Distribution values, i.e. prices per minute
In the table below, you can see estimates of the amounts of royalties works accumulate for performances per performed minute in different distribution categories. The estimates are based on the previous year’s prices. The final value depends on the total amount of royalties collected and minutes performed each year, which means that the future distribution amount cannot be fully predicted on the basis of these values. The table is updated annually.
- Royalties accumulate on the basis of the duration of the work’s performance, not the work duration recorded in the work notification.
- Distributions are only made for performances for which a work notification and a performance notification or report has been submitted.
- The distribution is work-specific: if the work has multiple authors or a publisher or publishers, the price per minute is divided among the various parties in accordance with the work’s royalty shares.
- Distributions can only be made once the music user has paid the royalties to Teosto.
- Teosto’s expenses have already been deducted from the distribution values, but withholding tax and other possible personal deductions have not been deducted.
Gigs and concerts, theatre
| THE MUSIC’S PERFORMANCE SITUATION OR DISTRIBUTION CATEGORY | DISTRIBUTION VALUE I.E. PRICE PER MINUTE IN EUR |
|---|---|
| Small concerts | EUR 1 |
| Medium-sized concerts | EUR 2,50 |
| Big concerts (the royalties are tied to proceeds from ticket sales or attendance) | Event-specific* |
| Mega-concerts (the royalties are tied to proceeds from ticket sales or attendance) | Event-specific* |
| FRSO and the municipal orchestras of big cities (Helsinki, Tampere, Turku) | EUR 10 – 30 |
| Municipal orchestras of small cities | EUR 0,50 – 10 |
| Concerts organised by municipalities or parishes by themselves | EUR 3 |
| Concerts by music institutes, conservatoires, SibA and garrisons | EUR 1 |
| Theatre music | EUR 1,50 – 3 |
| Small live and DJ gigs | EUR 0,50 |
| Big live gigs (the royalties are tied to proceeds from ticket sales or the venue’s audience capacity) | Event-specific* |
| Live stream concerts, gigs and music events | EUR 0,50 |
| Background music (distributed in accordance with the reports for big concerts and events)** | EUR 3 – 9 |
| Background music (distributed in accordance with the reports for small and medium-sized concerts and events)** | EUR 0,1 – 2 |
*The event-specific price per minute is calculated by dividing the royalties distributed for the event by the total number of the event’s music minutes.
**Royalties are distributed mainly on the basis of usage reports and background music usage surveys. The royalties that cannot be allocated are distributed on the basis of live performance and radio reports while paying as much attention to diversity as possible.
Radio stations and TV channels, NPVR services
The wide price ranges of radio stations and TV channels are explained by, for example, the varying reaches (the number of listeners and watchers) of stations and channels and the varying amount of music performed.
| THE MUSIC’S PERFORMANCE SITUATION OR DISTRIBUTION CATEGORY | DISTRIBUTION VALUE I.E. PRICE PER MINUTE IN EUR |
|---|---|
| Commercial radio stations with the biggest reach (e.g. Radio Nova, Suomipop, Radio Rock) | EUR 1 – 1,50 |
| Medium-sized commercial radio stations | EUR 0,10 – 0,50 |
| Smaller commercial radio stations | EUR 0,10 |
| Regional Yle radio stations (the population in the area is less than 150,000) | EUR 0,10 – 1 |
| Regional Yle radio stations (the population in the area is more than 150,000) | EUR 1 – 4 |
| National Yle radio stations | EUR 0,50 – 10 |
| Yle Areena Audio | EUR 0,10 |
| TV channels with the biggest reach (Yle TV1, Yle TV2, Finnish broadcasting company MTV, Nelonen) | |
| – Background music | EUR 5 – 20 |
| – Visual music (the performer is visible) | EUR 20 – 80 |
| Smaller TV channels (e.g. Yle Teema, Sub, JIM, TV5, Star Channel) | |
| – Background music | EUR 0,40 – 2 |
| – Visual music (the performer is visible) | EUR 1,60 – 8 |
| Yle Areena AV | EUR 1 – 1,5 |
| NPVR services (provided by operators) | |
| – Background music | EUR 0,10 – 0,40 |
| – Visual music (the performer is visible) | EUR 0,40 – 1,60 |
| Background music (distributed in accordance with background music service reports) | EUR 0,10 – 0,40 € |
| Background music (distributed in accordance with the reports of radio stations with the biggest reach and medium-sized stations)* | EUR 0,50 – 4 |
| Background music (distributed in accordance with the reports of smaller radio stations) | EUR 0,05 – 0,5 |
*Royalties are distributed mainly on the basis of usage reports and background music usage surveys. The royalties that cannot be allocated are distributed on the basis of live performance and radio reports while paying as much attention to diversity as possible.
Online services
Unfortunately, we are not able to publish even estimated distribution values for works streamed or downloaded in international online services (e.g. Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music) due to the non-disclosure agreements (NDA) included in the services’ agreements.
Distribution details are described in the Distribution Rules
The details of Teosto’s distributions are described in the Distribution Rules and its appendix Distribution category list. The Distribution Rules is a public document approved by the Annual General Meeting.
Frequently asked questions
The price per minute, i.e. the distribution value, is the monetary value in EUR put on a performed minute of a work in the distribution. Prices per minute depend on the distribution category.
The term “distribution category” refers to the various situations where music is used. Distribution categories include commercial radio stations, national Yle TV channels and NPVR services. Distribution categories are used in allocating royalties to the right works and their authors.
The price per minute used in the distribution cannot be directly calculated from the music royalties paid by music users. Instead, it is based on the total distributable amount.
The total distributable amount is calculated as follows – the royalties (licence fees) paid by music users to Teosto over the financial year are used as a basis, and then:
- other income of the financial year is added;
- operating costs are deducted from the remaining total;
- cultural contributions are deducted from the remaining total;
- funds transfers to other distribution categories are made;
- transferable appropriations are added to the remaining total.
You can find more information on what is added and deducted from the total distributable amount in section 5.2 of the Distribution Rules.
The prices of licences are affected by, for example, the music’s method of use, the amount of music, the turnover of the music user and the annual number, attendance or proceeds from ticket sales of events including music, etc.
Our price lists for music use are public and they can be found on the page Licences and Prices. The pricing principles of the licences comply with competition law, and compliance is monitored by the Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority.
The basis of the distributions and the royalties paid to rightsholders, i.e. music authors and publishers, each year is always the amount of royalties allocated to each distribution category from that year’s total distributable amount, which is divided by the number of minutes of music performed in the distribution category in question.
In the distribution, multipliers may be applied to prices per minute within some distribution categories in order to carry out grouping or weighting on the basis of the quality, value, significance, extent or other similar characteristic of the use of works within the distribution category. Teosto’s Board of Directors decides on the multipliers.
Teosto’s expenses have already been deducted from the prices per minute, i.e. the distribution values. Withholding tax and other possible personal deductions of rightsholders are deducted when the royalties are paid to them.
Royalties that are based on prices per minute are always distributed in a work-specific way, not in an author-specific way. If the work has multiple authors and a publisher or publishers, the royalties allocated to the work are divided among the parties in accordance with the royalty shares they have specified in the work notification.
The basis of the distributions and the royalties paid to rightsholders, i.e. music authors and publishers, each year is always the amount of royalties allocated to each distribution category from that year’s total distributable amount, which is divided by the number of minutes of music performed in the distribution category in question.
Teosto’s Board of Directors decides on the allocation of the total distributable amount to the distribution categories and the multipliers possibly applied to the distribution category’s prices per minute.
In this table, the prices per minute are estimates of the works’ distribution values that are based on the values of previous years.
In actual distributions, the prices per minute are accurate values calculated on the basis of royalties and the number of music performance minutes for that specific distribution period. Multipliers have been applied to the values in some distribution categories.
In order to avoid making the table too detailed and to keep it readable and understandable, we have only listed the main categories of performance situations. For this reason, the estimates of the prices per minute for future distributions are also presented as price ranges rather than exact amounts. The price ranges also give an idea of the usual annual variation of prices per minute for different performance situations.
The basis of the royalties paid to music authors and publishers is always the amount of royalties allocated to each distribution category from that year’s total distributable amount, which is divided by the number of minutes of music performed in the distribution category in question. The distribution categories’ prices per minute are also affected by the costs of collecting royalties as well as collecting and processing reports (music use information) in the distribution category in question.