We bear responsibility for our personnel and finances. We ensure the efficiency and competitiveness of our operations and safeguard the financial interests of our rightholder members. This allows us to be a reliable partner, employer and corporate citizen.
In its operations, Teosto complies with the principles of good governance, which ensure that its operations are efficient, transparent and fair. Teosto’s governance model is based on member democracy, expert management and responsible financial management.
Teosto’s supreme decision-making power lies with the General Meeting, which meets twice a year to make decisions on Teosto’s activities and to elect the Board of Directors. The Board of Directors, consisting of the Chair and five representatives of the member organisations, is responsible for strategic management, finances and the appointment of the CEO. This structure ensures that decision-making reflects the will and industry expertise of the members.
The duties of the General Meeting, the Board of Directors and the CEO are specified in the Statutes of Teosto. In addition, we are committed to complying with the instructions of our global umbrella organisation CISAC (Professional Rules for Musical Societies and Binding Resolutions for Musical Societies).
Teosto’s Code of Conduct includes legitimacy, good governance, customer orientation, taking care of personnel, transparency, equality and non-discrimination, sustainable development and information security. This Code of Conduct guides Teosto’s operations and ensures that Teosto fulfils its legal, social and ethical obligations. Our operations aim to balance the interests of all stakeholders, i.e. rightholders, copyright societies and music users.
Good governance is not only an internal matter at Teosto. Instead, it is reflected in the operating conditions of the entire Finnish music industry. Continuous development and open dialogue with stakeholders ensure that Teosto stays up-to-date and is able to respond effectively to the changing needs and challenges of the music industry.
Royalty collection and distribution
Teosto’s finances are based on the collection of royalties and their distribution to domestic and international rightholders. When music is played, for example, on an online platform, on radio, television or social media, in a concert or as background music, the law requires royalties to be paid to the rightholders of the music.
We protect our rightholder members’ interests by negotiating with parties that use music, from Finnish media companies to international online platforms. We make agreements on the use of music and the amount of royalties, collect royalties and distribute them to composers, lyricists, arrangers and publishers four times a year.
For radio and television performances, the amount of royalties collected is influenced by the reach of the performance channel, the duration of the performance and the number of performances. For events, the amount of royalties is influenced by the size of the venue and the proceeds from ticket sales (paid events) or the number of attendees (free events). For online services, the amount of royalties depends on whether the service is subject to a fee or not.
We make distributions to music authors and publishers according to the Distribution Rules valid at the time of distribution. The Distribution Rules are approved by Teosto’s voting members at the General Meeting.
The authors of a work will mutually decide on royalty shares within the limits of the Distribution Rules. The publisher’s share is agreed on in the publishing agreement. The minimum amount paid in the distribution is EUR 25.
Royalties from radio and television performances can be paid for the year of joining Teosto and for the two previous years. Royalties from gigs and concerts may be paid for the year when you joined Teosto. It is possible to apply for expedited distribution for large concerts.
Read more about Teosto’s Governance and Finances in 2025
In 2025, we paid EUR 72.1 million in royalties to composers, lyricists, arrangers and publishers for the use of their music (EUR 68.8 million in 2024). Of this amount, EUR 39.4 million was paid to Finnish rightholders and EUR 32.7 million to foreign rightholders.
In Finland, a total of 14,098 (13,611) composers, lyricists, arrangers and music publishers received distributions, which was 4% more than in the previous year.
We always strive to operate as cost-efficiently as possible. When it comes to expense reporting, our aim is to maximise openness and transparency.
A key financial indicator of the efficiency of our operations is the cost ratio. This refers to the share that is spent on the production of Teosto’s own operations, such as systems, customer service, distribution and reporting. We aim to provide high-quality, reliable copyright services with a reasonable expense percentage.
In 2025, our operating expenses increased slightly, as planned, due to extensive system projects that included the overhaul of our distribution and reporting systems. As revenue increased more than the costs, Teosto’s cost ratio decreased to 13.2% (2024: 13.4%). This means that an even greater proportion of the funds collected could be distributed to music creators and publishers.
The total costs incurred by rightholders consist of operating costs and a deduction for cultural contributions as decided on by Teosto’s General Meeting. The deduction percentage for cultural contributions was 6–6.5% of the distributed royalties, depending on the category of use, which is a moderate level by international comparison.
Expenses and deductions are allocated to different categories of music use with different weights assigned. In addition, income is allocated to different distribution categories from Teosto’s investments and from the reversals of provisions recognised in previous years. The category-specific figures below illustrate the distributions received by music authors in each category, for example.
The speed of distribution from the performance event to the payment of the royalty to the rightholder is also becoming an increasingly important indicator of efficiency. In 2025, we moved from annual distribution to quarterly distribution in several categories of music use. At the same time, we made preparations for an extensive overhaul of systems that will enable us to accelerate the distribution of royalties on a larger scale during 2026–2028. The aim is to make controlled progress towards an even more up-to-date and predictable distribution model.
Our extensive international networks enable the protection of the rights of Finnish music authors and publishers and the collection of royalties around the world. One of Teosto’s strategic priorities is to develop international operations and increase royalties from abroad.
International cooperation gives a small country like Finland more power to negotiate the remuneration level of music authors and publishers. In 2025, we further strengthened our international cooperation by becoming a customer of the German and English company ICE’s Core service in the licensing of international online music services. ICE negotiates and signs agreements in a concentrated way with multinational digital music platforms such as Spotify, YouTube, Meta and TikTok.
Teosto has reciprocal representation agreements with copyright societies in more than one hundred countries. These international copyright representation agreements enable Teosto to collect royalties from nearly all countries around the world and to grant music licences in Finland for works of music from practically all over the world.
The Nordic Copyright Bureau (NCB) is responsible for granting licences related to reproduction rights, as well as for international cooperation.
International royalties to Teosto’s rightholders in 2025 were nearly 14% higher than in the previous year, totalling EUR 6.3 million (2024: EUR 5.6 million). Royalties were collected from a total of 142 countries. The largest individual sources of royalties were Germany, Sweden, France, the United Kingdom and the United States. Growing markets include, in particular, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Belgium and Switzerland.
During the year, we continuously developed our international capability to identify works represented by Teosto and to collect royalties from markets all around the world. We have improved our communication with our international partners and enhanced data management. At the same time, we have deepened our understanding of the market, increased our activity in the international market through events and meetings, for example, and developed our services for our members operating in the international market. We provide our members with individual advice on the international management of copyright, ensure that works are registered correctly, and actively monitor the collection of royalties from the international market.
To promote the internationalisation of Finnish music, Teosto also contributes to the financing of Music Finland, which focuses on the export and internationalisation of Finnish music. The Teosto Cultural Foundation also supports the promotion of Finnish creative musical art and efforts to increase the value of a Finnish repertoire both domestically and internationally.
We invest in two separate investment portfolios: the portfolios of Teosto ry and the Teosto Fund. The revenue from investment activities increases the result of our operations and safeguards the long-term viability of our promotion activities.
The Teosto Fund was established in 2009 for the purpose of promoting Finnish creative musical art and improving the conditions for it. The purpose of the Fund is to maintain and secure the continuity of these promotion activities in a situation where previous sources of funding are reduced or eliminated.
The primary source of the money in the Teosto Fund’s are the cultural contributions withheld for promotion activities, which Teosto withholds by the decision of its voting members. The right to withhold cultural contributions is based on Teosto’s membership agreement and its reciprocal representation agreements with foreign copyright societies. In 2025, the percentage of cultural contributions withheld from royalties was, depending on the category of use, 6–6.5% after the deduction of costs, which were about EUR 4.2 million.
The Teosto Fund is a self-financed reserve, the capital of which is intended for the promotion of Finnish creative music. Teosto’s investment policy guides the use and investment activities of the Fund. The general investment principles are decided on by the General Meeting, which has authorised the Board of Directors to decide on the approval of the investment policy and the organisation and supervision of investment activities.
The portfolio of Teosto ry consists of funds that are waiting to be distributed to rightholders. The activities and investing principles of Teosto ry comply with the Act on the Collective Management of Copyright and are confirmed by Teosto’s General Meeting.
Teosto’s investment policy is built around the central principles of a long-term investment horizon and diversification. Thanks to these principles, our investment activities are resilient to short-term changes in value. We require asset managers who take part in our investing activities to commit to the UN Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) and we also require active ESG reporting.
The development of the investment market was varied in 2025 due to global events and their consequences. According to the accounts, the total revenue from the investments of Teosto ry was approximately EUR +2.5 million (2024: EUR +2.3 million). For the Teosto Fund, impairment recognised on real estate investments was significant, which is why the total accounting return on the Teosto Fund’s investments was approximately EUR -0.3 million (2024: EUR +0.3 million).
At the end of 2025, the market value of the Teosto Fund’s investments was about EUR 14.1 million, and the rate of return was about 0.9% p.a. (2024: EUR 34.3 million and 6.1% p.a.). At the end of 2025, the capital in the Teosto ry portfolio, calculated on the basis of market value, was about EUR 42.0 million and the rate of return was 3.8% p.a. (2024: EUR 42.0 million and 7.5% p.a.).
Teosto protects the privacy of its rightholder members, music user customers and stakeholders and processes personal data in accordance with current data protection legislation.
In its operations, Teosto processes various kinds of personal data, such as the contact information of rightholders members and music user customers, work information and financial information. The data is mainly collected from the individuals themselves, official registers and partner organisations.
The objective of our information security activities is to support Teosto’s business, protect Teosto’s property and reputation, meet the security requirements imposed by laws and stakeholders and ensure the continuity of operations.
Teosto regularly assesses and analyses information security risks. There is a separate process for handling and reporting information security incidents. Teosto has also published a privacy notice that describes the principles of the processing of personal data in more detail.
Each of our employees is responsible for information security and data protection. Our employees are trained in responsible data processing.
We have described how we process personal data in Teosto’s Privacy Notice. We have recorded the most important guidelines for information security in our information security policy and the related supplementary instructions.
Competent and service-oriented employees with a high level of well-being are the key factor that allows us to provide diverse and high-quality service that meets the needs of our members and customers. At the end of 2025, Teosto employed 84 people (2024: 79). Our employees enjoy working for us: the average length of employment is 11.2 years (2024: 11.8).
We invest in our personnel in a long-term and systematic manner. We support well-being at work through proactive work ability activities, open dialogue and the development of leadership and supervisory work. Comprehensive occupational healthcare services, annual well-being at work plans and various employee benefits, such as sports and culture benefits and lunch benefits, are available. In addition, employees are encouraged to exercise during working hours, which improves coping, especially in autumn and midwinter.
Teosto’s leadership principles emphasise strategic vision, clear goals, trust, and inclusive and result-oriented operations. Leadership is evaluated on a regular basis, including annual 360° feedback and as part of measuring the quality of working life. The interaction between employees and supervisors is active and supported by regular goals and well-being discussions and performance appraisals.
We measure our personnel’s well-being and productivity with the Quality of Working Life (QWL) index. In the survey, our employees respond to 15 questions and use them to assess how the quality of working life is reflected in leadership, supervisory work, organisational culture, competence and processes. At the same time, the employee may offer suggestions for development for each thing they notice. The survey provides us with up-to-date information on the risk of incapacity for work, turnover, sickness absence and burnout. In 2025, our QWL index improved slightly and averaged 77.7% (2024: an average of 77.3%). The average for Finnish organisations is approximately 60%.
Our indicators include the number of sickness absence days as well as the number of disability pension decisions, occupational accidents and early support discussions. In 2025, the number of sickness absence days was 8.1 per employee (2024: 5.77). Part of the increase is due to a change in recording practices concerning short sickness absences approved by supervisors. In 2025, there was one partial disability pension decision and no occupational accidents. Our long-term well-being at work management efforts are reflected in the moderate incapacity for work expenses and sickness absences, better job satisfaction and better performance.
Teosto’s budget and financial statements are approved annually by the General Meeting. In addition, we also prepare a transparency report on our operations in accordance with the Act on the Collective Management of Copyright. In the report, we examine our financial indicators from a wider perspective than in our financial statements.