TONO wants to embrace all Norwegian music creators within the collective management. This strengthens the Norwegian copyright community, and it strengthens the Norwegian music industry. – We who are closely involved see that there is much that can be improved. The challenges are many, but corruption is not one of them, says CEO Karl Vestli. Photo: iStock-1161606249
TONO's CEO Karl Vestli comments on the criticism of TONO in the media this week.
/ 17/06/2026 / Willy MartinsenBy: CEO of TONO, Karl Vestli
To TONO members who have become uneasy after the accusations and allegations of the last few days. Many are impatient for change. That's good. So are we.
Those of us who are closely involved see that there is much that can be improved. The challenges are many, but corruption is not one of them.
This winter, a group of members transferred their membership to our Swedish sister society, Stim. The reasons for this were both financial and related to a lack of trust in TONO's management.
When it comes to the economic reasons, we see that these are partly based on misunderstandings, and we need to communicate this better.
Beyond these, there have been no abnormal withdrawals from TONO. (NOTE, this is an editorial note: See comment at the bottom of the story. It was added at 8:15 p.m., June 17)
Even though we do not recognize ourselves in the description of membership flight, the reasons for these specific withdrawals are important.
We believe that cultural assets are a strength – not a weakness – of collective management. The cultural sector is only financed by the licensing that TONO does in Norway, regardless of which management organization the rights holder being performed is a member of. The scheme enables Norwegian authors and publishers, among others, to stand up for their rights where no one else does..
That doesn't mean that the scheme can't, and should, be developed. No one disagrees with that. Neither does TONO's administration or the group associations that administer the schemes. What we disagree about is how.
There is also agreement that we must have a board composition that reflects the changes TONO is undergoing. Here too, we do not completely agree on how. But disagreement is not corruption.
Many good and necessary changes have been made in TONO in recent years. There will be more in the years to come. I experience the group associations as both open to, and in many cases driving, more necessary changes.
The prerequisite for implementing changes in a collective is that everyone has the best interests of the community in mind, and not just themselves or their group. This applies to both those in key positions and those who do not.
Update:
After this story was published, a development has occurred. TONO later that evening, at approximately 8:15 p.m., posted this caseThis also means that the sentence in the text above that there have been no further abnormal withdrawals from TONO is not correct. We will nevertheless leave the sentence unchanged for the sake of history.