TONO's annual meeting decided yesterday to lower the requirements to become a "voting member" in the organization. The result is that the number of TONO members who can attend the organization's annual meeting, vote for elected officials and run for office in the organization more than doubles - and increases from 1,972 to 4,663 members. - The annual meeting's decision strengthens democracy in TONO, says TONO Chairman, Jørgen Karlstrøm.
/ 09/06/2022 / Willy Martinsen
The proportion of TONO members with voting rights increases by 2,691 members at the turn of the year, from 1,972 to 4,663, after TONO's annual meeting yesterday voted in favor of the proposal from TONO's board to reduce the requirements for becoming a "voting member" in the cooperative TONO SA.
The new number of voting members represents approximately 85 percent of the settlements of TONO's membership, which as of May 2022 amounts to approximately 38,000 composers, lyricists, heirs and music publishers.
– According to the Collective Management Act, TONO has a responsibility to ensure equal treatment of members. At the same time, the board wants to strengthen the members' ability to influence TONO, and to take concrete steps to strengthen democracy. A united board therefore chose to propose to the annual meeting to introduce a significant reduction in the threshold for qualifying for the status of "voting member". We are pleased that the annual meeting has now taken such a clear principled position for a strengthened democracy in TONO, says Jørgen Karlstrøm, who was re-elected as chairman of the board of TONO at the annual meeting.
A TONO member previously became a TONO shareholder when the person's average settlement in the last two settlement years amounted to at least 0,5 G for composers, 0,25 G for lyricists, 1 G for heirs of composers and 0,5 G for heirs of lyricists. G here denotes the average basic amount of the National Insurance Scheme, which is adjusted annually, but which, for information, is 109,784 kroner as of May 2022. (Source: https://www.nav.no/no/nav-og-samfunn/kontakt-nav/utbetalinger/grunnbelopet-i-folketrygden)
These various income requirements have been reduced to 0,05 G of the average TONO settlement over the last three years, or 0,3 G for the last year, following the decision at TONO's annual meeting, for both composers, lyricists and heirs. For music publishers, the previous income requirement of 3,0 G on average over two years has been reduced to an average settlement over three years of at least 0,30 G or 1,8 G for the last year.
The annual meeting also decided that voting members will lose their voting rights again if the average TONO settlement over five years falls below 1/5 of the thresholds of 0,05 G for composers, lyricists and heirs and 1/5 of 0,30 G for music publishers.
– The reason that members with voting rights can also lose their voting rights is based on the Collective Administration Act's requirement for equal treatment of members. However, the threshold for losing the right to vote again is set low, in practice at an average annual settlement from TONO over a five-year period of approximately NOK 1,100, says Karlstrøm.
The annual meeting also approved the board's proposal to change the terms "shareholder" to "voting member". Members without voting rights are referred to as members. This makes the statutes more in line with both the Cooperatives Act and the Act on Collective Management of Copyright. In practice and everyday speech, members are also used to refer to all rights holders who have a management contract with TONO.
A number of other adjustments were also adopted in TONO's statutes in light of the adjustments to the Act on Collective Management. These partly concern minor clarifications to clarify rules that are already practiced today in accordance with the Act, and changes to, among other things, §3 on TONO's tasks, §§ 6 and 7 on the management contract, §16 on the annual meeting (including production of a transparency report, etc.) and § 28 on the board, etc. The amendments to the statutes will be updated on tono.no shortly.
Also read this story from TONO's annual meeting about decisions on TONO's new board and scholarship committee, chairman and deputy chairman, etc.
TONO was founded in 1928 and is a non-profit cooperative owned and managed by authors (composers and lyricists) and music publishers, and on their behalf manages the economic copyrights in the music they have created. TONO grants permission for the use of protected music, for example on radio, TV, the internet, concerts and cinemas for a fee, and transfers its financial results each year to the rights holders in music that has been played publicly. TONO has more than 37,000 members in Norway, but also works for millions of authors and music publishers from around the world. TONO gives music creators an economic basis to be able to create new music, and collects and simplifies the licensing of protected music to music users. TONO had a turnover of NOK 843,9 million in 2021.
Jørgen Karlstrøm, Chairman of the Board of TONO, jorgen.karlstrom@komponist.no, mobile 957 25 736
Cato Strøm, CEO of TONO, cato.strom@tono.no., mobile 922 16,319
Willy Martinsen, Communications Director at TONO, willy.martinsen@tono.no; Tel. +47,909 65 254
