Grants and Subsidies for Music
You can apply for Teosto’s grants for creative compositions. Grant for Score-based Music and Commission Grant are grants of Teosto’s Commission Grant Committee. On this page, you will find information about our grant programmes and instructions for applying as well as information about other music industry grants.
Teosto’s grant for score-based music is meant for Finnish works that have been performed at concerts, on radio or on TV during the distribution year.
We award the grant to the work’s composers and publishers, who must be Teosto members. The creator must be alive at the beginning of the distribution year.
Applications are open all year.
Submit a work notification in our web service and submit the work’s score by email as a PDF file to the secretary of the Repertoire Committee: musiikkiasiantuntija@teosto.fi.
We cannot award you the grant if you have not submitted the score.
Teosto’s Repertoire Committee will assess the score to decide whether the work should be awarded the grant for score-based music. Attention will be paid to the following:
- the work’s notated form and structure;
- the layers, density and diversity of music events; and
- how precisely the composer is able to control the composition’s performance through the score.
The duration of the performance also has an effect on the amount of the grant.
As both the number of eligible works and the number of performances vary each year, we cannot name an exact price per minute. Teosto’s General Meeting makes a decision on the total amount for grants for score-based music each year. In the past few years, the total amount has been 225 000 euros.
We share the total amount with all the works which
- have been deemed eligible by the Repertoire Committee and
- have been performed in concerts, radio, TV or streamed during the distribution year.
The grant is paid in addition to the regular performing royalty: only works performed during the distribution year will receive grants.
The performing royalty is based on the duration of the performance, not the duration of the work: if only 10 minutes of a 30-minute work are performed, the performance royalty is paid for 10 minutes.
However, the amount of the grant is determined by the duration of the work: a 20-minute work receives twice as much grant as a 10-minute work.
The grant is paid once a year in June as part of our main royalty distribution. If the Repertoire Committee decides that a work is eligible for a grant for score-based music, the grant will be paid in the June distribution of the following year in which the work is performed.
The Repertoire Committee meets four times a year and processes applications at each of its meetings. The grant will be paid from the beginning of the year in which the decision is made: for example, if the Repertoire Committee decides to grant a subsidy in October, but the work has already been performed in January, the January performances will also be eligible for the grant.
You can only receive the grant retroactively for the year of application and decision. For example, if the Programme Committee decides to award a grant in October, but the work has already been performed in January, the January performances will also be eligible for the grant.
If you apply for a grant in December and the Programme Committee makes the decision in the spring of the following year, you will also receive a grant for the whole application year if the decision is favourable.
Yes, the grant is awarded for works, not composers. Remember, however, that the grant is not an independent amount, but is paid in addition to the regular performing royalty: only works performed during the distribution year will receive grants.
The work will receive the grant for the composer’s lifetime. The grant is only paid for performances of the works: if the work is not performed, the grant is not paid.
For further information about the grant for score-based music, please contact the secretary of the Repertoire Committee and music expert: musiikkiasiantuntija(at)teosto.fi.
Members of the Repertoire Committee are listed in the document found here under Working Groups and Committees.
The grant awarded by the Commission Grant Committee of Teosto is used to promote Finnish composition commissions and the creation of new score-based music. The grant is meant for covering the commission fee of a new commissioned work.
We award grants to individual musicians/music performers as well as groups, choirs, orchestras or other organisations that do not receive significant public financial support. More financially stable organisations can also receive the grant if they commit to covering at least 50% of the commission fee using funds other than this grant.
The grant can be applied for by the party commissioning the work, not the composer. The party commissioning the work can be an organisation or an individual who commits to:
- commissioning the work
- being responsible for preparing the performance materials and performing the work
The next application period ends on 31 March 2025 at 11.59pm.
You can apply for the grant using the form below. The deadline for applications is 31 March 2025 at 11.59pm.
Attach the composition commission agreement made with the composer or a letter of intent that specifies the work’s lineup and duration and the amount of the commission fee as well as the date by which the composition must be completed and the date by which the party commissioning the work commits to performing the work for the first time.
The letter of intent must also state that it will come into effect if the Commission Grant Committee of Teosto awards the grant.
If the applicant wants to, they can attach to the application one work of score-based music by the composer from whom the work is commissioned as well as a short professional biography of the composer as a sample of the composer’s work. We always recommend doing this is if there is cause to assume that the composer in question is not already familiar to the Commission Grant Committee.
Download Application form (pdf)
Download Letter of intent (pdf)
Print and sign the application form and the letter of intent, scan them or take good quality photos of them and send them as an email attachment to musiikkiasiantuntija@teosto.fi. We will inform you of the decision approximately one month after the deadline for applications.
The composer of the work must be Finnish or someone who works in Finland. The same composer may not receive the grant two years in a row. A single grant cannot be more than EUR 5,000 without a special reason.
We do not award grants to projects that have mostly been completed by the time applications close. Conflict between the party commissioning the work and the composer may also affect the payment of the grant.
The grant is awarded only for covering the commission fee and not, for example, for covering the cost of writing the performance material.
The applications are processed by an artistic committee consisting of experts in the field. The experts are appointed for two years at a time by Teosto’s Board of Directors based on the recommendations of the Finnish Music Publishers Association, the Society of Finnish Composers and the Finnish Music Creators’ Association.
We will pay the grant to the party commissioning the work after the secretary of the Commission Grant Committee has confirmed that the work has been completed and that it matches the application.
If the party commissioning the work is an organisation on the tax prepayment register, Teosto will pay the grant to the party commissioning the work, who will withhold the tax when paying the commission fee.
If the party commissioning the work is an individual, an organisation not on the tax prepayment register or a foreign individual or organisation, we will pay the grant directly to the composer and withhold the tax.
The composition must be completed within three years of the decision to award the commission grant. If necessary, an extension may be requested from the Commission Grant Committee.
As a commissioner, you are obliged to inform the secretary of the Commission Grant Committee of any changes to the date of completion of the composition or to the first performance.
If the work is too different from the description given in the application, Teosto has the right to not pay the grant.
Teosto may also decide to not pay the grant if the application’s/agreement’s dates regarding the completion of the work are exceeded by an unreasonable amount. The deadline is three years from the decision to award the grant.
The party commissioning the work is obligated to report any changes to the composition’s completion date or the first performance to the secretary of the Commission Grant Committee. If the composer/the party commissioning the work cannot provide a good enough reason for the delay, the awarded commission grant will be given to someone else once the deadline has been missed.
Complaints cannot be filed regarding the decisions of the Commission Grant Committee.
For further information about the grant for score-based music, please contact the secretary of the Commission Grant Committee and music expert: musiikkiasiantuntija(at)teosto.fi.
Members of the Commission Grant Committee are listed in the document found here under Working Groups and Committees.
Music creators can apply for financial support for various needs from different funds. Below you will find links to grants awarded by music industry operators.
The Finnish Music Creators’ Association awards grants for example for working and travelling.
Learn more: www.musiikintekijat.fi
Music Finland offers financial support for internationalisation efforts to music industry operators in the form of various grants and broader programmes related to music exports.
Learn more: www.musicfinland.com
The Finnish Music Foundation (MES) provides financial support for activities such as live music events related to Finnish music, the production of music videos and documentaries, the marketing and export of music, publishing, education, research and development.
Learn more: www.musiikinedistamissaatio.fi/en
The Sibelius and Madetoja funds managed by the Society of Finnish Composers as well as the Society’s composition concert and travel grants help promote Finnish creative compositions.
Learn more: www.composers.fi/en
Taike provides grants and subsidies for the promotion of art and culture.
Learn more: www.taike.fi/en