News

– EUR 46.9 million distributed to rights holders in Norway and abroad

(Oslo, 5 July 2013) TONO, the Norwegian performing rights society, recorded the organisation’s best ever result in 2012. Consequently EUR 46.9 million could be distributed to rights holders in Norway and abroad. Streaming services were the greatest growth-driver during the year.

TONO’s total operating revenues for 2012 came in at EUR 56,4 million, an increase of 6 per cent against the previous year’s figure of EUR 53.2 million which was also a 6 per cent increase compared to 2010.

“Revenues for 2012 were significantly up on the previous year. This is particularly pleasing because it shows that both consumers and music services consider music an attractive and valued commodity. It also shows that TONO is able to secure fair remunerations for music creators both in Norway and belonging to sister societies in other countries. At 130 per cent, year-on-year growth in the online sector was particularly exciting,” explains TONO CEO, Cato Strøm.

Here’s an interesting update: Three Europen author societies launch a licensing and processing hub to provide services across Europe.

PRS for Music (UK), STIM (Sweden) and GEMA (Germany) have today announced a major collaboration that will simplify both national and pan-European music rights licensing and processing.

Read the full press release.

The Council’s decision to exclude the audio-visual sector from the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership’s negotiating mandate has been followed by EC Commissioner De Gucht’s declaration that he is ready to discuss the issue with his American counterparts.

At this crucial time, it’s vital that Europe’s creative community keeps mobilised and speaks up about why the exclusion of audiovisual services is so important to them. That’s why the European Composer and Songwriter Alliance (ECSA) has launched a petition calling for the exclusion of  cultural and audio-visual services from any free trade negotiations with the US.

https://www.change.org/petitions/european-parliament-commission-council-exclude-culture-from-ttip-negotiation

This petition was launched on change.org. It’s easy to share and to add further initiators and partners. You can read the ECSA press release here. 

The recent CISAC conference in Washington DC witnessed two crucial appointments. 

Georg Oeller appointed BIEM president GEMA executive board member Georg Oeller was elected President of the management committee of the general assembly of BIEM (Bureau International des Sociétés gérant les Droits d’Enregistrement et de Reproduction Mécanique) on June 7, 2013 in Washington D.C. At the same time, Karl-Heinz Klempnow was appointed Vice President of the general assembly.

Oeller succeeds Thierry Desurmont (SACEM/SDRM), who had held the position since 2009. The election of a new president was timed to coincide with restructuring at the umbrella organization. In future, the functions of President and Secretary General will be amalgamated, and Oeller will take on both roles in a voluntary capacity. The structural reform aims to take into account the difficulties the music industry is facing and to concentrate BIEM’s activities on exploiting music on physical data storage devices.

Harald Heker, chairman of GEMA’s executive board, said: “I am delighted that my fellow board member Georg Oeller, an expert in licensing and distributing mechanical rights, has been elected to the top of the international organization representing mechanical rights societies. With Karl-Heinz Klempnow appointed the general assembly’s Vice President as well, GEMA board members now hold two influential positions within BIEM and can play a defining role in its future. These appointments are a huge vote of confidence in the work being done by GEMA from our counterpart organizations around the world, and send an important signal to music makers in Germany.”BIEM was founded in 1929 and represents 52 organizations working in mechanical reproduction rights across 56 countries. (www.biem.org)

GEMA represents in Germany the copyrights of more than 65,000 members (composers, lyricists, and music publishers), as well as over two million copyright holders all over the world. It is one of the largest societies of authors for musical works.