The dawn of digital sheet music : a look to neoscores

Many digital innovation efforts approach the challenge of transforming a traditional product as primarily technological, in the belief that a digital product can simply replace an existing traditional one. The high adoption rate of tablets potentially offers new opportunities for the sheet music market and creates the promise of a digital breakthrough in this traditional industry. However, simply developing an application with a snazzy design will not convince musicians to adopt digital sheet music, as they demand consistent usability. In this article we investigate how NeoScores, an intriguing startup, handles many challenges of innovating sheet music. The three founders are experienced musicians and regretted that many industries and products were successfully digitalizing except for sheet music. We will study how NeoScores invests time and effort in technology development, in balancing the traditional sheet music culture and in meeting the requirements of musicians.