Teosto distributes EUR 21.3 million to composers, lyricists, arrangers and music publishers
Teosto paid the June distribution to members today on 10 June 2021. Of this sum, EUR 8.3 million was paid to Finnish composers, lyricists, arrangers and music publishers and the rest will be paid on 30 June to foreign music authors whose music has been performed in Finland.
Teosto collects the copyright royalties from public performances and copying of domestic and foreign music and distributes them to the rightsholders of the music.
The royalties being distributed now are mainly for music used in concerts, radio, television, as background music, in online and streaming services and on Yle Areena in October–December 2020.
Adjustment items, which are payments that are used to adjust the royalties that are made quarterly on the basis of estimates to match the actual remuneration, are also included.
COVID-19 restrictions on events had a major impact on the distribution:
the amount of royalties is EUR 5 million less compared to the previous year
Teosto’s June 2021 distribution is about EUR 5 million less than the June 2020 distribution. This is a result of the royalties from public performance – i.e. concerts, festivals, live gigs as well as stages and cinema – being lower than usual due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“There is always some delay in copyright royalty distributions, and the COVID-19 situation will be significantly reflected in them only this year. The crisis in the music industry will last long even after the rest of society has returned to normal. In terms of future royalties, it is vital that the summer season with its concerts and gigs will be launched all around the country,” says Risto Salminen, the CEO of Teosto.
Royalties from music performed on radio and TV and background music are nearly at the same level as those of last summer.As the royalty payments from the commercial channels have decreased, the copyright royalties paid by YLE have slightly increased. The cost savings at Teosto’s office also had a positive effect on the amount of paid royalties, while operating expenses deducted from the collected royalties have been significantly reduced.
The royalties distributed in June 2021 have been collected for the following categories of rights:
| Category of rights | June 2021 EUR mil. | June 2020 EUR mil. |
| Radio and TV | 12.1 | 12.2 |
| Public performance | 5.8 | 10.6 |
| Internet | 1.2 | 1.3 |
| Reproduction | 1.2 | 1.3 |
| Multiple (foreign countries, corrections) | 1.0 | 0.9 |
| Total | 21.3 | 26.3 |
Distributions from abroad are not yet affected by the COVID-19 situation due to the long delay: distributions from abroad totalled EUR 0.63 million, which was at the same level as last year. Most royalties from abroad concerned performances in the United States, France, the UK and Sweden.
Teosto members can see statements on their own distributions in the web service
Music creators, music publishers and representatives of heirs that are Teosto members can see precise statements on their distributions until 2014 in Teosto’s web service. The distribution-specific statement shows, for example, for which work and from which area of music usage or source the distributions have accumulated.
The so-called COVID-19 equalisation is also paid in the June distribution.
The pricing of music usage agreements for municipalities and parishes as well as music licenses for stages and small events is based on the number of residents or members or the number of events held in a year. These fixed-price “lump sum royalties” are distributed for the distribution categories above on the basis of identified works performed at events for which the work and performance notifications have been submitted to Teosto.
The parties that pay a fixed price – municipalities, parishes, stages and small event organisers – paid the full royalties for 2020, even though the number of events held was lower than usual due to COVID-19 restrictions. Because of this, the 2020 distribution of royalties collected for these four distribution categories was done using an equalising distribution model that is different from the usual model used. In this model, the royalties collected for the aforementioned categories were distributed to works included in the 2020 performance reports and also to works included to 2019 performance reports.
The goal of the COVID-19 equalisation payment is to distribute royalties collected during the COVID-19 period as correctly and fairly as possible.
Teosto pays distributions four times per year
The total amount distributed by Teosto varies, depending on how comprehensively royalties are collected in each music use area, and how quickly these can be targeted at the work to which they belong. In order to direct the royalties, Teosto requires the work notifications by music authors for their work alongside the performance notifications or music use reports by music performers and users.
The amount paid to an individual creator depends on how many times the work has been performed, where or in which situation and what is the creator’s share of the royalty to be paid for the work. The amount varies from a couple of euros to thousands of euros. Teosto continually seeks to accelerate the collection of royalties so that they can be distributed as soon as possible after the music has been performed.
Teosto distributes royalties to its member composers, lyricists and publishers four times a year. The next distribution will be paid in September 2021.