There is limited joy in writing about record results for the year 2019 in an exceptionally sad spring of 2020.
At the time of writing, it has only been a month since TONO'smembers had to experience that Norway was forced to close down concerts, events and most of the activities they make a living from.
Creativity was immediate among TONO members and others who wanted to help give people the musical experiences they were suddenly robbed of. Corona concerts quickly became a great way to communicate with an audience that was prevented from meeting where they are used to meeting.
TONO was early in establishing a licensing model for the so-called corona concerts. As of April 30, 2020, approximately 500 such concerts have been held and reported to TONO. However, it is important to communicate that these corona concerts in no way compensate for the loss of income that our members have as a result of the cancellation of the traditional concert activities that were planned for the spring and summer months. At the time of writing, it is also likely that the autumn concert activities will be severely restricted.
The entire country, our industry certainly included, is in the midst of a serious crisis, and no one can say when we will return to what can be described as "normal" again. It may take a long time. TONO contributes in this phase with input and financial calculations to the ministry and together with the music industry as a whole. Together, we have, together with the Music Industry Council, MIR, proposed that a fund be established that can compensate for some of the loss that TONO's members will suffer in the period from March to August 2020. The loss calculations will be continuously reassessed as we see how long the shutdown will last.
The crisis in the concert market and the rest of the market that uses music daily in its business will hit TONO members with full force in the settlements in 2021.
In mid-March, TONO estimated that in the six-month period from March 2020 to the end of August 2020, we will experience a turnover loss of kr 107 million for the rights we manage for Norwegian and foreign members. We now see that the shutdown of large parts of the market that uses music in their business will undoubtedly last longer than the end of August 2020.
We will likely experience that a large number of TONO's customers will have to close for good, and we will see the ripple effects of this in both 2021 and the years thereafter. It is important that we ensure during this period that culture is not sold cheaply. Our members should have their "fair remuneration" as stated in the Copyright Act. There will be pressure on rights holders in all categories in the time ahead of us, and there may be greater competition for jobs than we have experienced.
We trust in constructive cooperation with the authorities, and that solutions will be established that will help limit our members' losses to the greatest possible extent.
Record year in 2019
Despite difficult times in 2020, 2019 delivered TONO's strongest results ever. Gross revenue ended at a whopping NOK 771 million, an increase of 9 percent from 2018. Profit to be distributed kr 674,4 million was 9,9 percent higher than the previous year. We are proud that TONO is now a "ten percent society". The cost percentage for operating TONO was 10,50 percent.
For the first time in the company's history, we reached the milestone of NOK 100 million in concert revenue in 2019. Again: I say this with a bitter taste in my mouth, of course, knowing what spring 2020 brought to the concert market. In the meantime, this means that TONO's members can expect good concert settlements in the fall of 2020.
It is natural to point out that an important factor in the good year is that TONO won the Supreme Court case against RiksTV and in subsequent negotiations was paid compensation of kr 100,5 millions.
In the category of disappointments comes the unresolved relationship between TONO and the four largest orchestra companies in Oslo, Bergen, Trondheim and Stavanger. These are not willing to pay what we consider to be “reasonable remuneration” under the Copyright Act. Our goal will be to convince these institutions, which receive more than kr 600 million from the Ministry of Culture, to support Norwegian composers by performing their works and paying a reasonable fee for it. In this way, they can fulfill their purpose, which is "to increase interest in artistically valuable music through orchestral, choral and chamber concerts, as well as tours and recordings," to quote the largest orchestra's purpose.
TONO will work hard to ensure that our members get through this crisis that has hit cultural life so hard, and our goal is to avoid culture being sold cheaply, because we know that the audience out there misses the music experiences.
Sincerely,
Cato Strom
Adm. Manager
