples Inc.</span> American multinational office supply retailing corporation

Staples Inc. is an American retail company headquartered in Framingham, Massachusetts, that offers products and services designed to support working and learning.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Online shopping</span> Form of electronic commerce

Online shopping is a form of electronic commerce which allows consumers to directly buy goods or services from a seller over the Internet using a web browser or a mobile app. Consumers find a product of interest by visiting the website of the retailer directly or by searching among alternative vendors using a shopping search engine, which displays the same product's availability and pricing at different e-retailers. As of 2020, customers can shop online using a range of different computers and devices, including desktop computers, laptops, tablet computers and smartphones.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Interactive kiosk</span> Computer terminal that provides access to information, communication, commerce etc.

An interactive kiosk is a computer terminal featuring specialized hardware and software that provides access to information and applications for communication, commerce, entertainment, or education.

Out-of-home (OOH) advertising, also called outdoor advertising, outdoor media, and out-of-home media, is advertising experienced outside of the home. This includes billboards, wallscapes, and posters seen while "on the go". It also includes place-based media seen in places such as convenience stores, medical centers, salons, and other brick-and-mortar venues. OOH advertising formats fall into four main categories: billboards, street furniture, transit, and alternative.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Long tail</span> Feature of some statistical distributions

In statistics and business, a long tail of some distributions of numbers is the portion of the distribution having many occurrences far from the "head" or central part of the distribution. The distribution could involve popularities, random numbers of occurrences of events with various probabilities, etc. The term is often used loosely, with no definition or an arbitrary definition, but precise definitions are possible.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Business-to-business</span> Commercial transaction between businesses

Business-to-business is a situation where one business makes a commercial transaction with another. This typically occurs when:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Showroom</span> Large space used to display products or show entertainment

A showroom, also referred to as a gallery is a large space used to display products, entertainment or visual arts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dai Nippon Printing</span> Japanese printing company

Dai Nippon Printing, established in 1876, is a Japanese printing company which operates its printing in three areas: information communications, lifestyle and industrial supplies, and electronics.

Customer to customer markets provide a way to allow customers to interact with each other. Traditional markets require business to customer relationships, in which a customer goes to the business in order to purchase a product or service. In customer to customer markets, the business facilitates an environment where customers can sell goods or services to each other. Other types of markets include business to business (B2B) and business to customer (B2C).

Payanywhere is a payments platform and app that allows merchants in the United States to accept credit and debit card payments while building customer relationships in-store, online, or on the go. Merchants may accept payments on their smartphone via a Bluetooth card reader or on an in-store “Storefront” solution featuring a tablet and stand, which was introduced on April 8, 2014. PayAnywhere offers credit card readers and apps that are compatible with both Apple and Android devices.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lolly Wolly Doodle</span> Online clothing brand

Lolly Wolly Doodle is an American company that manufactures women's and children's clothing for sale online. It was founded in 2008 in Lexington, North Carolina, and is now owned by investment firm Stage Fund. After investments by venture capitalists such as Revolution Growth, it expanded to include production facilities in New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parcel locker</span> Self-service collection service for parcels

Parcel locker is an automated postal box that allows users for a self-service collection of parcels and oversize letters as well as the dispatch of parcels.

References

  1. "BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY; For Sheet Music, Just Pick a Key And Print It Out (Published 1992)". The New York Times . Archived from the original on 2021-01-11.
  1. ^ Article in Saratoga News Reviewing company history and products