TONO received NOK 34 million from the Ministry of Culture in March 2022 as compensation for COVID-19-related loss of income. The compensation will be paid to TONO members on Wednesday, September 28. Here you can see the principles that TONO has used as a basis for the distribution.
/ 28/09/2022 / Willy MartinsenCovid-19 caused composers, lyricists and music publishers significant losses of TONO income from areas such as concerts, hotels, cafes, tourism and cinema.
As last year, TONO formally applied for compensation from the Ministry of Culture in March 2022 based on detailed loss calculations, and as a result received NOK 34 million in compensation, corresponding to approximately 70 percent of the estimated loss of remuneration.
The grant letter requires that TONO pay a 2 percent fee of the amount to the Norwegian Composers' Fund, that up to NOK 600,000 can be used for administrative costs, and that a report and accounts for the use of the grant must be submitted to the Ministry of Culture.
Furthermore, the letter demands that the subsidy “… shall be used to provide support to TONO rights holders who live and mainly operate in Norway, and who have had their royalty income reduced as a result of COVID-19-related infection control measures in 2021. The support shall be distributed according to established principles in the organization, so that it will cover a share of the losses that the individual rights holders have suffered. Examples of such principles may be distribution based on reports from music users in 2021, historical data on royalty payments and knowledge of cancelled or limited events in 2021.”
The model that was developed for the distribution of compensation funds for 2020 has been reused for 2021, with only a minor modification to, among other things, take into account newer members.
The model that was finalized for 2020 after careful consideration was based on the assumption that the funds would be directed towards rights holders who normally have a certain income from the concert area. The same consideration was also applied to the other compensated performance areas, where rights holders had also suffered covid-19-related losses. To qualify, one therefore had to have had an average ordinary concert settlement from TONO of kr 5,000 for the last three years (2017-2019), kr 7,500 on average for 2018-2019, or kr 10,000 in 2019. What's new for 2021 is that you also qualify if you had at least kr 10,000 in settlement for 2020.
TONO also received compensation from KUD this year of 70 percent of estimated losses. The individual calculation of the compensation is therefore based on 70 percent of the average ordinary concert settlement for the years 2017-2019. For members who joined in 2018 or later, the average for 2018-2019 has been used as a basis. For members who only qualified based on the concert settlement for 2020, the average for 2017-2020 has been used as a basis.
From this amount, the concert settlement for 2021 is deducted. The difference constitutes the compensation amount. This also means that if the ordinary concert settlement for 2021 is greater than the basic amount, the ordinary settlement is so high that one does not qualify to receive support.
After the deduction to the Norwegian Composers' Fund of two percent and two percent for administration, the final distribution amount was 27,1 million kroner, which will be paid in full in September.
In the 2020 compensation payment, the amount for those TONO members who qualified was distributed pro rata on top of the cinema settlement, but with a linear reduction factor from 0,3 to 1 in the period January 1 – March 16 when the restrictions in society were introduced. This means that there was a gradually lower reduction up to March 16.
The amount for 2021 is similarly distributed pro rata on top of the cinema settlement for 2021, but with a reduction factor from the restrictions in society that were lifted in the period from September 25 to December 16.
After the deduction to the Norwegian Composers' Fund of two percent and two percent for administration, the final distribution amount was 902,688 kroner, which will be paid in full in September.
A smaller amount for revues is distributed according to similar rules as concerts and the amount for a number of other areas without reporting, such as background music in hotels, restaurants, shops, etc. is distributed according to the same principles as in normal settlement. For example, a share of this is added to the top of the concert calculation while a share is distributed pro rata between members who have received settlement in the NRK area.
A total of NOK 32,7 million is distributed in KUD funds.
Here is an example of how the method TONO has developed works in practice at an individual level:
A licensee became a member in 2010 and has kr 25,000 in average ordinary concert billing for the period 2017-2019.
The basis for calculating compensation is then kr 25,000 * 70% = kr 17,500.
The licensee gets kr 5,000 in concert fees for 2021.
The compensation amount will then be kr 17,500 - kr 5,000 = kr 12,500.
By logging into My TONO, each member can see whether, and how much, they have received of the compensation. Members who have questions about the distribution of the compensation are asked to contact TONO's member service by email at medlem@tono.no, or by phone at 22 05 72 80. The general complaint deadline applies and is, as usual, six weeks from the settlement in September being paid.