Frequently Asked Questions

Photo by Karen Kodish Photography

We’ve had quite a few questions emailed to us since we launched, many of which are worth sharing along with our carefully considered answers!  We will continue to add to this page as we discover more areas needing clarification or discussion.

Purchasing

As I usually teach by ear, I’d like to hand out lyric sheets along with the learning track files. Are they available to download?

Unfortunately, the lyrics for all rights-owned songs are licensed separately from the sheet music and audio and are actually more difficult to get permission to distribute.  As a result, we are not able to provide lyric sheets alongside the learning tracks for these arrangements.  We will however be working on providing lyric sheets for all our public domain arrangements soon.

How can the purchased copies be distributed to each choir member?

Once purchased and downloaded, files can be freely emailed and copied to all members requiring them.  When it comes to sheet music, we have added a watermark at the top of every page which states how many copies have been purchased, the email address of the purchaser, the date of purchase and the choircommunity order number as an extra level of copy protection.

It is up to each choir to decide how best to make each copy available to their members.  One person could print copies centrally and distribute, or request each member to print each copy for themselves.  When it comes to MP3 learning tracks, then these can just be emailed to any choir member who needs them (up to the quantity purchased).

How is the minimum quantity calculated? How many copies should I buy?

The way most of the music on ChoirCommunity is licensed is on a ‘per copy’ basis, where a copy is required by each member of the choir which is making use of the arrangement.  This is mostly due to the way rights-owned music is licensed to us, where we have agreed to pay a royalty to the publishers and arrangers for each copy sold.

We have set a reasonable minimum quantity for the first purchase of any arrangement based on about 50% of the size of the choir which has been registered to your account, but you should buy the correct number of copies according to how many you really need.  Subsequent purchases of the same arrangement can be bought in smaller quantities (a minimum of 5) if you need additional copies.

How will it be possible to monitor the numbers of sheet music and learning tracks used?

Once downloaded, the file can be emailed out to anyone who requires a copy.  We accept that there is a certain amount of trust implicit in this whole transaction, but that is just an inherent feature of this type of product.  We don’t expect a choir of 100 to laboriously check and reconcile that no more than 100 copies have been made or used.  It is more important that a choir purchases a licence appropriate to their size and manner of use and then they enjoy it!

I clicked purchase on an arrangement and then realised I’d got the wrong quantity, but I couldn’t change it in the checkout. What do I do?

Yes, unfortunately it is not possible to change the quantity of a purchased item once it is in the checkout basket.  Instead, you just need to click on the checkout icon at the top of the page to bring up the checkout page.  There you can click the ‘Remove’ button on any item you need to change and then re-purchase it from the relevant page with the correct quantity this time!

I teach arrangements orally so don’t need lots of copies of the sheet music. How can I buy only one?

Unfortunately for most arrangements the absolute minimum quantity of copies which can be purchased is 15.  This is simply to ensure we are able to cover our costs of licensing, set up and management of the website.  It is not possible to offer a combination of 15 licences for learning tracks but only 1 licence for the score for example.    We have tried to price all arrangements available on the site so that this is not prohibitive however – a purchase of 15 copies of sheet music and learning tracks for most arrangements costs £10.50.

I’ve tried to download an arrangement I purchased a few days ago from the emailed purchase receipt but it says the link has expired. What do I do now?

For security reasons, the link to download arrangements from the site via the emailed purchase receipt has an expiry deadline of 72 hours from the time of purchase.  However, you can download any of your previous purchases at any time from the website itself.  Just log in and go to the ‘Account’ menu and the ‘My Purchase History’ option.  From here you can see all your previous purchases, re-download any files you need again and generate an invoice for any previous purchases as well.

It looks as if a single representative of a choir has got to be prepared to register on behalf of the whole choir – is that right?

Yes, that is the basis for the way the site has been designed, due primarily to the way in which rights-owned music is sold.  The purchase itself is for a number of licences to make copies of the digital product so the purchase needs to be a single transaction on behalf of the choir in question (e.g. the purchase of 50 copies of a sheet music arrangement bestows the purchaser the right to use up to 50 copies of that arrangement with their choir)

What happens when I purchase an arrangement? To where will the downloads be made?

As soon as a purchase is made, a secure link is generated to the arrangement in question which is emailed on a purchase receipt to the account holder.

For security reasons, this link will expire after 72 hours, so it is also always available on the website from the ‘Account’ menu once logged in under an option called ‘My Purchase History’.  Clicking on the link will download the file to the device which is being used (PC, laptop or tablet).

I am the leader of a number of choirs. How do I register on the site?

We can only take one set of choir information for each account registered so you can either register multiple times with different email addresses (possibly useful if you need to keep the purchases made for each choir separate), or register once and pick which choir to register with.

If you run choirs of different sizes, it may make more sense to register the smallest one as you won’t be forced into purchasing more copies than you need, but you can buy additional copies for your larger choirs when you need them.

I have made a purchase but the receipt doesn’t give enough information for my accountant and there doesn’t appear to be a print icon. How can I get a proper invoice?

The ability to generate a proper invoice for any purchases on ChoirCommunity is now available on the website.  Just log in and go to the ‘Account’ menu and the ‘My Purchase History’ option.  From here you can see all your previous purchases, re-download any files you need again and generate an invoice for any previous purchase as well.   You can enter additional address or company details on the form and then generate and print an invoice for your records.

I’ve tried to download an arrangement I purchased a few days ago from the emailed purchase receipt but it says the link has expired. What do I do now?

For security reasons, the link to download arrangements from the site via the emailed purchase receipt has an expiry deadline of 72 hours from the time of purchase.  However, you can download any of your previous purchases at any time from the website itself.  Just log in and go to the ‘Account’ menu and the ‘My Purchase History’ option.  From here you can see all your previous purchases, re-download any files you need again and generate an invoice for any previous purchases as well.

Selecting Music

I run a women’s choir. How do I find SSA arrangement on the site?

There are a few arrangements for women’s choirs on the site currently, but we hope to expand this number as quickly as we can.   You can find different voice arrangements by typing the arrangement you’re looking for (e.g. SSA) into the search box at the top of any ‘browse’ page and clicking the button.  Once any kind of filtered selection has come back, you can also click the specific arrangement type you are looking for in the ‘Tags’ section of each title listed (on the right hand side of the page) to get a selection filtered specifically on that tag.

I’m only interested in a capella arrangements. How do I search for them?

Searching for ‘a capella’, or any other type of arrangement is simply a matter of either typing what you’re looking for in the search box at the top of any ‘browse arrangements’ page.  Alternatively, if you see a tag matching what you are looking for in any listing of arrangements, then clicking on that tag will automatically re-filter the list on that tag.

We have used the tag ‘Unaccompanied’ rather than ‘a capella’ at ChoirCommunity so that’s the term to search for.

My choir struggles to recruit enough men so I often can’t split tenors and basses. Do you have suitable arrangements for me?

There are a few arrangements of this type on the site currently, but we hope to expand this number as quickly as we can.   You can find different voice arrangements by typing the arrangement you’re looking for (e.g. SAB, or SAT) into the search box at the top of any ‘browse’ page and clicking the button.  Once any kind of filtered selection has come back, you can also click the specific arrangement type you are looking for in the ‘Tags’ section of each title listed (on the right hand side of the page) to get a selection filtered specifically on that tag.

We use guitarists, not pianists, to lead our community singing groups. Are you able to incorporate guitar chords, into your arrangements?

We do have a few arrangements with chord symbols at the moment, but we will be expanding this significantly as we add more throughout the year.

The best way to find them is to click on the Browse all Arrangements menu option and type ‘chord’ into the search box. To filter the list a bit further (as this will also bring back arrangements with the word ‘chord’ in the description), just click on the ‘chord symbols’ tag link on any of the titles in the list (which is over on the right-hand side). This will filter the list properly on the tag itself.