From my experience, sharing parts (primarily PDFs) with musicians is tedious. Sure, you can simply generate PDFs from your notation software, attach them to an email and move on. Or sync them to Dropbox. Or send them via one of those FTP-like services (perhaps YouSendIt).
The challenge for me has always been how to keep track of all that. Who did I send parts to? Did they get them? What happens when there’s a last-minute sub? And, of course, printing backup copies of everything to take along to the gig (just in case somebody forgot theirs).
And, then, there’s the joy of releasing updates to existing compositions which compounds all those challenges.
That’s why I’m developing copyist.io! The ultimate vision for the product is to provide a widget to automatically upload saved versions of your scores to copyist.io and automatically generate the parts (as necessary). There will also be similar wizardry to let you custom generate the parts and synchronize those.
The idea is to make it all as fluid and automatic as possible!
Then, your performers can simply fire up their Copyist apps (on Android and iOS devices) and be ready for the performance. You’ll be able to attach performance notes to enhance communications.
No more hunting through Inboxes and Outboxes. No more monkeying around with file-sharing services. Just a straight-forward service that knows about musicians’ workflows. Or at least, I hope I do. If your workflow differs, please do let me know. I dream of serving a happy community of musicians!