My Music Staff

Couldn't run my music school without it

Pros:

It is extremely simple and easy to use. I only use the Students, Family and Calendar portions of it, and it serves well beyond what I need it for. So easy to view schedule and filter and organize it based on location, teacher, student, etc. i LOVE , as do the parents, the 24-hour in advance automatic reminders auto-texted or e-mailed (your choice).

Cons:

Besides a couple of very minor workflow impedances, it would be nice to integrate the calendar with an existing website, rather than only having the option to do so with the current website.

Alternatives Considered: Jackrabbit Music

Reasons for Choosing My Music Staff: Google Sheets became too cumbersome as our school grow, and I wanted something that the families/students could also access directly

Switched From: Google Sheets

Reasons for Switching to My Music Staff: Jackrabbit just didn't seem to fit as well as MyMusicStaff

Affordable for a multi studio

Comments: I used to have 2 software plus Excel spreadsheets. Once I started working with My Music Staff, I moved everything to one place. It is easy to use and intuitive from a computer usage.

Pros:

The support is amazing, quick and precise.

Cons:

There is no online booking at the moment. Sometimes, people just want to book 1 lesson online without emails or phone calls. They don't have an App. You have to open a window in your phone, which makes it harder to read.

Alternatives Considered: Omnify, Jackrabbit Music and OctopusPro

Reasons for Choosing My Music Staff: I made the switch because they weren't meant to be used for music schools but for hairdressers and restaurants (book once). My Music Staff is made for schools and recurring bookings.

Switched From: Calendly and Acuity Scheduling

Reasons for Switching to My Music Staff: Price and support. My Music Staff replied to my email the same day, and offered me an hour to go through a Demo, replied to questions and helped me to understand the process.

Essential for managing your music lessons

Comments: I started using MMS two years ago when I only had about 12 students and had to scale back everything as I couldn't justify the extra expense. But now having nearly 70 students, I couldn't do without it!

Pros:

Being able to invoice and email in groups and invoice in groups. The customer support is ace. Always quick to reply and sort out any issues.

Cons:

The calendar is a bit of a pain as you have to scroll to the top of the page each time to move back or forwards.

Amazing software, could use a few updates to bring it into the 2020's

Comments: Overall I am happy with MMS, specially the invoicing and scheduling features. Customer support is top notch as well and this alone keeps me as a customer.

Pros:

I have been using MMS since 2020 when my whole studio went online. Their customer support is fantastic and their team is always available to talk over the phone. Emails are responded to quickly and they always have a solution for my issues.My favorite feature is the auto-invoicing and auto-payment. The website has saved me countless hours of invoice logging, tracking down payments, and scheduling since I can automate everything.I schedule all my lessons through MMS and It's nice that my students can launch their Zoom lesson right from the portal.

Cons:

I really want to make MMS my ultimate hub for my students to access all their materials and video lessons, as well as send me videos and track their practice. However, I think this is where MMS is really lacking. The last couple of updates have been great but the system still feels like it is stuck in the early 2000's. I'm fairly techy so I haven't had a problem figuring out how to navigate MMS, but students and parents who are not techy at all really struggle, so these features end up being neglected by them. I really struggle to get any of my studio members to use the practice log and send me videos of their practice because it's just not intuitive or easy to access. The Online Resources is an improvement, but even then the filing system is really clunky. I would love to especially see an update of how files are delivered to students. Right now you can email students to notify them that a video or file has been added to their Online Resources. However, when they click the file link in their email they are taken to their home page and not directly to the file I have shared with them.

Alternatives Considered: Fons

Reasons for Switching to My Music Staff: The price was the best and it works just as well as some of the more expensive options out there.

My Music Staff is like having a staff!

Comments: It's a good studio management tool. My parents don't take advantage of the features that are available to then, but, that's okay. Mine is a small studio.

Pros:

The schedule is easy to set up and manage. Tracking attendance and sending lesson notes is straightforward and easy. Communicating with families is also easy. Invoicing is straightforward, but doesn't allow me to set up a percentage per student for the ach fees I have to charge for those students whose lessons are paid for under a state education program.

Cons:

Bank fees for those students who pay online are easy. Other fees, especially those that are percentages of the invoice are not accommodated, subsequently, I literally have to manual create invoices for 85% of my students every month.

Alternatives Considered: Duet Partner

Reasons for Choosing My Music Staff: Cost

Switched From: Duet Partner

Reasons for Switching to My Music Staff: I selected My Music Staff over Duet Partner due to cost, primarily.