TONO has listened to concert organizers, and is taking a step forward to work on the concert tariff in closer dialogue with the organizing field. – After constructive dialogue with both organizers and organizations in the field, we believe that we can create a better model than the one we first presented, says CEO Karl Vestli.
/ 02/09/2025 / Willy MartinsenOn May 28, 2024, TONO announced a new model for calculating royalties for songwriters, composers, lyricists and music publishers from concerts in Norway. The model increases the payment for ticket revenues of more than approximately NOK 230,000 from 2 to 3 percent. At the same time, concert-related subsidies are added to the calculation basis, along with ticket revenues.
TONO still aims to develop a new model that will provide more accurate payment to creators, but now wants to develop better solutions in closer collaboration with the organizing field.
– In our opinion, those who write the music that is performed on Norwegian concert stages receive too small a share of the concert economy they help to create. After constructive feedback from organizers and organizations in the field, we now believe that we can develop a better model than the one we first presented, says CEO of TONO, Karl Vestli.
- TONO's board has therefore decided to take a step forward and establish a new project in which we will also invite representatives from the organizing field. The goal is to develop a concert tariff that provides more accurate payments to the creators, while at the same time being easy to understand and easily implementable for the organizers, he says.
TONO already announced when the new concert tariff was launched in 2024 that the organization wanted a dialogue with the organizing field, especially about the part of the tariff that includes concert-relevant income in addition to ticket income. TONO has followed up on this through dialogue meetings, its own organizing forums, and in individual meetings with individual customers and organizations in the field.
– We experience that the dialogue has been constructive. We meet understanding that copyright revenues should constitute a reasonable share of the concert economy, but we see that the basis for a concert tariff that protects both the authors and the organizers requires that all parties have a common understanding of each other's challenges. We are not there yet, and without that common understanding we experience that it would be wrong to proceed with the concert tariff as we originally drafted it, says Vestli.
The organizing organizations were presented with the news by TONO on the Friday before the weekend.
– The organizers are positive that TONO is engaging in dialogue to ensure solutions that are in the best interests of all parties. We are in the process of getting our representatives into place on the committee and look forward to contributing constructively to the work, says special advisor Astrid Driva Rødsand in employers' association Spekter, which represents many of Norway's organizing organizations.
Vestli emphasizes that TONO wants to contribute to a sustainable music life for all parties.
– There is a mutual dependence between the author and the organizer. We have the same goal, and we will succeed together. Our task is to strengthen the conditions and copyright revenues for the authors, but also to be a listening and good partner for the organizers. We believe we can develop a model that gives those who write the music a more correct royalty payment from concerts, and which is also perceived as “fair” for the organizers, he says.
TONO was founded in 1928 and is a non-profit cooperative owned and managed by composers, lyricists and music publishers. TONO manages the economic copyrights in their musical works and grants licenses for the use of protected music in public for a fee. TONO's financial results are transferred to the rights holders of music that has been performed publicly in Norway and abroad. TONO has more than 43,000 members and also represents millions of international authors.
Willy Martinsen, Communications Director, willy.martinsen@tono.no, mobile 909 65,254