TONO and its sister societies Teosto (Finland) and KODA (Denmark) are in negotiations with Google about a new, joint Nordic agreement for YouTube. KODA's agreement has expired, and Koda and Google disagree on what terms should apply in the meantime for the Danish territory until a new agreement is reached. The disagreement between YouTube and Koda has led to Google taking down the repertoire that KODA represents in Denmark.
/ 05/08/2020 / Willy Martinsen– It is regrettable that Google has taken the step of removing the music KODA manages from Danish YouTube in Danish territory. It has now become clear that Norwegian authors are also affected by this, as Google also removes a lot of Norwegian-written music from Danish YouTube, says Cato Strøm, CEO of TONO.
The management companies TONO, Teosto (Finland) and KODA (Denmark) have been negotiating with Google throughout the summer about a new joint agreement for YouTube that will replace the three companies' previous individual agreements with Google for the video service. TONO's agreement with YouTube expires in spring 2021, but the Danish agreement has already expired, and YouTube wants to extend it on terms that are unacceptable to Koda.
The collecting societies believe that Google should pay the authors more than they do. However, KODA announced last week that Google is demanding a reduction in payments to KODA of approximately 70 percent of what they have paid under the old Danish agreement. KODA has not been able to accept this.
– Google responded by starting to remove music written by KODA members from Danish YouTube, but we now also see that they are taking down music KODA manages on behalf of its sister societies in the Danish territory. This also includes the music of TONO members. This is of course a situation we are looking at with the utmost seriousness as this affects our members' income from YouTube in Denmark, says CEO Cato Strøm.
Strøm emphasizes that TONO, KODA and Teosto are continuing negotiations with YouTube, and that TONO will provide further information as soon as there is anything new to report on the matter.
It is clarified that the situation only applies to Danish YouTube. TONO's local agreement for Norway expires in spring 2021.
About TONO:
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.
For more information:
Willy Martinsen, communications manager at TONO, mobile 909 65 254. willy.martinsen@tono.no