TONO received NOK 30,5 million from the Ministry of Culture in March as compensation for Covid-19-related loss of income. The compensation for loss of concert income will be paid out on Wednesday this week. Here you can see the principles that TONO has used as a basis for the distribution.
/ 28/09/2021 / Willy MartinsenCovid-19 caused composers, lyricists and music publishers significant losses of TONO income from areas such as concerts, hotels, cafes, tourism and cinema. After TONO and the interest organizations NOPA, NKF and Musikkforlaggerne pointed out to the authorities several times throughout the fall of 2020 that our members were not covered by the compensation and stimulus schemes, Minister of Culture Abid Q. Raja announced on 3 February that TONO and Gramo would together receive NOK 40 million in compensation for Covid-19-related income losses.
In March, TONO formally applied for compensation from the Ministry of Culture based on detailed loss calculations. A few weeks later, TONO received NOK 30,5 million in compensation, equivalent to approximately 70 percent of the estimated loss of remuneration.
The grant letter required that TONO pay a 2 percent fee of the amount to the Norwegian Composers' Fund, that up to NOK 600,000 could be used for administrative costs, and that it submit a report and accounts for the use of the grant to the Ministry of Culture.
Furthermore, the letter also demanded that the subsidy “… shall be used to provide support to TONO rights holders who live and mainly operate in Norway, and who have had their royalty income reduced as a result of COVID-19-related infection control measures in 2020. The support shall be distributed according to established principles in the organization, so that it will cover a share of the losses that the individual rights holders have suffered. Examples of such principles may be distribution based on reports from music users in 2020, historical data on royalty payments and knowledge of cancelled or limited events in 2020.”
Over the past six months, a special working group in the administration, together with TONO's board and relevant departments in TONO's administration, has worked to develop the best possible model for distributing the funds. The model that was ultimately decided upon is based on the assumption that the funds should be directed fundamentally towards rights holders who normally have a certain income from the concert sector, and as a result of covid-19 have suffered a significant loss. To qualify, one must therefore have had an average ordinary concert settlement from TONO of kr 5,000 for the last three years (2017-2019), kr 7,500 on average for 2018-2019, or kr 10,000 and 2019
TONO received compensation from KUD for 70 percent of the estimated losses. The individual calculation of the compensation is therefore based on 70 percent of the average ordinary concert settlement for the years 2017-2019. For members who joined in 2018 or later, the average for 2018-2019 has been used as a basis. The concert settlement for 2020 is deducted from this amount. The difference constitutes the compensation amount. This also means that if the ordinary concert settlement for 2020 is greater than the basic amount, i.e. 70 percent of the average for 2017-19 or 2018-19 if you became a member in 2018 or later, you have such a high ordinary settlement that you do not qualify to receive support.
After the deduction of two percent to the Norwegian Composers' Fund and two percent for administration, the final distribution amount was NOK 29,2 million. TONO is now paying out the lion's share of the amount, i.e. NOK 27,6 million, as compensation for the loss of TONO remuneration from concertsThe remaining amount will be paid in December as compensation for loss of income from cinemas and other areas. Any subsequent concerts for 2020 will be made with a deduction for the compensation amount paid in September.
Here is an example of how the method TONO has developed works in practice at an individual level:
By logging into My TONO, each member can see whether, and how much, they have received of the compensation. Members who have questions about the distribution of the compensation are asked to contact TONO's member service by email. medlem@tono.no, or by phone at 22 05 72 80. The general complaint deadline applies and is, as usual, six weeks from the date the September settlement is paid.
The text was updated on September 29th at 7:42 and 8:31 with two clarifications in the section "Newly developed model"