Promoting Finnish creative music is an important part of our basic task and our reason for being. We want to carry responsibility for the diversity of music and for improving the working conditions of future generations of music authors. This means providing financial support, actively promoting Finnish music and developing the whole industry.
Our goal is a society that is a good place for both making and using music professionally. As a result of our operations, new, innovative and diverse music is created and new music authors get excited about the industry.
Teosto’s support of creative musical art and its diversity is funded through cultural contributions, which Teosto withholds on the basis of decisions by its members and in accordance with the agreements it has made with its rightsholders and foreign collective management organisations. In 2021, a total of EUR 2.86 million in cultural contributions were withheld, which amounts to 6% of the royalties we collected.
We aim for the growth and internationalisation of the Finnish music industry, the development of professional competence and increased interest in and appreciation of the music industry. This will help Finnish music and its authors grow and thrive.
Teosto financially supports the diversity of music in many ways:
- We support the activities of Teosto’s member organisations (the Finnish Music Creators’ Association, the Society of Finnish Composers, the Finnish Music Publishers Association). Through their activities, the organisations support the financial and professional interests of their members and contribute to ensuring good conditions for music in Finland.
- Support is also given to Teosto’s member organisations’ foundations and funds, such as the Malmstén Foundation, the Sibelius Fund and the fund of the Finnish Music Publishers Association, which use grants to support diversity in music and creative music.
- We provide funding to the Finnish Music Foundation, which awards grants for creative work, music performance, publishing, training and marketing.
- We support Music Finland, which supports the internationalisation of Finnish music authors and the growth of music exports, among other things.
We also provide direct financial support for making creative music. Teosto’s grant for score-based music is intended for Finnish notated works, and it is awarded by Teosto’s Repertoire Committee. We use the support provided by Teosto’s Commission Grant Committee to promote Finnish composition commissions and the creation of new score-based music.
In 2021, Teosto’s General Meeting decided to grant EUR 3 million out of cultural contributions as support to compensate for financial losses that Teosto’s rightsholder members have suffered due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We arranged two rounds of financial support in the spring and autumn of 2021. We received a total of 2,996 applications for support, of which 2,549 applications met the criteria for receiving support.
Awarded since 2003, the Teosto Prize is one of the biggest art prizes in the Nordic countries. Every year, we award it to one or more Finnish works of music.
The purpose of the Teosto Prize is to annually recognise bold, original and innovative works of music or collections of works. With the prize, we also want to support the diversity of genres and increase appreciation for the work of music authors in society. The maximum amount of the prize is EUR 40,000, and it can be awarded to 1–3 works of any genre.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we did not award the Teosto Prize in 2021. Instead, we allocated EUR 40,000 for support activities through the funds of Teosto’s member organisations. Thanks to this, the prize money benefited a larger group of professional music authors. However, in spring 2022 we awarded a record amount of prize money, EUR 60,000, which went to works published or premiered in 2020–2021.
Teosto cooperates with its members and customers to increase appreciation for Finnish music and make its authors more visible in the Finnish cultural sector.
Since 2018, we have presented the Music Author of the Year award at the Iskelmä Gaala as a recognition of special achievements in creating a wide range of schlager music. In 2021, the award was given to Janne Rintala, a versatile composer and lyricist, at a live-streamed gala.
At the Emma Gaala, we are a partner of the Song of the Year category, highlighting the people behind Finnish hit songs. In 2021, the Song of the Year award went to Behm’s “Hei Rakas”, which the performer also composed and wrote the lyrics for.
Our other partnerships in 2021 included the new Wonderfeel Helsinki contemporary classical music festival, which was meant to showcase new, innovative and boundary-breaking music. Unfortunately, the festival’s concerts had to be cancelled at the last minute due to the COVID-19 situation. However, we produced many innovative pieces of content presenting the composers together with the festival.
We were also part of Music Finland’s Biisiviennin Visio project, which resulted in five strategic goals to increase Finnish music exports. We are working on the measures included in the goals together with Music Finland, the Finnish Music Creators’ Association and the Finnish Music Publishers Association.
Teosto seeks to play its part in responding to the networking and competence development needs of the music authors of the future.
At the annual Musiikki & Media music industry event, we produced lots of content that supports the professional development of music authors, including content about changes in listening habits, the distribution of music streaming revenue and the goals of musical culture in current politics.
Every year, we run a Top 20 – Future Hitmakers course, which aims to help young music authors make progress in their career and network with other songwriters and music industry professionals as well as inspire them to create new music. The course is offered in cooperation with the Finnish Music Publishers Association, the Finnish Music Creators’ Association and Music Finland. The 2021 course started in January 2021. In the spring, the 20 students attended six teaching sessions, mostly remotely. The studio day in August was held as an in-person session.
The Teosto Talks events, which we hold twice a year, are seminars open to all where we discuss current topics that are of interest to music authors. In 2021, the topics of the Teosto Talks events were the distribution of revenue on online platforms and the internationalisation of Finnish music authors. Over the year, we also held four distribution seminars, where we shared information with our members about the distributions and the accumulation of royalties in various categories.
Teosto seeks to engage in dialogue with decision-makers to ensure that Finnish society understands the importance of Finnish musical culture to society. Our advocacy work aims to increase awareness of and appreciation for musical culture as well as ensure good working conditions and long-term funding.
Teosto’s cultural ambassadors are a network of music authors and decision-makers that aims to increase cooperation and grassroots-level communication between those who make music professionally and those who make decisions about their working conditions. The network’s members include about 70 Members of Parliament, music authors and publishers, who form pairs of ambassadors. In 2021, we held two joint events for cultural ambassadors as well as numerous smaller, one-on-one meetings.