Last distribution of 2025
On Monday 8 December, TONO will distribute NOK 199 981 191 to music creators around the world. Of this amount, NOK 111.2 million goes to TONO’s members, while NOK 86.3 million goes to music creators and publishers internationally. Music streaming is the largest distribution area for TONO’s members.
/ 08/12/2025 / Kristian DugstadThis year’s December distribution is NOK 30 million higher than in December 2024, when TONO distributed NOK 169.9 million. The majority of this increase goes to TONO’s members, making this the largest December distribution to Norwegian music creators to date. The increase is mainly due to an extraordinary supplementary distribution in the online area and a long-awaited resolution of tax issues in Germany, which had caused significant delays in payments. We are therefore now able to distribute funds that ideally would have been paid in earlier rounds this year.
A total of 30 988 TONO members receive payments in December. Based on personal identity numbers, we know that among these are 5 976 women and 24 492 men.
Online is by far the largest category in this distribution, with a total of NOK 71.3 million. This is a notable increase from December 2024, when the area totalled NOK 49.9 million.
The reason is that TONO has received a major additional transfer from NMP, the company that has until now handled data and revenues from streaming services and social media. As the collaboration is ending, all funds belonging to TONO’s members that have been held back due to missing or incomplete reporting must now be released.
These funds are now being distributed as a supplementary payment, allocated primarily based on historical reporting from Spotify, Apple, YouTube and TikTok. This is specified in the period overview for music streaming in this letter.
From 2026, TONO will transition to new online licensing through ICE Core, which already handles this area for several of our major sister societies, including PRS (UK), GEMA (Germany), BMI (USA) and STIM (Sweden). The transition was announced on 18 September.
The first performance supplement, which has previously been part of the December distribution, has been discontinued as part of the implementation of TONO’s new distribution model. The scheme was financed through allocations from other distribution areas, and was therefore not in compliance with the Collective Management Act.
The final first performance distribution was made in December 2024, covering performances in 2023.
This December distribution is the final full distribution carried out in TONO’s current system. From 2026, we will move to a new technical solution developed by the Irish technology company Spanish Point, which will in time provide more automated processes, greater efficiency and reduced costs.
TONO and Spanish Point have collaborated successfully for several years on the development and implementation of the new system, which will be used for the first time for the March 2026 distribution. Ensuring quality in a change of this scale is essential, and there is always some risk of delays. Should anything arise that affects the schedule, TONO’s members will be informed well in advance.
Willy Martinsen, Director of Communications, TONO
willy.martinsen@tono.no, mobile +47 909 65 254