TONO has written a reader's post in Ballade, in response to questions raised by TONO member Anders Odden. Read the post here.
/ 16/01/2026 / Willy Martinsen"How can a management organization verify whether a beat originates from a 19-year-old or is generated by a server park?" Anders Odden asks in a post in Ballade January 6.
It's a good question about a topic we at TONO also spend a lot of time on.
TONO allows the registration of works where members use AI as a tool in the creative process. This can be anything from sparring with Claude on a wording, checking if the English in a text flows better for an American ear, or letting Suno suggest a chorus based on a verse you've written.
Many of our members work this way. It provides new ideas, saves time and can contribute constructively to the creative effort.
Generative AI, where you get text or music without any human creative effort behind it, is something completely different.
Odden writes that TONO's principle that 100 percent AI-generated works do not trigger remuneration is noble. It has a legal basis. Copyright can only be granted to people, not machines. This is the basis of TONO's practice.
Odden's concern, however, is about enforcement, how this will work in practice. That concern is completely legitimate.
TONO is a membership organization. Members' work registrations with us are based on trust. The same applies to questions of originality and plagiarism. When a work is registered, it is the author who declares that the work is their own. TONO does not pre-check this, just as we do not pre-check how a work was created. This has always been the case, and this is how it works at similar companies around the world.
We do not ask for documentation in the form of lyrics, sheet music, chord charts, or audio files. What we need is title, duration, who owns the rights to the work, and a few additional points, such as the use of samples or AI.
Registering works in TONO is about the distribution of economic values, and deliberately providing incorrect information can have serious consequences.
Even though the system is based on trust, that doesn't mean we don't have control mechanisms. We do, and so do similar companies around the world, music publishers and system providers of works databases.
We monitor registrations, conduct spot checks and contact you when something seems unusual, such as a very high registration rate or other circumstances that give reason to ask. CISAC, our international umbrella organization, also has standards for work registrations that all companies must follow.
TONO has an aggressive stance on AI. We established an AI policy early on that provides members with a framework for how works can be registered when AI is used as a tool in the creative process.
At the same time, it is clearly clarified that one does not obtain copyright in the text or music in a work if it is fully generated by AI. In such cases, this must be noted in the work registration.
Traceability, better metadata and requirements for AI services are important topics for both collective management societies, international umbrella organizations for creators, for the EU and for governments in countries around the world. These are discussions that TONO participates in, together with sister societies. Since 2023, we have provided input both to Norwegian governments and directly to the EU on how AI should be regulated, in particular that far-reaching exceptions to copyright should not be granted when AI models are trained on copyrighted material.
Music creation has always been evolving. New tools have throughout history influenced both how music is created and how it sounds. AI is a new tool in this evolution.
TONO must, and will, have a vibrant relationship with new ways of working and new technology, while at the same time having a responsibility for safe and orderly administration. Odden's questions are therefore both relevant and important.
We believe that the existing trust-based solution, with control mechanisms, works well. We are concerned with security and safe management. This means that we will keep a watchful eye to ensure that we have the best possible systems and arrangements.