Teosto’s services in a nutshell

For almost a century, we have been advocating for music authors and their rights. Our operations are guided by our members, who are music professionals themselves. Our most important task is to ensure that you receive the royalties you are entitled to for the use of your music. We also support you in other practical matters so that you can focus on building your music career and thrive creatively.

Good cooperation between you and us is especially important. To help us collect music royalties and distribute them to you, you need to report your new works and performances to us.

What are Teosto’s responsibilities – what do we do for you?

• We register you and your music in international databases.
  • You will receive an international author identity, an IPI number, which is kind of a music author’s personal identification number.
  • Your works will receive unique ISWC identifiers (International Standard Musical Work Code). The identifiers are used to identify your works and their performances around the world, and allow you to receive royalties for their use.
• We take care of your music’s copyright in Finland and abroad.
  • We negotiate the agreements, terms and conditions for the use of your music on your behalf with both domestic operators and international services, such as YouTube, Spotify, Netflix, Instagram and TikTok. We also sell licences to use your music.
  • We also safeguard your interests by influencing domestic and EU-level decision-makers to improve the conditions for making professional music, such as taxation and social security.
• We collect, process and distribute the royalties for your music and for performances in Finland and abroad.
• We help you navigate the music industry.
  • You will receive the latest newsletters, and communications on various social media channels and in our online media TeoStory, as well as invitations to our events.
  • You can contact our customer service from Monday to Friday 10.00–14.00. In addition, you can use our web service, where you can take care of matters 24/7.
• We are your gateway to other services that will help you advance your career.
  • You can also join our member organisations that offer practical support services, such as advice and mentoring.
  • You can access the Finnish Music Foundation MES’s Instrument Bank, where you can lease valuable instruments for studio sessions, gigs or jam sessions.
  • You can apply for various grants and be nominated for one of the biggest monetary art awards in the Nordic countries, the Teosto Prize.

What are your responsibilities – what do you need to do?

In order to receive royalties from Teosto, it’s essential that you keep us informed about your works and performances. Please remember to keep us updated!

Existing works: Return the checklist

When you became a Teosto member, you received a checklist of works. The list contains works that are already in our database and in which the author has the same name as you. Go through the list to check if any of your own works are on it. If you are the author of one or more works, please complete the list as instructed and send it back to us.

New works: Submit a work notification whenever you create a new work

• Why? You or your publisher must submit a work notification in order for us to register your work in the international work database. If you have a publishing agreement, please agree with your publisher that they take care of submitting the work notifications. If we have not received a work notification for your work, we cannot pay you royalties for the use or performance of your work.
• When? Submit the work notification preferably as soon as your work is finished but at least before it is published.
• How? In Teosto’s web service (more information below).

Performances: Submit a performance notification whenever you perform live or streamed music

• Why? If you perform your own music or music made by others in Finland or abroad, always submit a performance notification. You receive royalties when you perform your own music or someone else performs your music. Without a performance notification, we will not have any information about your live or streamed performances and will not be able to pay royalties for them.
• When? Submit the performance notification as soon as possible after the performance, at the latest by the quarterly deadlines. We cannot process late performance notifications or distribute performing right royalties based on them.
• How? In Teosto’s web service (more information below).

Remember to also:

• Make sure that your contact details, account number and tax card are up-to-date in the web service.
• Check your distributions by the specified deadlines. We distribute royalties to our members four times a year.

Teosto’s web service

• Our web service is the most important channel for you as a Teosto member. In the service, you can submit work and performances notifications and maintain your member details, among other things. We recommend you to begin using the web service as soon as you receive your login credentials (our customer service sends the credentials after your membership application has been processed).
• In your web service profile, you can select the role of an author, a performer or a combination of both. To submit a performance notification, you must also have selected the role of a performer.
• PLEASE NOTE! We are currently updating our web service, which means there are two versions of the service for the time being: old and new. The new version is more user-friendly, but you may occasionally need to change the version to have access to some functions. For example, if you want to log out of the web service, you need to switch to the old version and log out from there.

For what kind of music use are royalties paid? 

We pay you royalties for public performance, transmission to the audience and reproduction of your music.

How much royalties are paid and when?

• Our members are paid four times a year, which means we distribute royalties every three months.
• The main distribution with the highest amount of live gig and concert royalties takes place in June.
• The minimum distribution amount is EUR 25. The first distribution will be paid when this amount is exceeded.
• Please note that if your music is not played a lot on national radio, TV or large concert arenas, the accumulation of royalties can take time.

Here, we have collected together some concrete examples of how many performances it takes to earn enough royalties to cover our EUR 124 membership fee.

Teosto and Gramex – what is the difference?

Music rights can be divided into two main categories: rights related to the work i.e. rights related to composition, lyrics and arrangement, and recording rights i.e. rights related to sound recordings.

• Matters related to the rights of the work and its authors are handled by Teosto. The authors of the work, or the song, are the composer, the lyricist, the arranger, the translator and the music publisher (if the song has been published). It is possible that no recording is made of the work.  
• Matters related to the rights of the recording, i.e. the reproduction, and its authors are handled by Gramex (in some cases by the record company). If the song is recorded, i.e. made into a digital recording or published on a physical recording medium (a CD, a vinyl record, a cassette), its performers also have copyright to the performance on that recording. The performers are the artists and the bands, the singers, the musicians and also the financial producer of the record, in other words, the record company.
• In addition to Gramex, some of the rights and royalties related to recordings are handled by our partner Nordisk Copyright Bureau (NCB) under Teosto’s authorisation.

If your music is published and you play or sing on the publication yourself, you should also join Gramex. Gramex membership is free of charge.

Where can you get support for your career?

The music industry entails various organisations with different roles in supporting the important work of music authors. In addition to us, you can also get support and networking opportunities through other music industry organisations and support services.

Music industry organisations

We are one of the organisations taking care of your interests but definitely not the only one. Teosto membership also opens you doors to the services of our three member organisations. Our member organisations specialise in the needs of different groups: the Society of Finnish Composers focuses on composers of contemporary music, the Finnish Music Creators’ Association on music authors and the Finnish Music Publishers Association on music publishers. There are also many other important organisations in the industry that aim to develop the Finnish music industry.

Music publishers  

The most important commercial partner of a music author may be a music publisher – especially if you are seeking an international career. A music publisher’s tasks include actively offering their author’s songs to different artists and working towards getting songs included in advertisements, TV programmes or films, for example. Authors on the beginning of their career can also approach publishers and discuss cooperation opportunities.  

Top 20 – Future Hitmakers

Top 20 – Future Hitmakers is an intensive course for young, promising music authors. The course application period is in the autumn each year. The course starts in the following January. The goal of the course is to help music authors evolve in their careers and build networks with other songwriters and music industry professionals as well as to inspire them to create new music. The course is organised in cooperation by Teosto, the Finnish Music Creators’ Association, the Finnish Music Publishers Association and Music Finland.

Want to know more?