From major label to media manager – This is Kristin Haugan

On February 1, Kristin Haugan took over the job as department manager for the media department. A business area that accounted for two-thirds of TONO's revenue of just under NOK 900 million in 2022.

At TONO, the 41-year-old from Vestfold will be responsible for major customers such as Spotify, YouTube, Meta, NRK and Netflix.

– Three weeks is a short time in a new job, but long enough to say that my colleagues in the media department are working very hard to ensure that music creators get paid. They have welcomed me warmly, and I look forward to us tackling the challenges and opportunities that the rapid digital development offers together, says Haugan.

Background from Spotify and Universal Music

Haugan has a 14-year career in the music industry, and started at Spotify in 2010 as part of the sales team working towards the advertising market.

- This was back when Spotify had a large majority of free users, and thus also a relatively large advertising market. I worked with both direct customers and media agencies in Norway. During this period, Spotify was in the middle of acceptance and resistance in the music industry, so this was a very fun and challenging job in an industry that was developing rapidly, she says.

However, Norwegians proved to be willing to pay for music. As the proportion of paying subscribers increased, the advertising market declined. In 2013, Haugan joined Universal Music Norway.

- I was hired as Digster Manager, Universal Music's own playlist service, and worked there setting up marketing campaigns, optimizing and creating playlists for Norway. In 2017, I became "Commercial Partnership Manager", with Spotify as my largest client. The job primarily involved pitching songs to Spotify, thinking up creative partnerships and generally chasing streams in every way. Streaming is probably what I've worked on the most during my years in the music industry.

Inger Elise Mey is director of international affairs.

At the same time as Haugan took up his position, Inger Elise Mey fully transitioned into her new role as Department Director for International.

In his new role, Mey is responsible for promoting TONO's involvement in international interest organizations such as CISAC, which is the umbrella organization for the world's collective management societies, and Gesac, which is the voice of the European collective management societies towards the EU. Thus, TONO puts more resources and expertise into taking a leading role in this area internationally.

– It is crucial that collective management societies are close to digital developments, collaborate on smart solutions and work with the EU and other legislators around the world to ensure that composers, lyricists, songwriters and music publishers get their fair share of the revenues of streaming companies, AI companies, broadcasters and so on. I am pleased to have the opportunity to join even more strongly in this important international work and strengthen TONO's work in this area in the years to come, says Mey.