MakeMusic, the creator of software such as Finale and SmartMusic, has undergone major administrative changes and been sold to investment entity LaunchEquity Partners.
“MakeMusic was a publicly traded company that had gone public in 1995,” says CEO Karen VanDerBosch. “We were very small to make up a publicly traded business, and LaunchEquity Partners acquired MakeMusic through a tender offer to all shareholders and then a merger that closed on May 1st.”
The acquisition meant the promotion of former COO and CFO VanDerBosch to CEO (she had been acting in the position since June 2012 after the resignation of former CEO Karen van Lith) and the departure of Board Chairman Robert (Bob) Morrison (formerly of Music for All and VH1 Save the Music Foundation).
In addition, MakeMusic is now privately held instead of publicly traded.
Despite all the changes, VanDerBosch assures that things will be business as usual at MakeMusic.
“Our customers and users should not see any visible difference as a result of the acquisition,” she says. “We remain committed and focused on our existing product lines: Finale, SmartMusic, Garritan Sound Libraries and MusicXML. What this does allow is that we’re eliminating about a million dollars in costs which will allow us to focus on these products and provide an even greater capability in the future because we won’t be incurring these additional expenses.”
During 2013, MakeMusic will release a Finale upgrade, new Garritan Sound Library, enhancements to SmartMusic including an iPad version, integration of rubrics, alignment with state standards as well as updates to the mobile versions of all programs.
“We are really excited to have this process completed and concluded and look forward to continuing being a leader in music education technology and notation software,” VanDerBosch says. “We’re pleased to have completed this transitional process. It began in July of 2012, so it’s great to have it concluded.”
