TONO is experiencing historically high revenues and is in the midst of major changes. At the same time, expectations from members and customers are rapidly evolving. TONO CEO Karl Vestli shares his reflections on TONO's year 2024 – and the way forward.
The figures TONO presents for 2024 are record-breaking, impressive and paint a picture of a growing Norwegian music scene. At the same time, it is a reality that relatively few have large payouts, while the majority experience that the payouts are small. Many are calling for greater transparency, higher tariffs and better solutions.
Many are also concerned that their work is threatened by technological freedom and artificial intelligence. For us at TONO, this is an important reminder that we must work even better and more efficiently with necessary changes to our practices and regulations.
In the past year, we at TONO have taken excellent care of the rights we are entrusted to manage by our approximately 43,000 members, and millions of other creators in our sister organizations around the world. Never before have our revenues been greater, and for the first time in TONO's history they are over one billion kroner. This tells us that music continues to create great value for those who use it in their businesses, such as concert organizers, streaming services, film and television producers, radio channels, shops and restaurants.
At the same time, TONO is in a period of significant investments in technology and infrastructure, in order to offer better services to members and customers, and to ensure the quality of our work into the future. This means that costs are higher than before, but we have still managed to keep the overall settlements to members at a higher level than the previous year.
In 2024, TONO's annual meeting adopted major changes to the settlement model. These were not only necessary for TONO to comply with the Collective Management Act, they also signal the start of an important reform of TONO's practice and regulations that are in line with the expectations of many members, customers and the industry. Our members are calling for greater insight into the settlements, better reports, a more thorough understanding of how cultural funds are used, and a competitive administration cost. These are challenges that we at TONO welcome, and look forward to working on further. A first step will be taken in connection with the annual meeting in 2025, where more changes to the statutes, principles and conditions will probably be presented.
Our central strategy has been, and continues to be, to build closer and stronger relationships with our members and the industry at large. We organize member forums and seminars, and collaborate with important meeting places such as by:Larm, Trondheim Calling and a number of contexts where music is created. There we organize meetings, seminars, debates and share data and knowledge.
We have also increased, and will continue to do so in 2025, our contact with music users – our customers. This includes meetings with, among others, the media industry, technology communities, background music users in the catering and accommodation sectors, concert organizers and the voluntary sector.
It is now, and in the future, an important part of TONO's strategy to build even stronger relationships with our customers. The legal requirement to set tariffs that reflect the value our repertoire represents for customers means that we must work more closely with customers to understand their needs and how music can contribute to creating greater value for users.
The music industry is changing at a breakneck pace. Technology, politics and new business models are continuously changing our framework conditions. Our development program "Mjølnir" is in its third year, contributing to increased digitalization and restructuring of TONO.
We have taken a proactive approach to artificial intelligence, and see opportunities for our members while standing up to the copyright violations that today's training of AI models represents. Both national and European legislation lags behind in this area. At the same time, it is developments in digital business models and services, and in the use of these, that challenge us. The large technology companies and platforms are becoming larger and more powerful, and TONO must cooperate even more and seek alliances in order to be able to stand stronger against them in the future. It is natural to seek closer cooperation with other management organizations and publishers.
TONO is being renewed in many ways, not only technically and organizationally, but also visually and physically. In connection with our annual report and the annual meeting, our new visual profile will be visible.
2025 also marks the year in which we complete the TONO house in Kongens gate 12. In the new year 2026, we will finally be able to welcome members to meeting and workplaces in their own house in the middle of downtown Oslo.
Our ambition is that in this house we can join forces across the industry so that together we can strengthen music and members, and ensure that customers create even greater value when the music is used!
Karl Vestli
Chief Executive Officer
