Have you ever noticed the NCB logo on music cassettes, CDs, LPs or other physical music formats? This December, the Nordic Copyright Bureau turns 100 years old.
/ 22/12/2015 / codexAll official Nordic music releases on a physical format bear the NCB logo, which means that the release is properly licensed, and that the copyright holders of the works recorded and released have given their permission for the release, and received fair compensation for it.
TONO and TONO's sister societies in the other Nordic countries own NCB, and it has been this way since the 1930s.
– For rights holders, NCB has been a safe haven throughout all these years, and the company has been the very hub in the history of recorded music in the Nordic region throughout all these years. It is still a company with invaluable expertise and which does an important job for rights holders, producers and ultimately music lovers in general, who benefit from the fact that those who create the music are rightfully paid for the use of their musical works, says Cato Strøm, CEO of TONO.
NCB is the oldest of the Nordic management organizations, registered on December 7, 2015 by Danish PJ Carvil.
– PJ Carvil's original ambition was to manage both performance and mechanical rights in musical works. This meant that after a few years the company found itself in an uncomfortable competitive situation with the Danish KODA, Swedish STIM and TONO, companies that were all formed in the 20s and that manage performance rights in their respective countries, says Håkan Hildingsson, CEO of NCB today.
The solution was that NCB's shares were taken over by the three companies on January 1, 1936. The agreement meant that NCB would manage the mechanical rights on behalf of the owner companies, and at the same time end its entire
work with performance rights.
The pan-Nordic cooperation became even more representative when Finnish Teosto joined the ownership in 1972, and Icelandic STEF in 1991. In 1994, cooperation agreements were signed with the transmission company in Lithuania. Estonia and Latvia followed in 1996 and 2001.
The digitalization of the music market has created challenges for NCB. Since the beginning of the 2001s, revenue has decreased in line with declining CD sales. In recent years, the company has focused on efficient and profitable operations, with the lowest possible costs. The former local regional offices in the Nordic capitals, including Oslo, were all moved to Copenhagen a few years ago.
NCB has taken an aggressive approach to digitalization. In 2012, the company established a new company in collaboration with the British “TONO company” PRS. The new company is a joint venture called NMP (Network of Music Partners). The company provides back office services to companies that manage music rights, and today lives its own life independent of NCB’s administration with its own offices in Copenhagen and London. Among the companies that use NMP as a back office in the online field is TONO.
– NCB has faced new challenges, problems and opportunities throughout the years. Nevertheless, adaptability is written in the company's DNA, and it still stands as one of the oldest and finest examples of successful Nordic cooperation, concludes Hildingsson.
