On December 2, 2022, it was announced that Fuser support will cease to exist. The game and its DLC will no longer be available for purchase. Though people that have purchased the game and DLC will be able to play freestyle mode, the social features and co-operative freestyle will be shut down. 

This is obviously upsetting for the dedicated Fuser family, who have spent countless hours mixing, learning, and enjoying music together. For some of us, this has been our nightly tradition since the early days of the pandemic. Fuser has given us close contact with each other when we could not have real contact. Fuser has given non-musicians a means to make music in a way that is fun and engaging in the most supportive environment imaginable. It has even inspired a number of musicians (both new and old) to take up DJing as a hobby in real life. This is why the Fuser community is truly devastated by today’s announcement that co-operative and social features will be discontinued on December 19, 2022, a little over 2 years after the game was released (November 10, 2020). 

The most frustrating part of this news is the fact that there is an untapped market that could not only help to save the game, but also teach millions of children the joy of music creation.

Despite education standards related to music creation existing in most states, these standards are often left out of music teacher curriculums across the nation. Researchers have identified a number of reasons as to why most teachers fail to meet the standards for teaching composition in their classroom, including time constraints, a lack of confidence in teacher abilities, issues and doubt of student abilities, and a lack of resources (Hopkins, 2013; Menard, 2015; Strand, 2006). 

In a survey of Indiana K-12 music teachers, only 5.9% of the 339 participants stated they integrated the use of music composition often, while 39.8% sometimes integrated these types of activities (Strand, 2006). Nearly 19.5% noted they rarely used com- position, while 23% very rarely used it and 11.5% never used composition activities in their classrooms. (Strand 2006)

The solution to all of these barriers is simple: Fuser. A digital audio workstation disguised as a game. It has a colorful and simple interface suitable for children and is easy to learn without any prior musical experience. Because of this, it is the perfect tool to help teachers provide a means to teach music composition to students of all ages and grade levels. 

This is an area where innovation is needed. This market WILL be tapped into by a company. If it isn’t Fuser, it will be a different program with the same concept. Spotify is already trying to target this niche by offering  teacher subscriptions to Soundtrap, their own digital audio workstation designed similar to Apple’s GarageBand. Epic Games and Harmonix would be missing a massive opportunity to make an undeniable positive impact on the world by bringing music creativity to millions of children if they choose to ignore the immeasurable potential Fuser has as a teaching tool. 

Save the music. Keep Fuser alive. 

Kristen Albert, BM, MM

Certified Music Educator (K-12)

Sources:

Hopkins, M. (2013). A Descriptive Case Study of Two Veteran String Teachers' Perceptions of Including Composing in Middle School Orchestra. Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, (196), 25-44. doi:10.5406/bulcouresmusedu.196.0025

Menard, E. A. (2015). Music Composition in the High School Curriculum. Journal of Research in Music Education, 63(1), 114-136. doi:10.1177/0022429415574310

Strand, K. (2006). Survey of Indiana music teachers on using composition in the classroom. Journal of Research in Music Education, 54(2), 154-167. doi:10.2307/4101437