Inger Elise Mey appointed Director of International Affairs

Photo at top: Caroline Roka.

TONO is influenced by international legal and market framework conditions. EU directives become Norwegian laws, and the Norwegian music industry is directly affected by developments in the international music market. TONO's work is also distinctively international through the management of rights and financial flows across borders.

TONO is now strengthening its international advocacy work by establishing a new position as Director of International Affairs. TONO has appointed Inger Elise Mey to this role, leaving her previous position as Director of TONO's media department. TONO will recruit a new leader for this area over the summer.

– TONO wants to take a clearer role as a driving force in international cooperation for copyright and in global cooperation in rights management. Mey is a skilled copyright lawyer with experience from key international positions spanning several decades. As head of TONO's negotiation work against broadcasters and international digital players, she has stood on the barricades for rights holders in the digital area, and has very valuable knowledge that she brings with her to the international work. I am pleased that Inger Elise Mey has expressed her willingness to take on the new role, and I have high expectations for the work she will do both for TONO and for international cooperation, says TONO CEO Karl Vestli.

Will take a clear role in CISAC and GESAC

In his new role, Mey will be 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 European collective management societies' spokesperson towards the EU.

– Mey will actively participate in working groups in these collaborative organizations to influence the development of laws and regulations that take into account new technology and changing media conditions, for the benefit of both authors and music publishers. The role also involves contact with relevant national and international government and interest organizations, as well as legal and technical professional communities, says Vestli.

New technology places increased demands on international collaboration

Inger Elise Mey has worked on copyright issues in the face of new technology since she joined TONO on January 1, 1996. She licensed the first streaming service as early as the 1990s, negotiated with Spotify when they came to Norway in 2008 and with Netflix in 2012 – and the other music and film streaming services that have entered the Norwegian market. Mey has been the department director of TONO's media department since 2012, and has also been TONO's representative in the "Madrid Group", which is Gesac's legal expert group, for more than ten years. She has also been TONO's representative in CISAC's "Media Technical Committee" for 20 years, and has chaired the committee since 2016.

Inger Elise Mey looks forward to being able to enter even more strongly into international work on copyright and market issues in the years ahead:

– The international cooperation between the world's collective management societies has been a pillar of the global music industry for a hundred years. We all know that technological developments in the music sector have been lightning fast since the 1990s. It is crucial that the 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 the rights holders in musical works receive their fair share of the revenues of streaming companies, AI companies, broadcasters and more. I am very happy to be even more involved in international work in the years to come, says Mey.

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:

Karl Vestli, CEO of TONO, mob. 932 56,020, karl.vestli (a) tono.no
Willy Martinsen, Communications Director at TONO, mobile 909 65,254, willy.martinsen (a) tono.no