Swedish survey: "Impossible" to make a living writing music

Music brings joy, comfort, creates unity and enriches the lives of billions of people every day all over the world. Not least in Norway. Radio and TV stations, nightclubs, concert venues, shops, hair salons, the Internet – and probably your mobile phone too – are full of music. – Despite the enormous access to music, and the increased quality of life it provides, very few manage to make a living from their creative activities. In 2012, only 35 of TONO's 23,000 rights holders, or 0,15 percent, had an income from their music rights at the level of gross industrial worker income. At the same time, we know that 8 out of 10 TONO songwriters must have income other than from the music sector to make ends meet, says Willy Martinsen, Head of Communications at TONO, a member-owned non-profit organization that manages the music rights of 23,000 Norwegian authors and several million authors worldwide.

A new Swedish thesis states that the situation is somewhat better, but still difficult, for Swedish music creators. Only one percent of the members of TONO's Swedish sister organization STIM manage to make a living from their income via STIM. In 2009, 65 percent of STIM members received less than 1000 kroner in copyright compensation, and 0,2 percent received 36 percent of the total remuneration paid. Copyright income is too small to count for the vast majority of those who write music. Is copyright then irrelevant? No, says Staffan Albinsson, researcher in economic history at the Gothenburg School of Economics, and who is behind the thesis " - There is a clear "winner-takes-all-situation" that gives very little money to most people, but copyright is still perceived as important by most composers and songwriters, he says. This is because copyright gives the composer the opportunity to retain ownership and control over what he or she has created. Based on statistics from 1980 to 2009, the report confirms that the music industry as a whole has lost revenue from illegal downloading over a number of years, but that composers and songwriters have had an increase in their total income. This is due to greater income from concerts and radio and TV broadcasts. STIM is also, like TONO, a member-owned non-profit organization that distributes all income after deduction for administrative costs (approximately 15 percent).