The board proposes to change this in TONO's statutes.

On August 18, TONO's board will present proposed amendments to the statutes for the extraordinary annual meeting on September 1. The proposals that TONO's annual meeting will vote on concern the purpose clause, board composition, management of cultural contributions, and the introduction of advance voting.

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 / 18/08/2026 / Willy Martinsen

• This case deals with the main points of the proposals. The complete proposed bylaws from the board can be found at the bottom of this issue.   
• TONO's voting members received an invitation to the annual meeting on August 18th with a link to the annual meeting portal. tono.meetando.no. All the documents for the annual meeting are located there. This portal is also used during the annual meeting itself – both by those who participate only digitally, but also by those who participate physically at Sentralen.   

New purpose clause

The board proposes to incorporate new overarching principles into the statutes. The proposal states, among other things, that TONO shall safeguard musical breadth and diversity, and that funds for cultural contributions shall be managed according to open, objective and verifiable criteria and benefit the rights holder community. Furthermore, it states that TONO's activities shall be carried out in an open and verifiable manner that promotes trust and legitimacy among the membership as a whole.

It is also proposed that competence, suitability, independence and consideration of TONO's overall interests should be central to the composition of governing and advisory bodies.

Also read this article, where Chairman Tom Hugo Hermansen explains the vision and ambitions behind the proposed amendments to the articles of association. 

This is how the board will further develop TONO

A smaller, expertise-based board

The board proposes to reduce the number of board members from 11 to 8, while the proposal implies that there will no longer be permanent board positions linked to representatives from named organizations. The board will instead be composed based on the expertise TONO needs, while maintaining representation from different parts of the membership.

The proposed composition is:

• Two authors who hold positions in associations, one from an organization with members from narrower genres and one from an organization with genre diversity, including popular music
• two founders without such positions of trust
• one representative for the music publishers
• two employee-elected board members
• one external board member

Founders will continue to constitute the majority of the board. The board also proposes that the nomination committee be given separate instructions that will help ensure that the board as a whole has the necessary expertise and at the same time reflects the breadth of TONO's membership.

New framework for cultural funds

The board proposes that up to 8 percent of net revenues from licensing in Norway should still be allocated to cultural funds.

The proposal means that the statutes describe to a greater extent the purpose of the funds, and to a lesser extent who will receive them. The funds should be able to be used for:

• creative activities among TONO members
• cultural and business policy measures
• activities for the benefit of current and future TONO members

New allocation committee for cultural funds

The board proposes that the cultural contributions be distributed by a separate allocation committee elected by the annual meeting. The committee shall consist of three authors, one representative of the music publishers and one external member.

The board's proposal also divides the cultural contributions into three main categories:

• Production support
  Between 30 and 50 percent of the funds will go to eligible support schemes and production subsidies.
• Long-term investments
  Between 20 and 40 percent of the funds should be used for long-term projects and infrastructure.
• Activities and projects
  Between 20 and 40 percent of the funds will go to activities and projects that benefit the rights holder community.

Proposal for advance voting

The board proposes to introduce advance voting at TONO's annual meetings. The proposal entails that voting members will be able to cast their votes electronically for a period before the annual meeting. The board shall establish further guidelines for the scheme, including to ensure that members receive sufficient information and time to familiarize themselves with the proposals before voting begins.

You can read the board's proposal in full here.

The first document provides a clear overview of the board's proposed changes to the statutes. The documents Allocation instructions for cultural funds and Guidelines for advance voting at the annual meeting of TONO provide a deeper understanding of the proposals. The documents are part of the case documents for the annual meeting on September 1.

• Overview of the board's proposed amendments to the articles of association
• Allocation instructions for cultural funds
• Guidelines for advance voting at the TONO annual meeting

The case was updated on August 19 at 9:50 p.m. when the annual meeting documents describing the board's proposed changes to the bylaws were added to the case.