On Monday 29 September, TONO distributes NOK 206.2 million to rights holders in Norway and abroad. The payment also marks the launch of a new and more accurate distribution model, which has now been implemented in most areas.
TONO’s music creators and publishers can expect better terms and more frequent payouts from services like Spotify, Apple Music, TikTok, and YouTube, following TONO’s new agreement with licensing company ICE. “This agreement represents a deliberate new direction for TONO and marks an important shift for us,” says TONO’s CEO Karl Vestli.
The Nordic collective management organizations (CMOs) Koda (Denmark), Teosto (Finland) and Tono (Norway) have decided to discontinue their joint venture, Polaris Hub, established in 2019, to licence digital music services. Moving forward, the three CMOs will independently explore other solutions for the licencing of their repertoires to digital music services. “It is crucial for TONO to secure the best possible agreements with music streaming services, and we are already well underway in assessing new partners for licencing our rights to music streaming platforms”, says CEO of TONO, Karl Vestli.
More than 16,000 Norwegian businesses will benefit from a simplified licensing process as TONO and Gramo join forces to streamline their background music services. From 1 September 2025, companies and organisations will access all necessary services from a single source, with a joint invoice from both organisations starting 1 January 2026.
In June, TONO is distributing NOK 221.2 million (€19.1 million) to songwriters, composers, lyricists, and music publishers in Norway and abroad as part of its second ordinary royalty payment of 2025.
Norwegian songwriters, composers and music publishers received a record NOK 374.8 million (EUR 31.78 million) in copyright royalties from TONO in 2024. In total, TONO distributed NOK 741.7 million (EUR 62.88 million) to rights holders in Norway and abroad.
Today, the five Nordic music copyright organizations are launching joint principles for the licensing of generative artificial intelligence (AI).
“The principles clearly set the direction for how AI services must handle music rights, and they lay the groundwork for a responsible and sustainable creative economy,” says Inger Elise Mey at TONO.
The first change to TONO’s concert tariff, announced on 28 May 2024, will take effect on 1 April 2025. TONO’s concert customers have been notified of this by email.
TONO opens the door for Norwegian songwriters, composers, and lyricists to register new music created in collaboration with artificial intelligence.
In September, TONO distributed a total of €20.2 million to rights holders, at home and abroad. This distribution represents our third of the year.