Making Music Platform News

Some of these upgrades were mentioned in the most recent update, but they have now been completed.

Improvements made to the Audio player:
•    Can now do A->B looping (continuously repeat one part of one track). When playing a track, press the new Loop A -> B button to mark the start of the section you want to repeat. Then press it a second time to mark the end of the section. Playback will immediately loop between the two points, until you press the button again to stop it.
•    In the past, you had to wait until the entire track downloaded before the track would start to play (either single track or in a playlist). Now, the song will start playing as soon as it has enough of the file to play, typically a couple of seconds.
•    When you play a track or playlist, there is now a mini player in the notification area of your phone which means that tracks can continue to play even if the MM Platform App is not on top (it is in the background, behind other apps).

General improvements
•    Fixed issues with large screen sizes (iPad, etc)

If you have not already, please update your App in the App Store/Play Store.

We are following up from the previous news update regarding the errors experienced when sending emails and playing songs through the Platform.

Firstly, we can confirm that both errors have been resolved and that the email and songs functionality are working as expected. We have investigated both errors with our server provider and the developer to determine the causes and have outlined more information for you below:

• Unable to play songs through the Platform - this error was caused by a temporary glitch in the connection between the server and the additional storage functionality which was then re-established by the existing software shortly afterwards. To minimise the risk of this glitch happening again, the developer has upgraded the system used to connect the server and the additional storage functionality to ensure that this part of the system is as robust as possible. 
• Emails sent through the Platform are not being received by recipients - this was caused by a separate glitch on the server. Unfortunately the server company are unable to provide further details about the temporary glitch and we will be working with them (Hosting UK) to ensure that these glitches are monitored efficiently and anticipated in advance where possible.

We are confident that both errors were resolved quickly due to the robust systems in place but we will continue to work with the server company and developer to ensure that future glitches are flagged and resolved as soon as possible.

Once again we want to apologise for any inconvenience caused by these errors and appreciate your patience while these were investigated.

The developer has made a statement about the forthcoming developments for the MM Platform App - which includes some highly requested features:

'The next thing we'll be working on is "push notifications".  This will allow you to send messages to each member, similar to sending them a text message via SMS.  Such messages will be completely free (text messages sent via your MMPlatform cost money).

Once that's in place, we'll have the infrastructure in place to develop the Event Calendar, with particular attention to allowing members to indicate their availability for events (our most-requested feature!).  You will be able to request members to do so via push notifications - all intuitively built into the system that you're already used to.'

On top of this, the developer will shortly be updating the Playlist feature. This will:

• Start buffering/playing tracks immediately rather than waiting for the entire song to download first.
• Introduce a music player widget in the notification area of your phone, so that you can control playback of the track without actually going back to the App. This means that the Playlist will play regardless of other apps being open.
• Introduce a new feature called A -> B Looping, so you can loop over one specific part of the track.

Do also look out for future updates from us announcing these (and other!) App developments.

An (internal) data leak was reported to us at 4.30pm on Thursday 28 September. We have outlined the information relating to the incident below but if you have any queries or concerns then please don’t hesitate to contact us.

When did the incident occur and what happened?

We received a report on Thursday that a MM Platform user had created a member grouping in their MM Platform and this gave them access to the information from individuals who were not linked to their group:

• First Name
• Last Name
• Town
• Home phone number
• Email address

As soon as we were notified of the error, the member grouping was deleted, and the developer was asked to investigate. The developer confirmed that this error was fixed on Thursday evening.

What caused the leak and who had access to the data?

After investigating the error, the developer confirmed it was caused by a bug in the code that had existed since Tuesday 26 September. This affected 9 MM Platform users who had set up member groupings with no criteria selected. During this period, these 9 groups could have viewed the above information for individuals not in their group by going to their own member database and selecting the affected member grouping.

Only these 9 groups could have viewed this data and only those who had access to the member database on these group’s MM Platforms. No further groups or individuals could have accessed this information.

What impact does this have on my group and what do I need to do?

As data controllers, you will need to refer to your own GDPR policies to decide if you need to inform the individuals you have listed on your Platform that the above data held for them on the system may have been viewed by other MM Platform owners during this period  (Tues 26-Thurs 28 September).

What is Making Music going to do to ensure this doesn’t happen again?

We take data protection extremely seriously and are aware that this data leak could potentially have had a significant impact. We want to assure MM Platform users that we are working with the developer to implement extra procedures to ensure that this scenario does not happen again. In the meantime, the following precautions have been taken:

• The developer has updated the code to stop member groupings with no criteria being created (an error message pops up preventing such a group being created)
• We will be contacting the 9 groups separately to advise them on the change to their relevant member grouping(s)
• We are continuing to talk to the developer about other measures to ensure that this does not happen again

We are very sorry for what happened and any impact on your group. We are very grateful to the member who alerted us on this occasion and always act very promptly on any such reports. Do always contact us if you notice anything unusual. We are confident that on this occasion the bug was discovered and dealt with before harm could occur.

We have received reports that the Email address and Mailing List functionality has the following errors:

• Users unable to set up new email mailboxes or forwarders when creating new position email addresses
• Error messages showing on the Email addresses and Mailing List page such as:
  • Mailbox need to be created on server
  • Email address needs to forward to
• Users unable to access mailman to manage any email addresses that have been created for mail to be held on the server
• Some email addresses that have been set up as forwarders in the MM Platform are not receiving emails (those set up as mailboxes for emails to be collected on the server are receiving emails to the webmail system despite the email and mailing address page as above saying that there is an error) 

These errors are affecting some but not all MM Platforms. If you are experiencing any of the above errors, we have raised this with the developer as a matter of urgency so please do not raise a ticket for these. If you notice any other problems then do email us on platform@makingmusic.org.uk so that we can look into these.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused and will keep you updated once we have more information from the developer.

A small, but important change: to add clarity to the Financials Member Report, the column titled Expiry Date has been updated to read Expiry date (of current schedule). This field was amended to make it clearer that the dates of the financial schedule are the dates the member's current membership/financial schedule expires - or put another way, the date up to which the member has paid. This change can be found across the Platform (wherever the words Expiry Date previously appeared), but the most important place is in the Financial Member's Report:

We have received reports this afternoon that some MM Platforms are experience the following errors:

• Home page banner (main image) has disappeared
• Unable to edit or upload a new home page banner - error message received
• Resources in the Song/Music library have disappeared
• Unable to play or download Song/Music library - error message received

These errors are affecting some but not all MM Platforms. If you are experiencing any of the above errors, we have raised this with the developer as a matter of urgency so please do not raise a ticket for these. If you notice any other problems then do email us on platform@makingmusic.org.uk so that we can look into these.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused and will keep you updated once we have more information from the developer. If this issue has not been resolved by the close of business this evening then do keep checking your Platforms across the weekend.

You may be aware of Making Music's Platform Service Hub - a place to find all our Platform Guides nicely organised, as well as a link to all the Latest News. We've now added a new section, the Video guidance for using your MM Platform page. 

In here, we will be posting recordings of our Platform Events, as well as future video guidance clips created by the Platform team. Make sure to keep an eye on this page!

Google Drive and Box.com Song Integration

Last November the developer released a great feature for your Song Library - the ability to simply embed into a song's page an existing Dropbox folder full of song files (PDF sheet music, MP3 learning tracks, etc). This prevented the need to manually upload each file to each song's page (as long as you had your files organised nicely in Dropbox).

As soon as this was released, several members requested the same thing for Google Drive and Box.com - at the time however, Google/Box didn't offer such a thing. Now, it is possible, and so both have now been integrated into the Platform.

If you have a folder in your Google Drive/Box.com containing the song files (PDF, MP3, etc) for one song, then you can easily and simply embed that folder into the song's page in your Platform.

For Google Drive, when it's embedded in the page, it will look like this:

And for Box.Com it will look like this:

This means that you would no longer need to attach files to each song in your Platform, which usually means uploading the files from your own computer, either one by one or one set of learning tracks at a time.

To do this for Google Drive:

1. Log into Google Drive
2. Right-click the folder in question
3. Select the Share option
4. In the Share pop-up, in the General access section, pull down the list with the heading Restricted, and select Anyone with the link

   

5. Click the Copy link button
6. Click the Done button
7. Whilst logged into your Platform as an administrator, visit the song's page, and click the Update button
8. Click the Integrations tab
9. Paste the link into the "Google Drive Folder Share URL" box. The link will look something like this:

   https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXY_abcdefghij?usp=sharing

10. Save your changes.

 

To do this for Box.com:

1. Log into Box.com
2. Navigate into the folder in question
3. Click the blue Share button, top-right
4. In the Share pop-up, click the Invite as editor drop-down, and select Viewer

   

5. Below that, in the Share link section, click the Copy button
6. Logged into your HarmonySite as an administrator, visit the song's page, and click the Update button
7. Click the Integrations tab
8. Paste the link into the "Box.com Folder Share URL" box.  The link will look something like this:

   https://app.box.com/s/abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

9. Save your changes.

 

That's it! Not only is this quick and easy, it doesn't use up any of your Platform's space allowance.

Further to this:

• All files can be opened, viewed and played directly from the new embedded box on the song's page.
• You can still use the existing Platform feature for uploading files and resources, especially if the resource you want to attach to the song is a YouTube video. All files that have been uploaded to a song will still be accessible to your members in the normal way. In other words, this new system does not affect anything at all - except giving you another option for providing a song's files to your members.
• A downside to this new feature is that you can't track which of your members have downloaded each Google Drive file.
• Unfortunately, there is no similar feature available for Microsoft OneDrive as they do not allow integration in the same way.

We are emailing to advise you of a Platform error that has occurred which means that some individuals are currently unable to login to their Making Music Platforms. We are currently working with the developer to get this error resolved as soon as possible and will be in contact with you again as soon as we have more information.

We are sorry for any inconvenience which this error may cause and if you have any questions during this time then please don't hesitate to contact us at platform@makingmusic.org.uk. 

The new Mercury theme, that we recently announced, and many of you are using, now has a Dark Mode. For those that don't know, Dark Mode is something that's available on many operating systems (Windows, Android, iOS, etc), where you - the user - can change from a predominantly white/light colour scheme to one that's predominantly black/dark. This is typically done via a clickable Toggle in the top-right hand corner.

Now your Making Music Platform offers that option too. There are 3 options:

1.    Light Mode is the default (the default that you are used to seeing)
2.    Dark Mode is new
3.    Follow System, which means that your MM Platform will automatically select light or dark mode depending on your browser's light/dark mode setting (which may in turn depend on your device's setting).

The new option to switch modes is located in the top-right corner when you're logged in:

The change you make applies to only you. Each member gets to decide their own preference. The preference is stored in a browser cookie.

Our demo site (https://demo.makingmusicplatform.com/) looks like this in Light Mode:

When switched to the new Dark Mode, it looks like this:

This is now live and available on your MM Platform - but only if you are using the new Mercury theme. It is not available in our other themes (e.g. Stockholm). If you don't have Mercury yet, feel free to experiment with our Demo site: https://demo.makingmusicplatform.com. If you want to switch to the Mercury theme, instructions of how to do this can be found in our help guide.

A set of 71 new Member Area Icons have now been added to all Making Music Platforms. Many of you made suggestions for new icons, and most were added (some were omitted if they were too similar to other icons). There is now total of 105 possible icons, which you can find on our demo site: https://demo.makingmusicplatform.com/dbpage.php?pg=hsicons. Note that the page simply lists available icons - it's not a whole new set of functions for your Platform and clicking on an icon on that page will not do anything.

These icons can be used in your Making Music Platform main member’s area (which can be found by clicking on the members home button at the top right hand corner of your Platform), for your members to click on to access a particular page within your site. If you want to use one of the new icons then complete the following instructions:

1. Ensure you're logged in as a Webmaster (or as a Data Administrator with permissions to edit Navigation Links).
2. Click the Admin link in the top-right corner to view your Admin Dashboard.
3. Click the Site Navigation Menu link:
4. Either click the Add new navigation link button in the top-right corner, or click the little Update icon to the right of the existing navigation link that you wish to change
5. Fill out the following fields, if necessary:
   • Enter any Text to display you want
   • Nominate the page that the icon should link to (select it from the drop-down list called Page from this website)
   • The Parent should be your main Members menu (this is the menu item that your members click to access their Members Dashboard). Usually this is called Public Access - Members (80) (or similar).
   • The Display ranking specifies where this icon should be positioned within the set of icons. If you get it wrong, the icon can easily be dragged into a better position, if necessary, on the Site Navigation Menu page
   • The Members page icon field is the important one here. Just below the spot for the icon, there's some yellow help text. In that help text there's a link called Members Area Icons:

Click that link to see all available icons to choose from. When you have chosen the one you want, copy its name (e.g. icon-assessments.png), and paste it into the spot on the previous page. IMPORTANT:  You must also copy/paste the text in the yellow help box that reads /brostools/applications/singing/images/icons/ - so the contents of that box will look something like: /brostools/applications/singing/images/icons/icon-assessments.png

• The Members page text field is optional text that members will see in a little pop-up tooltip when they hover their mouse over the icon on the main Members page
• Ignore the Display ranking in footer box
• Set the Access Level required to either Restricted Member Access or Regular Member Access, dependent on whom you wish to access that particular funcitonality.
• Do not select anything from the Only display up to drop-down.

6.    Click Save at the bottom when you're done.
7.    Visit your main Members page, and you'll see your new icon.

If the available icons don't meet your needs, you can also add a new icon to your main Members page with any text on it (but no picture). For example:

To do so, follow the steps above, and make sure:
•    The Text to display at the top of the Navigation link Details page is set to the text you want on the icon
•    In the Members page icon field put: /brostools/applications/singing/images/icons/icon-blank.png

That's it – you are done. If the text you entered for the icon is too big, and it is truncated or overflows, please email platform@makingmusic.org.uk and we can fix it for you (or if you know CSS, you can fix it yourself!).

We have been advised by the developer that he is increasing the fees for anyone using the domain name management service who has a domain which ends in .uk. Please note that this does not include any domains which end in .org.uk or .co.uk and refers specifically to those ending in .uk only. The new cost for the domain name management service for .uk domains will be £30 inclusive of VAT per year. If we already manage your domain and this does end in .uk then the new charges will be reflected when the groups MM Platform is up for renewal.

Your MM Platform comes with a selection of visual themes.  Each theme is a design for your website, a way of presenting your website's content to site visitors and members.  It is possible to change the entire look of your site quite easily, and which theme you choose is simply a matter of personal preference. As standard, all MM Platforms are set up using the Stockholm theme.

The newest theme the developer has created is called the Mercury theme. It is an elegant theme that sits well with modern web fashions with the home page slideshow taking up the whole screen. Similar to the Stockholm theme, the Mercury theme is mobile-friendly which means that viewing and navigating the groups Platform on a mobile phone or tablet will be seamless.

The theme looks like this (on our Demo site).  Naturally it will look different with your logo, colours and photos.

What is the process for changing to the new Mercury theme?

You have two main choices for changing themes:

1. You can do it yourself - if you are comfortable with basic HTML skills. Full details on how to do it are below, but the basic steps are:
   1. Select the new theme in the website configuration
   2. Upload a new logo
   3. Replace the photos in your slideshow with new versions that have a different size
   4. Replace the HTML in your Home page (we provide the new HTML, below).  This requires a basic competence with HTML (not expert).
   5. Replace the HTML in your site footer's Contact Us area (we provide the new HTML, below)
   6. Replace the HTML on your Contact Points page (we provide the new HTML, below)
2. Or the developer can do it for you. This will costs a one-time fee of £30+VAT if you would prefer the developer to do this process for you.

What do I need to get started?

No matter whether you choose to do it yourself or ask us to do it, before any changes can be made, you should read the following checklist:

1) Logo.  The first thing you may need is a new logo.  In the new Mercury theme, the logo will be sitting on a black background.  This is a departure from the other themes, where the logo sat on a white background (or you had two versions of your logo - one for a white background and one for a dark/black background). So your logo should not have any black in it - the black won't show when the logo sits on a black background.

By way of illustration, here is an example of a suitable logo:

Note that it's a transparent logo, with no black in it. Here's what it looks like when the same logo sits on a black background

Here's an example of a logo that's NOT suitable (note this is a different logo from above)

Note it has a few black elements. It looks fine on a white background (above), but on a black background it doesn't work

So you may need to create a new version of your logo. You will need the logo to be:

1. 1. PNG format (GIF is also fine)
   2. Transparent background
   3. Little or no black
   4. Anti-aliased to look good when placed on a black background.
   5. Landscape layout
   6. Around a 3:1 aspect ratio is ideal (e.g. 300 x 100 pixels).  Variations on this are fine
   7. The size should be no bigger than around 150 pixels high

2) Home page slideshow photos.  If you are currently using the Stockholm theme with the full-screen slideshow format, then you don't need to change any slideshow photos - your existing photos will be suitable for the new theme.

If you're not using the Stockholm theme, or are using Stockholm with the regular slideshow format (where each slide/photo is exactly 1150 x 448 pixels), then you will need to change your photos.  You would need to go back to the original high-resolution versions of the photos in your existing slideshow and create new versions - crop/resize the originals anew to be suitable for the new theme. Or you can simply start with entirely new photos.

In the Stockholm theme, with the regular (non-full-screen) slideshow layout, each photo needed to be exactly 1150 x 448 pixels, In the new theme, slideshow photos should be approximately 1200 x 800 pixels in size.  If each photo has an aspect ratio of about 4:3 or 3:2, and its width is between 1000 and 2000 pixels, then it should be fine.

Every other aspect of your site will automatically adjust itself to the new theme - with three manual changes required by you (see below).

Instructions for adopting the new Mercury theme

If you prefer to do this yourself, here are the full step-by step instructions for changing themes.

Note that we have designed these instructions so that if you change your mind or get stuck at any point, you can reverse your changes and go back to the previous theme.

Ensure you're logged in to your MM Platform with full Webmaster privileges before beginning:

Step 1. Switch on the new theme

1. Click the cog icon in the top-right corner of the site 
2. On the Website Setup and Configuration page, click the top cog icon next to where the type is Making Music Platform
3. Click the Appearance tab
4. Make a note of your existing Visual theme
5. Change the Visual theme to Mercury
6. Acknowledge the information box that pops up
7. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Save

The new theme will take effect instantly.

Step 2.  Home page slideshow photos

Visit your home page.  If your previous theme was Stockholm and you were using the full-screen format of the slideshow, your slideshow may look fine.  If so, there is nothing else for you to do in this step.

If you were previously using the Stockholm theme with the non-full-screen slideshow layout, or any other previous theme, then you'll need to change each of your slideshow photos.  For each photo, you'll need to do the following

1. Locate the original high-resolution photo (on your computer - not in your MM Platform
2. Make a backup copy
3. Using some photo-editing software, crop/resize the photo so that it's approximately 1200 x 800 pixels.
4. In your MM Platform, click the Admin link top-right
5. Click the link called Banners (home page) (on the Website Content line, in the middle column)
6. Locate the slide that corresponds to your photo, and click its Update button
7. Find the spot to replace the existing photo with the new one you've just prepared
8. Click Save at the bottom

Step 3.  Remaining home-page content

As every MM Platform is different, the remaining content on your home page may not look right. If the home page looks fine to you, you can skip this section.

The rough process for updating your Home page is:

1. Save a copy of your existing Home page content (HTML), into Notepad or similar
2. Copy and paste our default Home page content into your Home page (link below), overwriting what's there
3. Bit by bit, copy your saved Home page content back into the page,

Note that this requires you to have a basic competence with HTML.

The full process is as follows:

1. Visit your home page
2. Click the edit button in the bottom-right corner
3. Click the Content tab
4. On the big box that contains all the existing content of your home page, click the Source button in the toolbar
5. Highlight all the HTML source code (Ctrl-A) and copy it (Ctrl-C).  Open up a simple text editor, like Notepad, and paste it (Ctrl-V).  Save it - you will need it in the latter steps
6. Ensure that you're still in Source view
7. Click this link:  New home page text   It opens in a new window.
8. Highlight all of the text (Ctrl-A) and copy and paste it into the Source view of the page contents box, overwriting any text in there already
9. Switch out of Source view to see what the new content looks like (by clicking the Source button again)
10. It will look better if you click the icon to view the editor full screen - the icon looks like this:
11. This is the tricky step.  This is where you need your HTML skills. Bit by bit, copy the content from the safe copy of your actual content (above), and paste it into the right place in your Home page.  You can do this either in Source view or in regular view, whichever makes more sense to you. Be sure to copy only the useful content from your saved backup - not the entire HTML code! Unless you're an expert at this, you are likely to make mistakes. Feel free to use the undo system (Ctrl-Z), or revert back to an earlier saved version and start again.
12. Click Save at the bottom when you're done.

If you have trouble with any of this, please do contact us at platform@makingmusic.org.uk.

Step 4.  Contact Points page

Your existing Contact Points page will also need an update.

The process is very similar to what you just did with the Home page (above):

1. Visit your Contact Points page
2. Click the edit button in the bottom-right corner
3. Click the Content tab
4. On the big box that contains all the existing content of your home page, click the Source button in the toolbar
5. Highlight all the HTML source code (Ctrl-A) and copy it (Ctrl-C).  Open up a simple text editor, like Notepad, and paste it (Ctrl-V).  Save it - you will need it in the latter steps.
6. Ensure that you're still in Source view
7. Click this link:  New contact page text it opens in a new window.
8. Highlight all of THAT text (Ctrl-A) and copy and paste it into the Source view of the page contents box, overwriting any text in there already.
9. Switch out of Source view by clicking the Source button again
10. Switch into full screen view (as per screenshot above)
11. Again, bit by bit, copy the content from the safe copy of your actual content (above), and paste it into the right place in your Contact page.  You can do this either in Source view or in regular view, whichever makes more sense to you.
    Be sure to copy only the useful content from your saved backup - not the entire HTML code!
     
12. Click Save at the bottom when you're done.

Again, if you have trouble with any of this, contact us on platform@makingmusic.org.uk.

Step 5.  Contact Us box - home page footer

The Contact Us section of the footer of most public-facing pages also needs a tweak.

The process is similar to the previous two steps:

1. Click the "cog" icon in the top-right corner of the site 
2. On the Website Setup and Configuration page, click the cog icon next to Making Music Platform
3. Click the Footer/Sidebar tab
4. In the Footer section, locate the Text for contact slideshow area field, and click its Source box
5. As before, copy all the code there and paste it somewhere safe
6. Click this link:  New contact footer box text it opens in a new window.
7. Highlight all of the text (Ctrl-A) and copy and paste it into the Source view of the Text for contact_slideshow area field, overwriting any text in there already
8. Switch out of Source view by clicking the Source button again. No need for full screen mode this time.
9. Again, bit by bit, copy the content from the safe copy of your actual content (above), and paste it into the right place.  You can do this either in Source view or in regular view, whichever makes more sense to you.
   Click Save at the bottom when you're done
10. Return to the home page to examine the results

Again, if you have queries with any of this then please do contact us on platform@makingmusic.org.uk.

Whenever you decide to create a public facing website, such as many of your Making Music Platform’s provide, it is often useful to publish information about your group – such as the name and email of the Music Director, or of the membership secretary.

This information, whilst important to have visible on your site, does mean that anybody will be able to reach out, and very occasionally they may do this with bad intentions. Often, a scam email is created in the following way:

• Scamming technology scours the internet for public names/email addresses (looking especially for words like ‘director’ or ‘treasurer’)
• The scamming technology then creates an email address with that found name, and messages another email address on that site with a request for money/information

With a little vigilance, however, these emails are easily spotted and prevented. Here are our top tips for spotting one of these emails. Firstly, check the actual email address of the sender: Many email clients allow email addresses to show a ‘Display Name’, a bit like a nickname. Whilst this Display Name may be the name of your Chair or Treasurer, by clicking or hovering on the name you will see the actual email address behind it. This is likely to be something randomly generated, with random letters or numbers. Even if it is a more convincing looking address, it is always useful to cross-check that email address with the actual email address of the sender.

• A scam email will often want you to act quickly (so that you overlook some of the signs that it is a scam email). This may come in the form of asking for a quick response or suggesting that it is an emergency.
• A scam email will often be trying to obtain money, bank details, or personal information. Most often, there is a request for a bank/BACS transfer that needs to be done quickly.
• Scam emails often use generic phrasing or formatting – they can be impersonal and to the point. Compare this with what you know of the supposed senders usual writing style. Giveaways can also be things such as the signature or send-off.

With these in mind, here are some good suggestions for what to do if you receive and identify a scam email:

• Review the information that you have publicly available. Do you need the email addresses and names of all your committee on your public website? It may be better to have just the membership secretary and a general contact email, for example.
• Share advice with other members of your group that you have received the scam email, so that they can be looking out for similar things.
• If in any doubt about the origin of the email, contact the supposed sender via an alternative email or even via a phone number to confirm whether they sent it. It is good practice to do this kind of double confirmation when discussing financial or sensitive information.
• Let us know of the scam email (or other scams related to the Platform) on platform@makingmusic.org.uk. We will then be able to make groups aware of these attempts and what to look out for.
• Stay vigilant – scammers may change their tactic or try something new, so always be careful if something doesn’t look right.

If your event has one or more member audits attached to it, the details of these audits can now be exported to a CSV file, for opening in Excel or similar. To do this:

• Navigate to the Event's page
• Scroll down to the Audits section
• Click Export to CSV

Stripe Price Increase - Stripe has officially announced that they will be increasing their transcation fees from 1.4% (+£0.20) to 1.5% (+£0.20)* from the 10 April 2023. That means that if you are using Stripe through the MM Platform, you will be charged 1.5% + £0.70 per transaction. For further details on our Payment Gateways, including all breakdowns of fees charged, please look at our payment gateways compared guidance.

*For Premium UK cards (commercial & business Visa/Mastercard) paying on your Platform, Stripe has alternative pricing. Please email us if this will affect you.

SMS Fees - If your group uses MM Platform's SMS/texting functionality, Making Music will now be sending you an invoice for these text messages at the same time as you receive your standard renewal invoice. Each SMS costs 8p +VAT to send (for example, if you were to send the same text message to 10 people, it would cost 80p +VAT), and we will be invoicing your group on all SMS messages sent from December 2022 onwards.

In your website configuration there used to be a field where you specified how long (in days) before an assessment expires (if you set it to 0, then assessments never expire). This option has been moved. It's now part of the Assessment Result Types system, meaning that every assessment result type (e.g. Passed, Nearly there, Please resubmit, etc) has its own expiry setting. So now your assessments can expire at different times, depending on the result of the assessment.

To adjust an assessment result type's expiry, visit your Admin Dashboard, then click on the Assessment Result Types link in the right-hand column on the Songs line.