The event-filled summer and online music use significantly increased the amount of royalties – Teosto achieved a record result in 2022
Teosto, which collects royalties for composers, lyricists, arrangers and music publishers, achieved a record result in 2022. This information is included in Teosto’s annual report and financial statements, which were approved by Teosto’s General Meeting on 17 May 2023.
In 2022, the total royalties for the use of music collected by Teosto reached a record high of EUR 80.7 million (2021: EUR 70.1 million). Of the total amount, the share of royalties collected directly from music users by Teosto increased to a record EUR 72.8 million (2021: EUR 62.3 million). The share of royalties collected by foreign copyright societies, lending compensation and private copying compensation was a total of EUR 7.9 million.
Thanks to the large amount of royalties collected, the total distribution to Teosto’s music author and publisher members increased by 16%, setting a new record of EUR 70.3 million. (2021: EUR 60.8 million). On the other hand, Teosto’s own operating expenses were modest: the expense percentage fell from last year’s 13.7% to a record low of 12.6%.
“The increase in royalties is a result of there being a large number of summer events after the COVID-19 restrictions were lifted and the strong growth in online music use. After the difficult COVID-19 years, achieving the best result in our history and seeing significant growth in the total distribution to music authors and publishers are extremely important to us. The music industry is a future growth industry for Finland, and it is worth it to invest in it,” says Teosto’s CEO Risto Salminen.
The COVID-19 struggles of concerts and festivals ended, and there was strong growth in online music use
In 2022, the performing right royalties from concerts and festivals returned to pre-pandemic levels, amounting to EUR 5.1 million (EUR 0.9 million in 2020 and EUR 1.6 million in 2021). In 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, EUR 5.2 million in royalties was collected from concerts and festivals.
In the online category, which covers audio services (e.g. Spotify, YouTube) and video-on-demand services (e.g. Netflix, HBO Max), the royalties collected grew more than 19% compared to 2021, increasing from EUR 14.5 million to EUR 17.3 million. Annual growth has been strong: in 2021, the royalties in the online category increased by 26% during the year. The digitalisation of music use has been a megatrend for a long time: The royalties collected in the online category have increased by 143% since 2016 (2016: EUR 7.1 million).
Advocacy related to the parliamentary elections for the good of the music industry
Teosto’s vision is in increasing the cultural and commercial importance of music. Teosto did advocacy work ahead of the April 2023 parliamentary elections by creating, for the first time, common goals for the government programme together with its member organisations, the Finnish Music Creators’ Association, the Society of Finnish Composers and the Finnish Music Publishers Association. The results of this cooperation can be assessed by comparing them to the government programme that is eventually made.
In early 2022, Teosto was able to reach its long-term promotion of interests goal when
it was decided, on the basis of a proposal by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, that royalties would no longer affect the unemployment benefits of music authors. The change took effect at the start of 2023.
In 2022, Teosto used EUR 2.8 million from the Teosto Fund to promote Finnish music, of which the largest share, EUR 1 million, was paid to music authors as COVID-19 financial support. In total, Teosto distributed EUR 4.6 million of COVID-19 financial support during the pandemic.
Teosto has almost 40,000 members and a record number of new voting members
In 2022, more than 1,500 new members joined Teosto and 18 members left. Teosto got a record high of 125 new voting members. Teosto now has 900 voting members (775 in 2021).
All in all, at the end of the year Teosto had a total of 39,060 rightholder members: composers, lyricists, arrangers and publishers. Of the music author members, only 21% were female, but this increased to 26% of the members who joined in 2022.
Teosto’s carbon footprint was 54.16 tonnes
In 2022, Teosto’s carbon footprint amounted to 54.16 tonnes. In 2021, the fall in travel caused by COVID-19 restrictions decreased Teosto’s carbon footprint significantly from 80.8 tonnes to 53.4 tonnes. However, the return of staff to the office, business travel and the rise in events in 2022 did not increase the emissions to pre-pandemic levels. The carbon dioxide emissions from Teosto’s operations have fallen to a quarter of the amount in 2018, which is when Teosto started measuring its emissions.
In Teosto’s new Sustainability Report, Teosto describes its operations from the perspective of cultural responsibility, financial responsibility, social responsibility and environmental responsibility.
