Photo: © Sigmund Krøvel-Velle / Samfoto
TONO has greatly appreciated the input from the folk music community this fall. Now TONO's board has initiated work to obtain a greater knowledge base for further consideration of the topic.
/ 15/11/2023 / Kristian DugstadTONO's distribution plan was adopted by TONO's members in 2010. It defines that works written by composers and lyricists are given a 100 percent share in the work. New arrangements of existing, free works receive 1/3 of the composer's share, and ½ of the composer's share if the arrangement is considered an adaptation.
Throughout the fall, TONO members working in traditional music have provided input directly to TONO and via the media, expressing concern for the future of traditional music. The background is, among other things, the distribution plan's different weighting of original written music versus arrangements of free works.
Read more about the background to the case here: https://www.tono.no/folkemusikken-og-tono/
TONO's board discussed the matter at the board meeting on November 13th.
– The board expresses its appreciation for the input received, and emphasizes that they will continue to work on the issues that have been raised this fall. It has now been decided that in the period ahead, a broad knowledge base will be obtained, where legal issues related to the Copyright Act will be central, as well as practice in other countries, says Willy Martinsen, Communications Director at TONO.
Under the Collective Management of Copyright Act, TONO cannot introduce special rules for members who work within a specific form of music. It will therefore be the distribution plan as a whole that will be the subject of further work, although with a special focus on arrangements and adaptations of free works.
If the outcome of the work is that the board proposes changes to the distribution plan, it will be presented as a matter for TONO's annual meeting, as it is TONO's members who adopt the distribution plan.