Overview
Solo-Ensemble.com is a web-based service that schools or other organizations use to manage a local Solo and Ensemble music contest (and soon other types of contests). It is not an installed software program; all of its functionality comes from internet web browser programs such as Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, or Google Chrome. The simple and competitive subscription pricing model is based upon the largest anticipated number of participating schools in a contest. Larger subscriptions can operate multiple simultaneous contests.
What We Provide
For every new Solo and Ensemble customer, we use an established process to create the personalized and login-secured website. This setup process involves obtaining the images and color schemes related to the host organization (these can be changed later), and obtaining data from the Contest Director (contact information, initial dates for a contest, and any cut-off dates for applying or submitting school information). As each participating school is added to the contest, they are given their own secured portion of the website where the student performance data may be updated, files and messages from the contest director are shared, and after the contest begins, where school-specific results are provided. Every performance judge also has their own customized login to the contest site where they enter their comments and scores and review earlier scores.
Subscription-Based Pricing
We try to make managing contests with Solo-Ensemble.com very affordable. Each license to use Solo-Ensemble.com is purchased as an annual subscription, priced according to the greatest anticipated number of schools to be hosted at any single contest event throughout the subscription year. Individual schools can purchase an annual Single school subscription for $99 USD. They can hold contests with their own students as often as they wish and can practice using the software to prepare for larger contests.
Subscriptions for schools, school districts, or other organizations that plan to host multi-school contests are priced based upon the expected number of participating schools for any contests during the subscription period and the number of concurrent websites you need. Should you want to upgrade to a larger capacity subscription, you only pay the cost difference to the next level, and your subscription automatically renews to remain valid 1 year from the date of the upgrade. If you do not know how many schools to expect for a contest, start with a low level (even the Single school subscription of $99 USD) to learn the software, then upgrade when your contest date draws near and you know how many schools to expect. These pricing tiers are more fully explained on our Pricing Page, but are listed here for reference:
- Single ($99 USD), 1 School, 1 Website
- Small ($299 USD), 5 Schools, 3 Websites
- Medium ($399 USD), 10 Schools, 5 Websites
- Large ($499 USD), 20 Schools, 8 Websites
- XLarge ($599 USD), Unlimited Schools, 10 Websites
- District ($999 USD), Unlimited Schools, Unlimited Websites
The District subscription is intended for school districts who want their member schools to have individual websites. For a $999 USD annual subscription, the school District and its member schools can have an unlimited number of websites each of which is capable of hosting any contest size (number of schools).
Concurrent Contests
Each Solo-Ensemble.com subscription account is permitted one or more contest websites, which may be re-configured as often as necessary to support multiple contest events throughout the year. Sometimes it will be necessary to operate more than one contest site when multiple events will be occurring, for example a band contest and a choral contest that may only be 1 week apart. Since each contest site is normally used for several weeks before the event, it would be impractical to use the same website for both events. For this reason the larger subscription plans allow you to create and operate multiple contest websites at the same time, and each one may have a completely independent set of people (contest staff, judges, accompanists) and participating schools. See the Pricing page for the number of contests at each subscription level.
Examples
Example 1: Wilsonville Middle School wants to host a contest and invite 8 other schools to participate. Since the total number of schools is 1 + 8 = 9, the annual subscription fee is $399 USD (Medium). Wilsonville retains this active subscription for a year, and can use the software as often as they wish for contest events up to 10 schools. A Medium subscription also permits them to host 5 contest websites at the same time throughout the subscription period.
Example 2: Turkeytown Junior High School currently has a Single subscription ($99 USD) and decides to host a contest with 4 additional schools (plus their own students). The increased cost for the upgrade to Small would be $200 since the contest contains 5 total schools (including the host school). Turkeytown would then have a Small subscription (up to 5 school) subscription good for 1 year from the date they upgraded.
Example 3: Largeville Independent School District (ISD) hosts two annual Solo and Ensemble contests for their 18 Middle Schools and 6 High Schools each Fall and Spring. Additionally, Each of the 6 High Schools host Band Placement Auditions in May, with each High School hosting 8th grade band students from 2 or 3 Middle Schools. As each contest has fewer than 20 schools Largeville ISD can purchase a Large subscription for $499 USD to accommodate the two Solo and Ensemble contests, and can use the remaining 6 websites to host the Placement Auditions for each High School as a separate website.