2026
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Hal Leonard

Hal Leonard

We are the world leader in music publishing, with over 5 million songs in our collection.

Watch this space for more innovations to provide players and learners all over the globe with the very best methods, tools, and arrangements.

2026

Hal Leonard publishing collection features over 5M songs, and is the trusted publisher for powerhouses like Berklee Press, Boosey & Hawkes, Ricordi, and more. We’ve also teamed up with Locus Robotics, adding robots (names include Dolly Carton and Bot Marley) to our distribution floor.

5 000 000songs

2025

Hal Leonard's Essential Elements for Band gets a huge update. Over 200 professionally recorded videos, and 50 new copyrighted pop songs are now available online across all levels.

2024

The first Hal Leonard and Muse Group venture is launched. MuseClass, an all-in-one teaching solution providing practice and assessment tools.

2023

Hal Leonard joins Muse Group in a shared mission to improve the lives of music makers. Growing a catalog that features a diverse range of artists, including Taylor Swift, Metallica, The Beatles, and even Broadway favorites like Wicked.

2020

With a wish upon a star, Hal Leonard becomes the exclusive licensee of the print rights for Disney Music Group and Universal Music Publishing Group.

2018

Hal Leonard Europe is officially formed, merging our business with Music Sales Limited.

2016

Sheet Music Plus' groundbreaking "Digital Print Publishing" program, a platform focused on allowing independent composers to share arrangements of their original works, expands into the first iteration of ArrangeMe.

2014

MyLibrary is launched, featuring audio and video content hosted in the cloud. It includes multiple playback tools to aid practice.

2011

Hal Leonard signs a deal with UMPI, which means the company now runs facilities in Milan, Italy.

United States

United Kindom

France

Italy

Germany

Netherlands

Belgium

Switzerland

Australia

2008

Hal Leonard purchases publisher De Haske, leading to the opening of the Herenveen printing and warehouse location.

2007

Seeing that applications for writing music were stuck in the past, Noteflight is launched with the aim of making it easy to create and share written music online.

NOW
2018
NOW
2018

2002

Hal Leonard becomes the first ever music print publisher to achieve sales of $100,000,000 in one year.

$100

000

000

2002

Print Music Australia, purchased during the 1990s, officially becomes Hal Leonard Australia.

2000

Hal Leonard begins to sell gifts and merchandise, leading to the distribution of brands such as Pro Tools, Morley Pedals, Avid, and more.

1997

Sheet Music Direct and Sheet Music Plus are launched. The former a trailblazer for digital sheet music and guitar tablature, the latter offering musicians a full spectrum of sheet music, with fast reliable delivery.

1997
1997
NOW
NOW

1995

Hal Leonard begins distributing Homespun Music Instruction, featuring instructors such as The Band’s Levon Helm and iconic comedian Steve Martin.

1995

At the onset of the CD revolution, an audio edition of Hal Leonard Guitar Method is created, featuring recorded audio for each exercise in the book.

1991

Essential Elements, the global stand for method books, is launched at the Midwest Band Clinic with sales starting the very next year.

1989

Hal Leonard becomes the first publisher to package a CD with a book. Starting with the iconic Jimi Hendrix ‘Fuzz, Feedback and Wah Wah’.

1970

The first Hal Leonard Guitar Method book is produced, It becomes so popular that it sells over 4 million copies in print and digital.

1963

Hal Leonard becomes the first company to mail recordings of band music, on vinyl sound sheets, to customers.

1950s

Hal Leonard publishes the Pointer System for organ, the best-selling organ instruction method ever created.

1947

Hal Leonard, the company, is founded. The brothers travel to New York’s Tin Pan Alley in search of copyrights. They get an education in publishing and the rights to the hit "I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now".

1939

World War II breaks out, putting a hold on the brother’s plans and ending the band.

1930

Hal Leonard starts life as a dance band featuring Harold "Hal" Edstrom and his brother Everett "Leonard" Edstrom.

Everything
starts
here

A Story We Share

You just explored an interactive timeline of the milestones and events that shaped us into the company we are today. It shows the steps we took to become who we are, the innovations we fueled, and the communities we grew along the way.

It’s the story from both sides, Hal Leonard and Ultimate Guitar, our shared legacy. Like a good song, it features some amazing solos and some beautiful harmonies. Plus, you’ll find a nod to our next album, the future. So have a scroll, spend some time looking back with us, and get excited for what’s to come.

Don’t forget to check Muse Group’s history too.

Muse Group
1930 / 2025

The original sheet music publisher