– We are working to assess how we can also protect rights holders in TONO, says Minister of Culture Abid Q. Raja in his response to Åslaug Sem-Jacobsen (Sp)'s written question. TONO invites cooperation to find good solutions to Norwegian rights holders' loss of TONO income.
/ 24/11/2020 / Kristian DugstadThe Centre Party's cultural policy spokesperson in the Storting, Åslaug Sem-Jacobsen, submitted a so-called written question to the Minister of Culture on November 15th (this is a separate arrangement in the Storting, where members of parliament, typically the opposition, ask public questions to ministers on the Storting's website).
Sem-Jacobsen asked the same question that TONO and TONO's group associations NKF, NOPA and Musikkforlaggerne have repeatedly asked both in public and directly to the Ministry and the Arts Council in recent months:
– Why are those who make the music excluded from receiving funds from the stimulation scheme because the organizers cannot include the entire cost of paying these as in a normal situation in the application to the Norwegian Arts Council, when the regulations for the scheme state that the entire industry chain should be stimulated, and when no other schemes have been proposed for this group that sufficiently compensate for this omission?
The Minister of Culture has now published his response.
He writes that the incentive scheme aims to contribute to increased activity throughout the cultural event value chain, but at the same time admits that it does not affect everyone in the value chain equally. He explains that this is the reason why other schemes have been strengthened, including the compensation scheme and the establishment of extraordinary artist grants.
The Minister of Culture also says that work is now underway to address the problem of lost royalties through TONO:
– At the press conference I held on November 20, I announced that we are working to assess how we can also safeguard rights holders in TONO in the future. We will return to this as soon as the work is completed (…) I would like to add that I agree with TONO when they write in their letter to us at the Ministry on November 16 that TONO's members lay the foundation for the entire concert economy. I have always said that I will consider adjustments to the arrangements when it proves necessary. I of course stand by that. And as mentioned, I will return to this as soon as the work is completed.
TONO has communicated to the Ministry of Culture, both in the form of letters and in other ways, that TONO wishes to contribute to the work of finding good solutions.
– There have been encouraging signals from the Minister of Culture both in the press conference last Friday, and now in the response to the Centre Party's cultural policy spokesperson on the Storting's website. The Minister of Culture is listening, and says he wants to establish good arrangements that are appropriate. TONO will continue to promote the interests of its members to the ministry in this process, says TONO Chairman, Jørgen Karlstrøm.
CEO Cato Strøm reminds us that TONO is a natural party to involve in the work when the ministry is to find good solutions to compensate Norwegian authors and music publishers for the loss of TONO income.
– TONO knows the rights economy better than anyone else, and has both the tools and the knowledge to distribute any grants from the Ministry of Culture in a good way. Here it is crucial that TONO and the Ministry and the Arts Council talk to each other. We believe it is now urgent to establish a solution, both in terms of the need of authors and music publishers to be compensated for their losses, but also out of consideration for the relationship between TONO and concert organizers in terms of the daily licensing work. No one benefits from uncertainty, and there is no escaping the fact that the situation is now somewhat unclear, says Strøm.