On 27 November 1928, TONO saw the light of day. Here is the story of the establishment and the first year.
/ 18/05/2018 / Willy MartinsenOn 27 November 1928, TONO saw the light of day. Here is the story of the establishment and the first year.
“Why was TONO created in 1928?” asks TONO’s 50th anniversary book from 1978, and answers “why not?” It was up in the air, it is stated.
A few years before the establishment of TONO on November 27, Sweden, Denmark and Finland had their own management organizations. CISAC, the global umbrella organization that today has 239 member organizations in 121 countries, was established in 1926. It was also only two years until Norway would get its first proper copyright law. And not least, NRK's predecessor, Oslo Kringkastingsselskap, was established in 1925. Music was taking an increasingly larger place in society, and creators' awareness of rights and new possible performance income increased. Because when music provided income and value for other businesses, it was not unnatural that something went back to the composers, right?
The founding meeting took place at the office of lawyer Emil Stang at Øvre Slottsgate 12 in Oslo. (The picture at the top of the page is of this very street in 1928.) Here the board of the Norwegian Composers' Association and two music publishers met: the composers Arne Eggen, Eyvind Alnæs, Arvid Kleven, Fridthjof Kristoffersen, Tønnes Birknes and Alf Peaters, as well as the publishers Sigurd Kielland from Norsk Musikforlag and Knut Moestue from Norsk Notestik & Forlag.
At the meeting, the eight founders adopted the company's purpose statement: "The company's purpose shall be to acquire and exploit the right to public performance and reproduction by mechanical instruments of musical compositions and texts - and to otherwise protect its members' copyright to their works."
The company's first laws were adopted and set criteria for membership, among other things:
"Norwegian composers, lyricists and music publishers have the right to become members of the company, insofar as the board finds that the person's membership is beneficial to the company and its activities. Under the same conditions, domestic and foreign organizations of composers, lyricists and publishers may also be admitted."
It was the Norwegian Composers' Association that took the initiative for the company. As a result, the association also received a majority on the board with four members against two music publishers. Composer and chairman of the Norwegian Composers' Association, Arne Eggen, was elected the first chairman. Fellow composer Finn Bø would later refer to Eggen as "Uncle TONO".
It was also Eggen who had the idea for the company's name. He had first thought of Norske Komponister, shortened to the first two letters of the words. "But something was a bit too small, and it was better with Norske Tonediktere, but Noto was not ideal either, and so I swung the syllables and it became Tono," he said in an interview with Dagbladet in 1953. And added: "Tono is good Latin and means I ring, I make noise and make noise." In other words: a good word for music.
The annual report for 1929 – today well preserved in TONO’s premises at Grønland in Oslo – describes the first year of operation of the company, which had its first modest premises at St. Olavsgate 28-30. Tønnes Birknes had led the preparatory work for the establishment. He also took responsibility as business manager (managing director) in the first period until Mathieu Berckenhoff was hired on April 25. He held that position for 20 years. Over 90 years, TONO has had only six managing directors, including Birknes.
The first year was characterized by three main initiatives: To enter into agreements with composers to secure repertoire, to enter into agreements with music users and to work for the new law on the protection of intellectual property. Work on the new intellectual property law, which was to replace the Act on Authors' and Artists' Rights of 4 July 1893, had begun with a committee recommendation to the Ministry of Church and Education in 1925 and was adopted in 1930 with effect from 1 January 1931.
By the end of 1929, TONO had secured 60 members, and Oslo Kringkastingsselskap and Filharmoniske Selskap were the first companies in TONO's increasingly extensive customer portfolio. Oslo Kinematografer followed soon after. Negotiations were still underway with Harmonien and Bergen Kringkastingsselskap, agreements which were concluded the following year.
The annual report from 1929 shows that they proceeded with a certain amount of sensitivity: "... the board has not wanted to go further than the institutions mentioned here, so as not to risk creating an unfavorable atmosphere against the new law." Because it was important
to get this law passed. The draft constituted, according to the annual report, "... an extraordinary advance from the current situation. It will thus make it possible for Tono to conclude ("enter into", editor's note) agreements regarding all café music, cinema music and private concert music".
Furthermore, TONO in 1929 was characterized by work on establishing international connections. Membership in CISAC and reciprocal agreements were entered into with companies in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Holland, Switzerland and the USA. Until then, the French, Austrian, Italian and English organizations had been represented through the Swedish STIM. All in all, TONO concluded in 1929 that it represented performance-
the rights for practically all copyrighted music in Norway.
The company quickly became an important source of income for composers. Gross income in 1929 was NOK 17,992,13. But new establishments cost money. Expenses amounted to almost half of the income: NOK 7,709,84. TONO's laws stipulated that funds should be set aside for a support fund for Norwegian composers and their survivors, and the first annual result made it possible to set aside NOK 1000 for this. NOK 9,000 was set aside for distribution to composers, with payment in May 1930.
The new copyright law would prove to have the effect the founders had hoped for. On this bedrock, TONO could build its future. Combined with diligent negotiation work, TONO increased its gross revenues to 33,377,72 kroner in 1931 and then to 68,730,65 in 1932.