TONO has now entered into an agreement with SF Studios that regulates the music performances on the children's channel SF Kids. This means that the authors who have written the music used on the channel will be paid by TONO for this.
/ 29/06/2020 / Kristian Dugstad– We are pleased to be able to add SF Kids to our customer portfolio of Video on demand services, says Department Director for Online Media, Inger Elise Mey.
She has led TONO's negotiations with the Swedish company. The agreement was signed on June 5, and as a result, all composers and lyricists who write music used in the programs on this streaming service will be paid by TONO for it.
- We have had a very constructive and positive dialogue with SF Studios, first around the SF Anytime service where we agreed on an agreement a year ago, and then for SF Kids. The agreement is in line with our terms and gives SF Studios permission to use the world repertoire in the service here in Norway. They pay us for the use of music, and report what is performed. This allows us to pay further TONO remuneration to the rightful authors, says Mey.
Video on demand has emerged as one of TONO's most important digital business areas in recent years. The agreement with SF Studios not only grants permission to perform the music written by TONO's 34,000 members. It also encompasses the entire world repertoire. For SF Kids, this means they get one permission to perform all the world's music in one place.
SF Studios was established as early as 1919, and has produced children's programs for many decades. With the streaming service SF Kids, which was launched in 2016, the company has collected many of its well-known and beloved series, such as Emil i Lønneberget, Livet på Saltkråkan and so on, in addition to a wide selection of children's programs from other countries in one streaming service. SF Kids is currently available throughout the Nordic region.
– We have had a positive and constructive dialogue with TONO, and are pleased that we have agreed on an agreement for SF Kids. Norway is an important market for us, and it is also important that the composers and lyricists are paid fairly for the fine music that is performed in our wide range of quality series and films for Norwegian families with children, says Jens Håkansta, who is head of the Digital Services business area at SF Studios.
TONO is owned and managed by authors (composers and lyricists) and music publishers, and manages on their behalf 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 of music that has been played in public. TONO has 34,000 members, but also works for approximately three million authors and music publishers from around the world. TONO's social role is twofold, on the one hand collecting and simplifying the licensing of protected music and on the other hand providing music creators with an economic basis for creating new musical works. TONO's turnover in 2019 was kr 771 millions.
SF Studios was founded in 1919 and is one of the world's oldest film companies. Today, SF Studios is the leading film company in the Nordic region, headquartered in Stockholm and with operations in Oslo, Copenhagen, Helsinki and London. The company produces and distributes films and TV series for the Nordic and international markets, and operates the digital services SF Anytime and SF Kids. SF Studios is part of the largest media company in the Nordic region, Bonnier AB.
For more information:
Willy Martinsen, Communications Manager at TONO, +47,909 65 254, willy.martinsen@tono.no
Jens Håkansta, Head of Digital Services, SF Studios, +46 76,050 89 20, Jens.Hakansta@sfstudios.se