Christmas greetings from the managing director

Here is TONO CEO Karl Vestli's Christmas greetings to TONO's members, customers, partners and the rest of the industry.

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 / 22/12/2022 / Willy Martinsen

As we approach the time when the Christmas spirit fades, we at TONO look back on an exciting and demanding year.

We have been in demanding negotiations, we have taken important steps to adapt to the new law on collective management of copyright, we have entered into strategically important collaborations with technology providers, we have just launched a major technology program and we are working on developing our services based on the needs we will meet in the future. This includes everything from work on establishing new models for licensing and billing to technological tools and good self-service solutions for customers and members.

We have also been involved in a lengthy process with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra. After losing in the Oslo District Court, and then in the Borgarting Court of Appeal this fall, we learned today that the Supreme Court's appeal committee has decided that Our appeal will be heard in the Supreme Court.We look forward to the treatment, which will probably be in the spring.

Settled NOK 700 million
During 2022, we paid out NOK 700 million to composers, lyricists and music publishers at home and abroad. Of this, just over NOK 300 million went to TONO members. In September, we also paid out COVID-19 support from the Ministry of Culture.

We also distributed more than 17 million kroner in scholarships to 955 TONO members in 2022.

The work of collecting and paying royalties does not happen by itself. I am proud to lead an organization with more than 60 skilled and committed employees who truly stand for our customers to get their music licensed and for the rights holders to get their TONO payments. Their efforts are absolutely crucial for the copyright economy in the music sector in Norway.

New CEO at Polaris hub and new agreements
Polaris hub, which we own together with Danish Koda and Finnish Teosto, licenses our repertoire to streaming services internationally. On December 1st, Erik Brataas joined the company as CEO.. Erik is known to many in the Norwegian music industry as the founder of Phonofile, as a record label owner and as a music publisher. He has also led FONO. With Erik at the helm, we have high expectations for the licensing of our repertoire internationally in 2023 and beyond.

During 2022, TONO has entered into a number of important agreements on the online side, including with TikTok.

On the reporting side, we began receiving reports based on fingerprinting technology from NRK in 2022. NRK has entered into an agreement with BMAT, and is therefore now our first major customer to use such technology to report music usage.

 

VAT liability
While we await new VAT rules for the music sector, we took action this autumn to remove the uncertainty that some TONO members with VAT-compliant music businesses have been feeling. We clarified that foreign income from TONO and similar companies is exempt from VAT. At the same time, we have given TONO members an obligation to pay their VAT if, against all odds, they were to be charged VAT on TONO income from Norway. We have received a good response to this from the members concerned.

We also hope that VAT will be part of the assignment when the Ministry of Culture has announced that they will initiate a NOU, that is, a public investigation, for the entire music field. TONO wants to contribute actively to this work, and has already signaled this to the Ministry of Culture.

Knowledge dissemination
TONO is committed to sharing knowledge about TONO, our work, and copyrights. In 2022, we launched not just one, but two podcasts. "Playlist" reminds us of the value of music while "The Music Makers" is a pure knowledge podcast about TONO, copyrights, music licensing, and eventually also about other parts of the music economy. This year we have also shared knowledge about the gender imbalance in TONO's membershipThis received a lot of attention.

As usual, we have also distributed The EDVARD Prize in five categories as well as TONO's Mediator Award. With EDVARD we honor talented composers and lyricists among our members, remind people of the importance of newly written music, and build awareness that TONO is an organization of and for composers, lyricists and music publishers.

In 2022, we were present in a wide range of arenas. Both on the customer side, such as Nordic Media Days and Radio Days, and on the industry side, where we participated in Spellemann, Bylarm, Vill Vill Vest, Loud jentenes bandcamp, by:songs, Trondheim Song:expo, the Reeperbahn conference in Hamburg and The Great Escape in Brighton. etc. We have also held a number of TONO lectures, and both digital and physical member meetings for music publishers, composers and lyricists.

Strengthening TONO democracy

Following a decision at TONO's annual meeting on June 8, more than twice as many TONO members were granted voting rights in the cooperative TONO SA. The number of voting members increased from 1972 to 4663, after the income requirement was significantly reduced. We look forward to a good turnout at our annual meeting in June.

For TONO's employees, 2022 was also the first year in new premises at Møllergata 4. There we work in an open landscape, which has provided greater dynamism and better interaction.

2022 was also a sad year for TONO. In the fall We lost a dear colleague in Tor-Erik Askildsen.He is deeply missed.

We hope that Christmas will be a good time for both customers and members of TONO. We at TONO's administration are open if you need to get in touch with us.

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

 

Karl Vestli
CEO
TONO