Since 2015, the composers' cooperative TONO has attempted to create understanding among the Oslo Philharmonic about what is reasonable to pay composers for the use of their music.
Now the disagreement in the legal system ends, after TONO has summoned the Oslo Philharmonic before the Oslo District Court.
Section 69 of the Copyright Act states that authors shall have "reasonable remuneration" when their works are performed. In the TONO context, this means that concert organizers who have ticket sales as the foundation of their economy will normally pay TONO fees based on a percentage of gross revenues.
Read Klassekampen's coverage of the case: Suing Oslo Orchestra
However, the orchestra companies' finances are primarily based on public support. The Oslo Philharmonic receives almost 200 million kroner in public subsidies annually. A significant part of the purpose of the support is to enable the orchestra to keep ticket prices down to a level that people are willing to pay. In practice, ticket prices are almost symbolic in relation to the real economy behind each ticket. In this area, TONO's concert tariff is therefore not sufficient to ensure composers "fair remuneration".
Since January 2016, the Oslo Philharmonic has, on its own initiative, nevertheless chosen to pay TONO based on TONO's ordinary concert tariff.
– The result is a reduction of approximately 50 percent from the remuneration previously paid by the Oslo Philharmonic to TONO. We believe this is unacceptable. We are disappointed by what we perceive as a lack of willingness to pay and solidarity with the composers, and unfortunately see no other option than to take the matter to court, says TONO's chairman, Jørgen Karlstrøm.
– Over the past few years, TONO has shown great flexibility and offered the orchestra companies a number of different proposals for agreements, all of which have been rejected by OFO. In our petition, we are making a demand for reasonable remuneration where the public subsidy is taken into account in the calculation of remuneration in addition to OFO's ticket revenues, says Cato Strøm, CEO of TONO.
TONO's chairman believes the Oslo Philharmonic is failing in its social mission when they try to push down payments to composers:
– It is clear from the Ministry of Culture's grant letter that performing music, and especially contemporary music, is part of the orchestral companies' social mission. The Oslo Philharmonic says the same in its marketing. It is therefore obvious that some of the public subsidy must be reflected in the remuneration to the authors, concludes Karlstrøm.
About TONO:
TONO was founded in 1928 and is a non-profit cooperative owned and managed by authors (composers and lyricists) and music publishers, and which manages the economic copyrights in the music they have created on their behalf. 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 36,000 members, but also works with millions of authors and music publishers from around the world. TONO's social role is twofold, on the one hand, collecting and simplifying the licensing of protected music and on the other hand, providing music creators with an economic basis for creating new musical works. In 2019, TONO had a turnover of kr 771 million.
For more information:
Willy Martinsen, Communications Manager at TONO, willy.martinsen@tono.no, mobile 909 65 254