Teosto strengthens international cooperation in online music service licensing
Teosto has signed an agreement with the British copyright licensing company ICE (International Copyright Enterprise Services Ltd) on cooperation in licensing international digital music services and processing music use data. Negotiations on the final agreement are expected to be completed by the year end and the cooperation is set to start in the beginning of 2026.
Teosto recently decided to wind down its activities in the Nordic joint venture Polaris Hub and has been exploring new partnership options to ensure its rightholders gain the best possible value from the negotiations with international music services.
The cooperation with ICE will cover both the negotiation of licensing agreements with digital music services – such as Spotify, YouTube, Meta and TikTok – and the management and processing of online data from these services. In addition to Teosto, the Norwegian music copyright society TONO and Icelandic STEF will also become a customer of ICE at the same time.
Focus on rightholders’ interests
With the new partnership, Teosto aims to improve the licensing of international online music services and respond to the requirements of the rapidly changing and increasingly complex market environment.
“The partnership with ICE will improve our bargaining position and provide better resources for concluding agreements with global technology companies. I am confident that Teosto’s rightholders will benefit from the ICE cooperation in this rapidly developing market,” says Teosto’s CEO Risto Salminen.
Through the ICE agreement, the works represented by Teosto will become part of one of the world’s most extensive online music repertoires that already includes rights from several copyright societies and music publishers across Europe and the US. ICE was founded by the British copyright society PRS for Music, the German GEMA and the Swedish STIM, and Teosto is now joining this international consortium.
The result of careful preparation
A carefully prepared process for selecting a new partner has been underway since the beginning of 2025. Teosto already has an established relationship with ICE, having partnered since 2015 on the international works registry service.
“Our objective is to ensure that the licensing of copyrights for Finnish composers, lyricists, arrangers, and music publishers on online platforms remains as comprehensive as possible. We aim to enhance the value of these rights as their commercial significance grows. Our licensing cooperation with ICE strengthens the position of our Finnish repertoire and improves our ability to operate within the global music ecosystem”, Salminen says.
The change of partner will not affect the services or data available to rightholders. The impact of the new agreement will become apparent gradually, as some agreements signed by the previous partner Polaris Hub will remain in force until the end of their term.
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About ICE
ICE is a music technology company built by rightsholders, for rightsholders. It ensures accurate, transparent royalty payments to creators and simplifies licensing for DSPs. Working with Publishers and CMOs, ICE provides top-tier Licensing, Processing, and Copyright services. Serving over 330,000 rightsholders, ICE has processed trillions of music streams and paid over €5bn in royalties since 2016. With a copyright database of over 55 million musical works, ICE’s operations touch over 250 territories, with offices across the UK, Germany, and Sweden. www.iceservices.com
