Teosto distributed more than EUR 26 million to music authors and publishers
Today, on 13 June, the Finnish Composers’ Copyright Society Teosto distributed EUR 26.6 million in royalties to composers, lyricists, arrangers and music publishers. A total of EUR 13.2 million went to Teosto’s direct members. All in all, a total of 11 000 music creators and publishers received royalties.
Teosto distributes royalties to its members quarterly. In June 2024, royalties were mainly distributed for music used on radio and television, in online and streaming services and as background music in October–December 2023. In addition, the June distribution included royalties for concerts and live music performances in 2023.
The amount distributed to creators varies from some euros to several thousands of euros depending on the songs performed and shares of those songs. . In this distribution, the median amount distributed to a single music author was about EUR 116.
Royalties for online music services increased significantly – royalties for live music also continue to grow
A licence is required if the works of music authors and publishers who are Teosto members are used in Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and social media services, among others. Teosto does not negotiate agreements directly. Instead, the licensing is handled by Polaris Hub, a joint venture of Teosto, the Danish Koda and the Norwegian Tono.
Royalties collected for online services and distributed to rightholders have increased significantly compared to the June 2023 distribution. As a whole, the distribution for the online services category has more than doubled compared to last June, but some of the growth can be explained by one-off distribution payments. Even if one-off payments were disregarded, organic growth is still above 25% compared to the previous year’s distribution.
As the use of online music services is growing, it is increasingly important to ensure that music authors also receive a fair compensation for the use of their works as drivers of digital business.
“This spring, too, we have seen some arguments regarding the value of music on social media and in online services. TikTok and Universal Music Group announced that they had reached a mutual understanding on the level of compensation, presumably a fairer one. However, it is possible that similar situations will occur in the future as well. Our opinion is unambiguous: making music is work, and that calls for decent compensation,” says Teosto’s CEO Risto Salminen.
The high number of events in 2023 can also be seen in the June distribution
Royalties collected for live music performances and events that contain music as well as for background music continued to increase in 2023. In 2023, royalties collected for the performance of music at events totalled almost EUR 15 million.
The June distribution also includes royalties for works performed and background music used in restaurants and events in 2023. The June 2024 distribution for the public performance distribution category amounted to almost EUR 11 million – an increase of almost seven per cent compared to the previous year.
“This summer is also looking to be eventful. There will be several concerts at the Helsinki Olympic Stadium, and it also seems that festivals will attract large audiences this year, too. People are clearly eager to share musical experiences,” says CEO Salminen and continues:
“At a time when there seems to be more disagreement, controversy and uncertainty in our society and the world, music is a uniting force.”
The royalties to be distributed in June 2024 have been collected for the following categories of rights:
| Category of rights | June 2024, EUR million | June 2023, EUR million |
| Radio and TV | 11.0 | 13.6 |
| Public performance | 10.9 | 10.3 |
| Online services | 2.6 | 1.2 |
| Reproduction | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Multiple (foreign countries, corrections) | 1.1 | 1.1 |
| Total | 26.6 | 27.2 |
You can find more detailed information about the distribution categories included in this distribution and the times when the royalties were collected in the distribution calendar on our website.
Distributions are made four times a year
You can find out more about Teosto’s distributions on the Distributions page of Teosto’s website.
The total amount distributed by Teosto varies depending on how comprehensively royalties can be collected in each music use category and how quickly the royalties can be allocated to the work to which they belong. Allocating royalties requires work notifications submitted by music authors to Teosto for their own works, as well as performance notifications or music use reports submitted by music performers and users.
Unpaid royalties in the events category
We can distribute royalties to rightholders only after the music user has paid the licence fee. Teosto has not received these fees for some events, which means that we are not yet able to distribute royalties for them. You can check the status of the outstanding payments on our website (in Finnish).
Teosto distributes royalties to its member composers, lyricists, arrangers and publishers four times a year. After June 2024, the next distribution will be made on 19 September 2024.