Why I’m Quitting MyMusicStaff (and What I’m Using Instead)
If you're a private music teacher looking for the best studio management software, you've probably heard of MyMusicStaff (MMS). I used MyMusicStaff for over a year to manage billing, scheduling, and onboarding for my piano studio. While it worked well in the beginning, I’ve since discovered that it no longer meets the needs of my growing online music business, especially as I’ve expanded into platforms like Outschool and asynchronous piano lessons.
For the past few years, MyMusicStaff has been the backbone of my studio. It was my invoicing, scheduling, and onboarding tool. But recently, I’ve realized it’s no longer the right fit for my teaching business. I joined in early 2023, and now I’m ready to leave.
Why I Chose MyMusicStaff
When I started trying to automate my music studio, I needed an affordable, all-in-one platform to keep things organized. MMS promised a lot—automated billing, easy lesson notes, a website builder, and tools for growing my studio—and it delivered, sort of.
On the plus side, it was very easy to automate invoices in MyMusicStaff. The subscription provided a free Paypal business account and it all worked very well from the start. Students and parents can sign up for email or SMS alerts before their lessons.
The Frustrations That Made Me Leave
Scheduling was not as simple. The calendar can be tedious to use, and open spots on the schedule have to be parsed out into either 30 or 45 minute spots. This is time consuming and limits options for me and my students.
I learned very quickly that their website builder was not adequate for my needs. I wanted a quality website to reflect my professional abilities, and their tools at that time were not easy to use. I ended up buying myself a Squarespace website builder subscription instead, and I’ve been very happy with it. When MyMusicStaff finally updated their website builder (nearly two years later), I didn’t even look at it because I’m happy with what I have now.
I also dislike their Lesson Notes and Practice Log features. They are clunky and hard to use. Most disappointingly, there is no way for my students to send me videos of their playing. For this reason, I got a PracticeSpace subscription, which is easy to use and motivating for my students. It works great for asynchronous piano lessons, as I can easily send and receive videos.
My biggest pain point came when I started teaching on Outschool this year. Outschool has provided me with 55 students in the past 5 months, and they sign up through that platform’s calendar. There is no way to sync the two calendars. If I continue using MyMusicStaff I am in danger of double booking, on top of having to manually input schedule changes into both calendars.
What I’m Using Instead
What I need is a calendar that syncs to my Outschool bookings, automates billing, and allows automatic onboarding (new students can choose a time and pay without interacting with me).
I researched Fons, and was hopeful until I saw that it cannot account for my Outschool calendar either, they only offer one-way calendar sync. I also looked at Duet and Calendly. I’ve decided to try Acuity because it offers two-way calendar sync and will be easy to work into my Squarespace built website.
If you run a traditional in-person studio and want something simple and low-cost, MyMusicStaff might still be a great fit. But for teachers blending online, asynchronous, and creative course models, it may be time to look for something more robust. I chose a combination of PracticeSpace, Acuity, and a business website to keep things running smoothly.
