Covid-19 restrictions gave TONO the lowest concert revenue in 2021 since 2010. Strong results from broadcasting and music and film streaming services nevertheless contributed to gross revenue of 843,9 MNOK, the highest in TONO's history. The administration rate was 10,66 percent.
/ 21/04/2022 / Willy Martinsen
TONO is a collective management organization and a non-profit cooperative, owned and managed by Norwegian composers, songwriters and music publishers, and which distributes all income to rights holders in performed musical works at home and abroad.
TONO's gross revenue for 2021 ended at 843,967,603, an increase of 18,9 percent from 2020 revenue of 712,381,506.
– It is nice to be able to report record sales for 2021, while we are painfully aware that the second year of pandemic measures was a very difficult year for most of TONO's members. The concert market was down for much of the year, and it is in this area that TONO's Norwegian members have their financial interests. This is also noticeable in TONO's concert revenues, which were 43,7 million kroner, the lowest since 2010, says Strøm.
The Ministry of Culture recently announced that TONO will receive NOK 33,9 million to compensate its members for loss of remuneration income as a result of COVID-19 restrictions.
– TONO settles money based on performed music, and it is a fact that around 60 percent of TONO's settlements each year are sent to authors in other countries. TONO's members have suffered major Covid-19-related losses in a number of areas, including from concerts. We have documented these losses to the Ministry of Culture, and the compensation of 33,9 million will constitute very welcome funds for TONO's Norwegian members when they are settled now in 2022, says Strøm.
The Covid-19 restrictions are not only affecting TONO's concert revenues in 2021. The cinema area generated revenues of only NOK 2,4 million. This was the revenue in the "normal year" 2019 of NOK 12,7 million. There was also a decrease in the retransmission of TV content, background music (hotels, restaurants, etc.) and from sister societies in other countries, which collect fees on behalf of TONO when TONO's repertoire is used in their respective countries.
– All declines were expected. Revenue from sister societies was NOK 72,2 million, down from NOK 95,7 million in 2020. The decline is due, among other things, to lower concert activity due to Covid-19 restrictions, as well as partly to the fact that streaming revenues from other countries are increasingly part of TONO's online revenues. This is because TONO has started to directly license international online services for many countries through Polaris Hub, which TONO owns together with Danish Koda and Finnish Teosto, says Strøm.
From broadcasting and online, TONO was able to record results for 2021. From the radio and TV area, revenues were a record high of NOK 289.7 million, up from NOK 193.9 million in 2020. The growth is partly due to a special settlement after a disagreement over the size of the fee with TV2 was resolved last year, which also resulted in back payments for several years.
Revenue from film and music streaming services was NOK 227,1 million, an increase of 62,4 percent from 2020 when these revenues were NOK 139,8 million. Here too, the strong growth is partly due to settlements after long-standing disagreements with several distributors were resolved.
– We have good growth from music and film streaming services, and film streaming services in particular are gaining momentum. At the same time, we are starting to see the results of TONO directly licensing our repertoire to Spotify and other streaming services worldwide, says Strøm.
TONO gained 1549 new members in 2021, increasing its membership to a total of 37,439 at the end of the year. Members registered 32,219 new works during the year. 27,911 of TONO's members received a settlement in 2021. In 2021, TONO had a cost percentage of 10,66 percent of gross revenue compared to 13,8 percent the previous year. The cultural funds, which go to scholarships and national music cultural purposes through TONO, NOPA, the Norwegian Composers' Association and the Music Publishers, amounted to NOK 49 million.
TONO's annual report will be published on TONO.no around May 25th.
TONO was founded in 1928 and is a non-profit cooperative owned and managed by authors (composers and lyricists) and music publishers, and on their behalf manages the economic copyrights in the music they have created. TONO grants permission for the use of protected music, for example on radio, TV, the internet, concerts and cinemas for a fee, and transfers its financial results each year to the rights holders in music that has been played publicly. TONO has more than 37,000 members in Norway, 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 843,9 million in 2021.
Willy Martinsen, communications manager at TONO, willy.martinsen (a) tono.no, mob. 909 65 254
Cato Strøm, managing director of TONO, cato.strom (a) tono.no, mob. 922 16 319