New report:
Norwegian concert organizers' TONO payments to composers and lyricists account for only 2,6 percent of the total Norwegian concert economy. These are among the findings of a new report prepared by Oslo Economics on behalf of TONO.
/ 10/06/2024 / Willy Martinsen– TONO's concert revenues in 2023 were approximately NOK 112 million. To put TONO's concert revenues in an industry perspective, it is interesting to see them against the total concert revenues in Norway. The Directorate of Culture's "Art in Numbers" report found that these in 2022 were just under NOK 4,422 million, and of this, TONO's concert revenues in the same year amounted to NOK 110 million, or 2,6 percent, says Ove Skaug Halsos at Oslo Economics, who has been responsible for the delivery to TONO.
TONO's NOK 112 million in concert revenue in 2023 represented approximately 12 percent of TONO's total revenue of NOK 997,9 million. TONO is a non-profit company that pays royalties to composers and songwriters worldwide based on revenue and reported musical performances.
Oslo Economics has analyzed the “numbers behind the numbers”. The report shows that there are large differences between the few creators who have high TONO income – and the vast majority who have very low TONO income. TONO believes this is an important input, especially in light of this spring’s debate between concert organizers and TONO, and to create a richer context for TONO’s new concert model, which will be introduced from 2027.
– TONO’s mission is to highlight, strengthen and protect the legal, moral and economic rights of our rights holders. We will work to ensure that they are paid fairly when their musical works create economic and musical value for streaming services, broadcasters, concert organizers and others, but we also want to increase the understanding that TONO’s members both have a right to, and deserve, fair pay. We hope and believe that the new report will contribute positively to the understanding of the TONO members’ situation in the Norwegian concert economy, says TONO’s communications director, Willy Martinsen.
Listen to our podcast with Oslo Economics about the report.
About 30,000 TONO members received TONO settlements in 2023, based on the fact that their music has been played on, for example, radio, concerts, streaming services, etc. Of these, 9,757 received payments in whole or in part as a result of concerts in Norway (33 percent).
– Among the 30,000 TONO members who received money from us in 2023, 9 out of 10 received less than 13,000 kroner. Of the 10,000 members who received concert payments, the median payment from concerts was 1210 kroner in 2023, says Martinsen.
TONO's concert revenue comes from a number of different types of organizers, the largest of which are festivals, event agencies, other (bands, churches, museums, art exhibitions, schools, transportation, hotel concerts, etc.), cultural centers and live stages.
Event agencies paid the most to TONO per concert in 2023. The median amount they paid was NOK 4,664 to TONO per concert. Furthermore, the median amount paid by festivals, cultural centers, orchestras and choirs and organizers in the "live scene" category was NOK 2,147, 1,510, 1,350 and 1,251, respectively. See a graphic representation of this below.
For the 33 percent of TONO members who received concert payments from TONO in 2023, the median concert share of the TONO payment was 48 percent.
– We see that the concert share of the TONO payment was most important for the 5508 creators who received less than 5,000 kroner in total in TONO payment in 2023. For these, more than half, 55 percent, of the TONO income came from concerts in Norway. These are members who do not have the large TONO income from streaming services or radio channels, says Martinsen, adding:
– This shows how important it is for the creators that TONO has a concert model that both ensures a minimum remuneration of 793 kroner for the smallest concerts and a tiered model that ensures 10 percent of the concert organizer's income from approximately 8000 to 22,000 kroner. This is where most TONO members have the opportunity to earn money from their music creation.
Among the creators who received concert payments from TONO in 2023, and who received over NOK 500,000 in total TONO payments, 8 percent came from concerts in Norway, calculated as the median. This means that the remaining 92 percent of their TONO income came from other sources.
(incl. median concert share that came from concerts)
| TONO payout in 2023 | Number who received TONO payments from concerts in Norway | Median concert share |
| Under 5000 kroner | 5508 | 55 % |
| 5000 – 9999 kroner | 1245 | 49 % |
| 35,000 – 35,000 | 1739 | 41 % |
| 35,000 – 100,000 | 750 | 38 % |
| 100,000 – 500,000 kroner | 433 | 21 % |
| 500 000 – | 82 | 8% |
| Total | 9757 | 48 % |
About the use of median:
The median is the middle value when the data is sorted in ascending order. The median is a more accurate measurement unit to use than the average when the data is skewed. Based on this, we use the median in the analyses to avoid the influence of extreme values, among other things because a small group has much higher incomes than the rest.
About TONO
TONO was founded in 1928 and is a non-profit cooperative owned and managed by composers, lyricists and music publishers, and which manages the economic copyrights in their musical works. TONO grants permission for the use of protected music on radio, TV, the internet, concerts, cinema, etc. for a fee, and transfers its financial results each year to the rights holders of music that has been performed publicly. TONO has more than 40,000 members, but also works for millions of authors and music publishers from around the world. TONO gives music creators an economic basis to create new music, and collects and simplifies the licensing of protected music to music users. TONO had a turnover of NOK 997.9 million in 2023.
For more information:
Willy Martinsen, Communications Director at TONO, mobile 909 65 254