Summer greetings from TONO's Karl Vestli

Dear reader,

We have just left a warm and sunny June behind us. While the holiday season is in full swing, we are entering what for many of TONO's members is the most hectic period of the year – the festival summer.

When TONO presented its annual results for 2022 at the end of May, we were particularly pleased to see the strong increase in concert revenue. We ended up with NOK 104 million, the highest revenue in this area ever, and 2023 looks set to be just as good. With that, we can once and for all state that the difficult pandemic years are finally behind us. We wish everyone on, behind and in front of the stage a fantastic festival summer ahead.

In mid-June, the Supreme Court ruled in the case between the Oslo Philharmonic and TONO. The core of this long-standing dispute has been whether public subsidies should be taken into account when calculating the remuneration of concert organizers who have a significant share of their income in the form of such subsidies, such as the Oslo Philharmonic. TONO believes this is necessary in order to ensure that the payment to composers and lyricists is reasonable.

TONO's appeal was rejected on the grounds that the tariff model in question only applied to the Oslo Philharmonic, and therefore did not meet the law's requirement for equal treatment, but the Supreme Court provided an important clarification. The court does not exclude that state subsidies can be used as a basis for remuneration, and has determined that TONO, within the framework of the law, has the freedom to determine how the remuneration should be determined and how high it should be. We therefore experience the judgment as half a victory, and have initiated work to look more closely at how we design the concert tariffs. 

Development has been an important keyword for TONO so far in 2023, and will continue to be so in the years ahead. We are in the midst of extensive technological development work that will both streamline the way TONO works and provide members and customers with better services. As recently as June, it became possible for members to link their recording codes (ISRC) to TONO-registered works. We will continue to launch new features continuously in the coming time.

Another key development work is the design of a new settlement model. The work to modernize this model has had broad involvement and has been ongoing for a long time. We are now approaching the final phase. The new model must take into account both national and international legislation and requirements from sister societies and members. Future TONO payments will be faster, even more precise and easier to understand.

In May, TONO reached a milestone when we reached 40,000 members. Between January 1 and May 31, we gained 1100 new members, almost as many as we gained in the entire year of last year. We thank each and every one of you for the trust you have placed in us and we warmly welcome you.

At the same time, on behalf of all TONO employees, I would like to take this opportunity to wish members, customers and partners a really good summer filled with music.