TONO had a turnover of NOK 771 million in 2019 and had an expense ratio of 10,5 percent. “It is with very mixed feelings that we present record-breaking annual accounts at a time when authors, music publishers and artists are experiencing the biggest crisis ever in our field,” says Cato Strøm, CEO of TONO.
/ 25/05/2020 / Kristian DugstadTONO's results for 2019 show a gross turnover of kr 771,029,047, an increase of 9,01% from 2019. Profit for distribution to rights holders after statutory deduction of 2% to the Norwegian Composers' Fund, losses and administrative costs was kr 674,391,863. This represented an increase of 9,88% from 2018. The expense ratio was 10,50%, the lowest in the company's 91-year history.
TONO works for composers, songwriters and music publishers. The songs and works they create and own provide ticket revenue for concert organizers and cinemas, advertising revenue for radio and TV channels and more competitive offers to customers for hairdressers, shopping malls, cafes and nightclubs. TONO is pleased to be able to manage such an attractive repertoire, and to be an important hub between music creators and music users in business and organizations, says TONO CEO Cato Strøm.
2019 was a special year for TONO in many ways. We negotiated a settlement of over 100 million kroner following the Supreme Court victory over RiksTV. A historic copyright directive was adopted in the EU Parliament. We launched our own licensing hub together with our sister societies in Denmark and Finland. We also developed a new strategy for TONO that includes initiating significant IT-related development projects to strengthen our offering and our services towards both music creators and users, says Strøm.
TONO's concert revenues have almost doubled in five years, from NOK 56,6 million in 2014 to NOK 100,4 million in 2019. The RiksTV settlement of NOK 100 million contributed significantly to extraordinarily high revenues from TV distribution of NOK 189 million. Foreign revenues ended at NOK 65,4 million. This is lower than in 2018, which is more due to accruals and back payments from abroad regarding tax matters than to less use of Norwegian music abroad. The decline in the online area from 2018 is primarily due to two back payments totaling NOK 35 million giving extraordinarily high figures in the accounts for 2018, while a correction of NOK 30 million reduced the recorded figures for 2019. Nevertheless, TONO sees, regardless of such variations, that the previously strong growth in music streaming revenues has long since begun to stagnate. This is because larger sister societies and large international music publishers directly license their repertoires outside of the reciprocal agreements. TONO, together with Koda (Denmark) and Teosto (Finland), has itself established its own direct licensing of streaming services through the licensing hub Polaris Music Hub.
TONO's revenues in 2019 stand in stark contrast to the reality of Norwegian cultural life in the spring of 2020.
– TONO's currently expected loss of income from March to the end of August is NOK 107 million, with the concert and background music areas being hit hardest. This will have a full impact on TONO's members in 2021, especially the concert settlement in the fall of 2021. In connection with the revised national budget, TONO has made a statement to the Storting that the authors must receive a reasonable share of the funds that will go to the music industry, says Strøm.
At the end of 2019, TONO had management contracts with 34,233 rights holders. There were 1,650 new rights holders in 2019, of which 12 are music publishers. TONO's membership consists of approx. 20% female members and approx. 80% male members. Publisher members account for 1%.
Read more about TONO's annual results and download the annual report here.
TONO is a non-profit cooperative, founded in 1928, owned and managed by its members: composers, songwriters, lyricists and music publishers. TONO manages performance rights for musical works in Norway and collects remuneration for their public performance. TONO currently represents more than 34,000 Norwegian composers, lyricists and music publishers. Through reciprocal representation agreements with similar companies in other countries, TONO manages the rights of more than 2,5 million authors in Norwegian territory. As a non-profit enterprise, TONO's results are transferred to the rights holders in performed works. TONO thus facilitates the use of music in society, while at the same time providing authors with a basis for constantly creating new musical works. For more information, visit www.tono.no.
Cato Strøm, CEO of TONO, cato.strom@tono.no, mobile 922 16,319
Willy Martinsen, communications manager at TONO, willy.martinsen@tono.no, mobile 909 65 254