Payment of royalties for the use of your work requires that the work has been registered with Teosto.
Always remember to register your new works via our online service. If you have a publisher, ensure that the publisher registers your works. If you are an unpublished author who makes music with published authors, see below for more detailed instructions.
Register your work preferably before release
A work is created when the composition (and lyrics, if the work has them) is done. Than means the work already exists before its recording or performance – therefore, the work can be registered before the publication or premiere.
The registration process for a work takes about five working days, so register your work as soon as the work is completed.
If the work has not been registered, we cannot pay compensation for the use of the work.
Be sure to register all works, including those that you intend to self-administer or that are subject to automatic self-administration. When you signed Teosto’s membership agreement, you committed to registering all of your works.
Improvised works should also be registered. The work registration must be submitted after the work is “completed”, i.e. after the performance has taken place.
The work registration must specify who are the authors of the composition and any lyrics as well as what are the royalty shares of each author for composition and lyrics of the work.
Register a new work (= a new version of an existing work) if it has different authors or if the shares of the authors differ from those in the original work registration.
A mere change in duration does not require a new work to be registered (royalties are paid based on the duration of use, not the registered duration).
Add an identifier to the name of the new version that distinguishes it from the original work (e.g. Extended or RadioMix). This makes it easier to identify the new work and to allocate royalties.
What information is needed for registering a work?
- Title of work
- Work duration (an estimate is enough)
- Genre of work
- Authors: composer, lyricist and possible arranger/translator
- Royalty shares, i.e. the percentage of the work’s royalties to be paid to each author
NB! When registering a work, it is not necessary to know the exact duration to the second, because music royalties are paid based on the duration of the performance, not the duration recorded in the register of works. In other words, a the work can be registered even before the final recording is completed or published.
The choice of genre only affects what information must be provided when registering the work: for example, certain information is required for AV music or orchestral music, but not for works of popular music. The selection can also be used for statistical purposes, but it does not affect distributions or author shares.
Royalty shares are divided by the authors themselves
The authors and publishers of the work are paid royalties in accordance with the royalty shares specified for each party in the work registration. The authors agree on the royalty shares of the work themselves. It’s advisable to agree on royalty shares during the creation of the work, and the limits defined in Teosto’s distribution rules must be considered when agreeing on royalty shares.
No less than 20% and no more than 80% must be registered as the share of both the composition and the possible lyrics in such a way that the shares total 100%. If no lyrics have been written for the composition, the royalty share of the composition alone can be 100%.
NB! It’s not necessary to make the royalty shares of the composition and lyrics of a work equal. Either share can be greater than the other: for example, the composition’s royalty share can be 80% while the lyrics’ royalty share is 20% or the composition’s share can be 60% and the lyrics’ share 40%. Also, personal royalty shares do not have to be divided equally between all the authors. Instead, the authors are free to decide how the shares are divided.
The publisher’s share is agreed on in the publishing agreement between the author and the publisher. The publisher is only paid a share of the royalties of the author with whom the publisher has a publishing agreement.
Once the work has been registered, each author will receive a confirmation with the royalty shares as an email. We recommend that you verify that the registered details are correct and to fix any errors as soon as you notice them.
Registering published works
Only the publisher may record the publisher’s share for the work. For this reason, it’s best if the publisher registers the work in situations where one or more of the authors are published. If you are published, agree with your publisher that they will register your works.
NB!If you are an unpublished author and have shares in a published work, please read “Unpublished authors of published works” below. Publishers register works via the organization that they are members of. Teosto can not alter information related to works that have been registered by non-Teosto members.
If you are an unpublished co-writer of a work that also has published authors, always submit a separate registration for such works.
The international works registry requires an unpublished author to confirm the shares of unpublished authors (publishers can’t confirm shares for authors they don’t represent). If a work has multiple unpublished authors, one extra registration is enough.
This requirement applies to works registered after 1 January 2026.
If unpublished authors do not submit a confirming registration, the work’s unpublished shares do not accumulate royalties for online use. This does not affect radio, TV or event royalties.
If an unpublished author is only an arranger of the work, their share is confirmed by an unpublished composer. If all composers are published, the publisher’s registration will confirm arrangement shares.
Please note that arrangements of trad compositions do not require a separate registration.
Registering self-administered works
In some cases, the granting of music synchronisation rights is, as a rule, self-administered. Also remember to register these works, because that helps us collect royalties whenever your music is used in other than self-administered cases.
- Case example 1: A TV or radio show plays only a short clip of a grand rights work (e.g. opera, ballet). In this case, the performance rights are not automatically self-administered, so we will collect and distribute royalties to the authors.
- Case example 2: Game soundtrack music is performed in another context than in-game, e.g. in a live event. We will collect and distribute royalties to the authors.
When you signed Teosto’s membership agreement, you agreed to register all of your works, including those that you automatically self-administer.
Registering Sami language work titles
Registration of Sami language work titles in the international works database may require the replacement of certain Sami letters. This is because the international works database does not support Unicode, which is necessary for using Sami special characters.
The table available via the link below lists the letters in Skolt Sami, Inari Sami, and Northern Sami, as well as their replacement character/character string when registering a work.
We apologize for the inconvenience caused by the limitations of the international works database.
Sääʹmǩiõllsaž tuejjõsnõõmi rekisterâsttmõš meeraikõskksaž tuejjõsteâttnorldõʹǩǩe vuäitt õõlǥtet kooi-ne sääʹmǩiõli bukvai koʹrvvummuž. Tät lij ǩidd tõʹst, što meeraikõskksaž tuejjõsteâttnorldõõǥǥâst ij leäkku Unicode-tuäʹrjj, koon sääʹmspesiaalmiârki âânnmõš õõlǥteʹči.
Vueʹlnn åårrai liiŋk tueʹǩǩen käunnʼjeei taullõʹǩǩe liâ listtuum nuõrttsääʹm, aanarsääʹm da tâʹvvsääʹm bukva di tõi koʹrvveei miârkk/miârkkräidd tuejjõõzz rekisterââʹsteen.
Neurrap meeraikõskksaž tuejjõsteâttnorldõõǥǥ rääʹjtõõǥǥin šõddâm vääiʹv.
Sämikielâlij tyejinoomâi registeristem aalmugijkoskâsii tyejitiätuvuáđun puáhtá vaattâđ, ete motomij sämikielâ pustavij sajan kalga pieijâđ eres meerhâ. Návt lii tondiet ko aalmugijkoskâsii tyejitiätuvuáđust ij lah Unicode-toorjâ, maid sämikielâi spesiaalmeerhâi kevttim váđáččij.
Vyelni leijee liiŋkâ tyehin lii tavlustâh, mast láá nuorttâlâškielâ, anarâškielâ já tavesämikielâ pustaveh já toi sajan puáttee merkkâ/merkkâkuálus, ko tyeji registeristoo.
Mij šalligâššâp vääivi, mii šadda aalmugijkoskâsii tyejitiätuvuáđu raijiittâsâin.
Sämikielâi čäällimmeerhâi sajanpieijâmravvuuh
Sámegielat dáiddaduodjenamaid registrerema eaktun riikkaidgaskasaš dáiddaduodjediehtovuđđui sáhttá leat muhtun sámegielat bustávaid buhtten. Dása sivvan lea, ahte riikkaidgaskasaš dáiddaduodjediehtovuođus ii leat Unicode-doarjja, mii lea eaktun sámi erenomášmearkkaid geavaheapmái.
Vuolábeale liŋkka duohken gávdno tabealla ja dasa leat listejuvvon nuortalašgiela, anárašgiela ja davvisámegiela bustávat ja daid buhttejeaddji mearka/mearkaráidu dallego registrere dáiddaduoji.
Mii šállošat riikkaidgaskasaš dáiddaduodjediehtovuođu ráddjemiid dagahan váivvi.
Can I register a work created with AI?
Copyright protects works that are original and independently created by a human author. Teosto has signed the Core Principles for Artificial Intelligence Applications (in Finnish), which emphasise that copyright protects and rewards human artistry, not content created and produced by machines.
Copyright law protects the results of human creativity. This means that compositions or lyrics that are 100% AI-generated cannot be protected as new works, and registering an AI-generated work as a protected work in Teosto’s works register is not allowed.
However, the disclaimers above do not mean that you cannot use AI in your work; AI can support human creativity, make the creative process more efficient, and give an increasing number of people the opportunity to realise their artistic visions.
At Teosto, we understand the opportunities that technological development brings, and we encourage authors to try different methods and tools. At the same time, we emphasise the importance of using AI tools responsibly.
Works created with the assistance of AI can be registered in the work register if, and only if:
- artificial intelligence has been used as a technical tool in the creative process; or
- the author has created protected music and only one part of the work (composition or lyrics) is fully AI-generated.
Instructions for registering a work created with the assistance of artificial intelligence