Services for music publishers

In order to become a publisher member, you must verify the music publishing activities of your company. One of the documents below is sufficient for verification:

• A copy of your Trade Register extract, where your company’s line of business is music publishing
• A report of the works you have published, e.g. a copy of an existing publishing agreement or a screenshot of a work register (Teosto’s work register or ICE) where your publishing company is already registered as a party to the work/works
• A notification of being accepted as a member of the Finnish Music Publishers Association

1. Join Teosto as a publisher
   • Once your membership agreement has been processed and is active, you will receive publisher login credentials for our online service.
2. Log in and register your publishing agreements
3. Together with the authors, ensure that work registrations have been submitted

We need information about publishing agreements in order to sell licences for the works and collect and distribute performing right and reproduction royalties.

The following information in the publishing agreement is registered in our work database:

• information about the publisher or sub-publisher of the work
• information about how performing right and reproduction royalties have been agreed to be shared among the authors and the publisher of the work

The amount of money distributed each year depends on the amount of royalties collected from music users that year.

The amount of money distributed to an individual publisher is affected by:

• how much the song they published has been performed; and
• what is the publisher’s share of the royalties to be distributed for the work

The amount of money distributed for radio and TV use is affected by: 

• the reach of the channel/station where the music was performed (national or local)
• the duration of the performance
• the number of performances; and
• channel/station revenue for commercial channels/stations

The amount of royalties distributed for events, live gigs and concerts is affected by:

• the audience capacity of the venue; and
• for paid events, ticket revenue and for free events, the number of attendees

For more information, see the Music Royalties page.

The authors and publisher of the work are paid royalties in accordance with the royalty shares specified for each party in the work registration. The limits defined in Teosto’s distribution rules must be observed when agreeing on royalty shares.

The publisher’s share is agreed on in the publishing agreement by the author and the publisher. The publisher is paid a share of the royalties of the author with whom the publisher has a publishing agreement.

The limits defined in the distribution rules are decided by authors and publishers at Teosto’s General Meeting.

By becoming a voting member, you can influence how royalties are distributed.

Reproduction royalties are distributed according to the same principle as performing right royalties.

In a sub-publishing agreement, the publisher agrees on the distribution of the work with another publisher.

When a Finnish sub-publisher signs a sub-publishing agreement with a foreign publisher, the publishers agree between themselves on the division of their shares. A copy of the sub-publishing agreement must always be submitted to Teosto.

For works sub-published for the territory of Finland, the publisher’s share will conform with the terms and conditions of the sub-publishing agreement.

We will distribute the royalties for the works in accordance with the principles laid down in Teosto’s distribution rules. The principles are decided by our voting members, i.e. the authors and  publishers themselves.

Royalties are not distributed to publishers retroactively. As a publisher member, you will be able to receive distributions from the moment you sign the membership agreement, submit the information about your publishing agreements and are entitled to royalties under the agreement.

The membership agreement can be terminated at any time by contacting our customer service. After termination, the agreement will be valid until the nearest half-yearly end date – until 30 June or 31 December. The membership fee will not be refunded.

Please note that your company can simultaneously be a Teosto member in Finland and a member of other copyright organisations in other countries. You do not need to terminate your Teosto membership if you wish to join an organisation in another country. As a Teosto member, you will receive royalties collected in Finland faster and with lower costs.

If you wish to terminate specific publishing agreements or all of your active publishing agreements, please contact our publisher team by sending a free-form email to work@teosto.fi.

In your message, include the name of your publishing company and your contact details. We will get in touch with you and go through the necessary steps for terminating the agreements.

If you sell your publishing catalogue, either partially or in full, we require a copy of the sales agreement.

The agreement must clearly state:

• The buyer’s details
• Which works are included in the sale
• The date from which the publishing rights will transfer to the buyer

If you sell your entire catalogue, you do not need consent from the authors of the works you’ve published. However, if you sell only part of your catalogue, you must obtain consent from all authors whose works are included in the sale.

For matters related to catalogue sales, you can contact our publisher team by sending a free-form email to work@teosto.fi. Please include the name of your publishing company and your contact details in the message. We will reach out to you and guide you through the necessary steps related to the catalogue sale.