Beharie played a concert at Jokerbutikken at Risteigen in Kongsberg on June 21, 2023. Photo: Nucleus
Joker Risteigen in Kongsberg won TONO's big competition where people could nominate and surprise a store with a concert. Yesterday, one of the country's great soul artists, and Spellemann winner, Beharie, played a concert in the store. - We hope increased awareness of how important music is, also for stores, will contribute to even more businesses in Norway starting to use music, says Willy Martinsen, communications director at TONO.
/ 22/06/2023 / Willy MartinsenThe shopping trip to the Joker store on Risteigen for customers was a bit out of the ordinary on Wednesday, June 21. Between the ice cream counter, flowers and cash registers, Spellemann winner Beharie played a concert for the store's employees and customers. Artist and songwriter Beharie thought both the venue and the audience were a treat:
– This was surprisingly nice. It was a really nice atmosphere and it felt very natural to play here. I had expected people to stop for a couple of minutes and then go shopping, but they stayed and listened to the whole concert, says Beharie.
Joker Risteigen was nominated by one of the store's customers and was chosen as the winner among 192 nominations from all over the country.
– The prize in the competition was a concert with Beharie. The feedback from the employees and customers was brilliant, and it was nice to be able to give this gift to a store that means a lot to the local community, says Willy Martinsen, Communications Director at TONO. TONO is the Norwegian cooperative of and for composers, lyricists, songwriters and music publishers. The organization has 40,000 Norwegian members and also represents music creators from all over the world.
The justification states that Joker Risteigen is a rare convenience store with people who are passionate about their job. They are the "hub" in the local community, and among other things deliver food to the elderly in the district. The employees are described as a great bunch.
– We fell for both the rationale and the fact that grocery stores are a rather unusual scene. Here we could create a magical experience that you wouldn't expect when you just go to the store, says Martinsen.
One of TONO's most important tasks is to contribute to increased knowledge about, and understanding of, the important work done by those who write music and lyrics.
– Concert organizers, radio and TV channels, streaming services, stores and others who use music publicly pay TONO, and we pay it on to those who have written the songs. It is important for us to remind Norwegians that music is important, that it creates value for users and is worth paying for. We arranged the concert to create awareness about this. We hope that more Norwegian businesses, including grocery stores, will use background music. Research shows that the correct use of music in stores creates well-being among customers and employees, and that it can not least increase the stores' income, says Martinsen.
Read more about the competition and how music enhances experiences here: https://www.musikkenforsterker.no/tono-minikonsert/
About TONO
TONO was founded in 1928 and is a non-profit cooperative owned and managed by composers, lyricists and music publishers, and which manages the economic copyrights in their musical works. TONO grants permission for the use of protected music on radio, TV, the internet, concerts, cinema, etc. for a fee, and transfers its financial results each year to the rights holders of music that has been performed publicly. TONO has more than 40,000 members, but also works for millions of authors and music publishers from around the world. TONO gives music creators an economic basis to create new music, and collects and simplifies the licensing of protected music to music users. TONO had a turnover of NOK 864,6 million in 2022.
For more information:
Willy Martinsen, Communications Director at TONO, mobile 909 65,254, willy.martinsen (a) tono.no