– It is no coincidence that collective management has survived for a hundred years. It solves a fundamental problem that has no simple alternative, writes CEO Karl Vestli in his editorial in TONO's annual and transparency report. (Photo: Bård Gudim)
2025 was a strong year for TONO. We paid out almost 731 million kroner to rights holders in Norway and abroad, money that represents music that is created, performed and used by real people in a living musical life.
/ 18/05/2026 / Willy MartinsenThis is the CEO of TONO, Karl Vestli,'s commentary article in TONO's annual report.
The total payout amount ended 4 percent lower than in 2024. This is not due to weaker revenues – on the contrary, they increased by almost 10 percent – but primarily because the introduction of a new settlement model led to some funds from the background music area being settled on a representative basis in 2026. We expect 2026 to be a better year for the rights holders than several of the previous years. The cost percentage we deduct is kept at the same level as in 2024, despite the fact that we have completed significant development projects during the year.
But 2025 will be remembered primarily as the year when the discussion about TONO's billing model took place in earnest in the public sphere. It questioned something far more important than money: the trust between TONO and the music creators we exist for. The fact that trust in TONO is being challenged is serious, and we take responsibility for that. In the following, I will therefore try to provide some context for what TONO actually does, why we do it, and what role we play in a music scene that deserves an infrastructure it can trust.
A pop songwriter in Tromsø, a jazz composer in Berlin and a clothing store in Buenos Aires are part of an invisible system. A system that allows music to be used, shared and paid for across borders, genres and careers.
This system is the collective management of music rights, and is one of the most undervalued infrastructures in cultural life.
As the head of TONO, I am proud to manage it, even when it is demanding and we are in times that require change.
It is no coincidence that collective management has survived for a hundred years. It solves a fundamental problem that has no simple alternative:
There are too many works, too many music users and too many forms of use for individual management to be realistic on a large scale. No composer can monitor all uses of his music once it has been released into the world. No festival or café can negotiate with every individual author. Collective management is therefore not chosen because it is ideal in all situations, but because the alternative is confusing and in practice unusable.
There are many interests in the music industry. What everyone has in common is that music has an origin, and that there are rights attached to it. Some players can prioritize a group of artists and creators, others sew together tailor-made agreements for selected catalogs. TONO cannot, and will not.
We are a cooperative, owned and controlled by our members, and we manage rights on behalf of over 46,000 Norwegian music creators and millions from the rest of the world. Everyone should be treated equally, regardless of genre, size or commercial weight. That is the strength of the model. It is also its built-in excitement.
For both members and customers, the benefits are obvious when the system works as it should. For music creators, it means they don't have to negotiate with thousands of users themselves, and can still receive income from use in countries they have never visited. Through reciprocal agreements with a wide network of sister societies around the world, we ensure that the money finds its way home – whether the music is used in Harstad, Hamburg or Hamar.
For music users, the benefits are even clearer: One license gives access to almost all protected music in the world. A concert organizer, a broadcaster or a fitness center does not need to map out rights work by work. They get legal security and easy access in one agreement. It is this simplification that makes the system possible in practice, and that makes good music good business.
But precisely because the model is collective, friction can also arise. When everyone is to be taken into account, the solutions must necessarily be general. This means that some will find that their situation does not quite fit in. There is not necessarily room for individual adaptation in a system that is supposed to be fair to everyone.
In recent years, this has become visible in a way that we at TONO take very seriously. Decisions related to changes in the settlement model have created uncertainty among members, and changes in tariffs have resulted in customers experiencing increased complexity and a lack of predictability. The changes were necessary as a result of changes in regulations and international practice, but how they were communicated and implemented is our responsibility.
In such change processes, TONO must communicate in a timely, correct and honest manner. This is how we safeguard and build trust through change. We did not communicate these changes well enough, and we should have ensured that all members and customers were better prepared to face them.
We are not alone in these challenges. Most other collective management companies in our vicinity are facing the same tensions. What the best internationally have in common is not that they have found the perfect model, but that they are gaining trust through more transparency, clearer distribution logic and a lower threshold for speaking up when something is wrong.
That's where we're going.
The collective model requires everyone to take everyone into account. It is demanding, but it is also what makes it sustainable over time. The alternative is not freedom. It is a more expensive, more confusing and weaker system, for those who create the music and for those who use it.
For the model to work, it must be understood and deserve trust. This means, for example, that TONO will make the billing more understandable and verifiable before the summer, and during 2026 and 2027, new online solutions will be released that are better and simpler. These will make it easier to interact and communicate with us. We will also clarify the distinction between pure billing and cultural policy purposes.
I am optimistic about the collective management model. Not because everything is good as it is, but because the foundation is solid and the purpose is right. TONO should not just be a company for the strongest. It should be the infrastructure that allows all Norwegian music – from the amateur choir to the international composer – to be used, valued and paid for, worldwide.
That contract is invisible to many, but it is real. And it is worth taking care of.
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