Introducing Sibelius Team Licensing for Education

July 27, 2023 Douglas Stewart

In August 2023, AVID will introduce a new method for schools to purchase and oversee Sibelius teacher and student seats. Schools can now assign Sibelius Ultimate licenses to anyone on any device starting August 9th, 2023. Due to these changes, the pricing for multiseat network subscriptions will be adjusted, and standalone multiseat subscription licensing will be phased out.

 

What's new with AVID?

Team licensing allows administrators to assign individual licenses to users, granting them access to Sibelius Ultimate on any device. Administrators can enter their name and email address to add users and assign a product license and use CSV upload in the admin console at https://my.avid.com/teams. This process can be done in batches. After signing up, users receive an invitation to create a My Avid account and claim a Sibelius Ultimate license. With this account, they gain access to downloads and the right to use Sibelius Ultimate on any device, including Windows, Mac, iPhone, and iPad. Support for Android and Chromebook will be added soon.

 

Managing users and licensing

Team licensing allows for flexible license assignments, making it easy to un-assign and reassign licenses as needed. This simplifies the process for school administrators when students graduate, or new students come in. Schools can easily renew or adjust their seat count at the end of their subscription term without submitting a complex order for new and renewed seats. Admins can add seats mid-year in My Avid's console, with pro-rated costs through the Avid website. Transactions must be completed in the admin's account for now.

 

On-prem licensing

To activate Sibelius on multiple computers, a License Server application is required. It is installed on the school server and can be used to distribute licenses to connected computers on the network as Sibelius is being used. This is an ideal solution for network administrators as they can activate the entire license just once and clone client machines for easy deployment throughout the network. There are excellent features for managing access to computers. When Sibelius is connected, it also enables Classroom Control features, allowing teachers to push or pull files, freeze machines, and more. If schools require Sibelius on their Windows and Mac computers, AVID recommends this type of licensing.

 

New pricing for multiseat and team licensing

AVID anticipates that academic institutions will need more licenses for their classroom computers, staff, and students. However, they may not have an increased budget for this. To address this, AVID is offering a reduced price per seat from 59 GBP per seat per year to 29 GBP per seat per year.

 

 Minimum order number

The minimum order number for network and new team licenses will be raised to maintain the same minimum order quantity while adjusting the pricing. Minimum orders will increase from 5 to 10.

 

Transitioning schools to network & team licensing

Net-new schools

AVID recommends schools get a network license for classroom computers and a team license for staff and students' devices. For hybrid learning environments, both licenses should be purchased. If a school is conducting classes entirely remotely or using iPads instead of desktop computers, it is recommended to purchase a team license that covers the required number of students and staff for Sibelius Ultimate.

 

For existing perpetual license holders

Schools with Sibelius perpetual licenses can upgrade and subscribe to an Update and Support plan for 29 GBP per seat/year. But AVID suggests switching to network and team license subscriptions, which are more flexible and cost-effective for staff and students to use on their own devices.

 

For existing multiseat subscription license holders

Existing subscribers can renew their licenses at a lower price. AVID encourages schools to increase their multiseat license count or purchase a new team license for a hybrid approach and more flexible licensing options.

 

Notice on Standalone multiseat subscription licenses

AVID will stop selling standalone multiseat subscription licenses due to the availability of more flexible network and team licensing options. This change will take effect on November 20th, 2023.

 

NFR licensing

We are excited to announce that new team licenses are now available for in-house training. Please note that these licenses are limited to 5 seats and cannot be ordered separately from paid products. These licenses aim to assist users in becoming more familiar with the admin console and the latest licensing capabilities.