Grants and Subsidies for Music

We award the subsidy to the work’s composers and publishers, who must be Teosto members. The creator must be alive at the beginning of the distribution year.

Applications are open all year.

Register your work in our web service and submit the work’s score by email as a PDF file to the secretary of the Repertoire Committee: musiikkiasiantuntija@teosto.fi.

Subsidy for domestic music will not be paid if you have not submitted the score.

Teosto’s Repertoire Committee will assess the score to decide whether the work is eligible for the subsidy. Attention will be paid to the following:

• the work’s notated form and structure;
• the layers, density and diversity of music events; and
• how precisely the composer is able to control the composition’s performance through the score.

The duration of the performance also has an effect on the amount of the subsidy.

As both the number of eligible works and the number of performances vary each year, we cannot name an exact price per minute. Teosto’s General Meeting makes a decision on the total amount for subsidy for domestic music each year. In the past few years, the total amount has been 225 000 euros.

We share the total amount with all the works which

• have been deemed eligible by the Repertoire Committee and
• have been performed in concerts, radio, TV or streamed in Finland during the distribution year.

The subsidy is paid in addition to the regular performing royalty: only works performed during the distribution year will receive grants.

The performing royalty is based on the duration of the performance, not the duration of the work: if only 10 minutes of a 30-minute work are performed, the performance royalty is paid for 10 minutes.

However, the amount of the subsidy is determined by the duration of the work: a 20-minute work receives twice as much grant as a 10-minute work.

The subsidy is paid once a year in June as part of our main royalty distribution. If the Repertoire Committee decides that a work is eligible for a subsidy, it will be paid in the June distribution of the following year in which the work is performed.

The Repertoire Committee meets four times a year and processes applications at each of its meetings. The subsidy will be paid from the beginning of the year in which the decision is made: for example, if the Repertoire Committee decides to grant a subsidy in October, but the work has already been performed in January, the January performances will also be eligible for the subsidy.

You can only receive the subsidy retroactively for the year of application and decision. For example, if the Programme Committee decides to award the subsidy in October, but the work has already been performed in January, the January performances will also be eligible.

If you apply for a subsidy in December and the Programme Committee makes the decision in the spring of the following year, you will also receive a grant for the whole application year if the decision is favourable.

Yes, the subsidy is awarded for works, not composers. However, please note that the subsidy is not an independent amount, but is paid in addition to the regular performing royalty: only works performed during the distribution year will receive it.

The work will receive the grant for the composer’s lifetime. The grant is only paid for performances of the works: if the work is not performed, the subsidy is not paid.

For further information about the subsidy for domestic music, please contact the secretary of the Repertoire Committee and music specialist: musiikkiasiantuntija(at)teosto.fi.

Members of the Repertoire Committee are listed in the document found here under Working Groups and Committees.

We award grants to individual musicians/music performers as well as groups, choirs, orchestras or other organisations that do not receive significant public financial support. More financially stable organisations can also receive the grant if they commit to covering at least 50% of the commission fee using funds other than this grant.

The grant can be applied for by the party commissioning the work, not the composer. The party commissioning the work can be an organisation or an individual who commits to:

• commissioning the work
• being responsible for preparing the performance materials and performing the work

The next application period ends on 31 March 2026 at 11.59pm.

You can apply for the grant using the form which is linked further down on this page.
The next application round closes on 31 March 2026 at 11:59 pm, by which time all application documents must be submitted. We will announce the decisions in early May.

Attach the following documents in the upload fields at the bottom of the application form:

• A signed commissioning agreement or letter of intent made with the composer.
  • Download the contract template here, or use your own template, provided that it contains at least the same information as this template.
• A document containing brief professional biographical information about the composer you are commissioning.
  • The composer may not be previously known to the commissioning committee.

Print and sign the commissioning agreement or letter of intent. Scan or take high-quality photographs of both the agreement and the composer’s professional biographical information, and upload them to the electronic application form. The commissioning committee reserves the right to grant a smaller amount of support than applied for.

If the applicant (the commissioner of the work) is entered in the Prepayment Register, the grant will be paid to the applicant, who will then pay the composer’s fee in accordance with the agreement between the applicant and the composer. If the applicant (the commissioner of the work) is not entered in the Prepayment Register, the grant will be paid directly to the composer, and withholding tax will be deducted.

Electronic application form
Download Letter of intent (pdf)

The composer of the work must be Finnish or someone who works in Finland. The same composer may not receive the grant two years in a row. A single grant cannot be more than EUR 5,000 without a special reason.

We do not award grants to projects that have mostly been completed by the time applications close. Conflict between the party commissioning the work and the composer may also affect the payment of the grant.

The grant is awarded only for covering the commission fee and not, for example, for covering the cost of writing the performance material.
The applications are processed by an artistic committee consisting of experts in the field. The experts are appointed for two years at a time by Teosto’s Board of Directors based on the recommendations of the Finnish Music Publishers Association, the Society of Finnish Composers and the Finnish Music Creators’ Association.

We will pay the grant to the party commissioning the work after the secretary of the Commission Grant Committee has confirmed that the work has been completed and that it matches the application.

If the party commissioning the work is an organisation on the tax prepayment register, Teosto will pay the grant to the party commissioning the work, who will withhold the tax when paying the commission fee.

If the party commissioning the work is an individual, an organisation not on the tax prepayment register or a foreign individual or organisation, we will pay the grant directly to the composer and withhold the tax.

The composition must be completed within three years of the decision to award the commission grant. If necessary, an extension may be requested from the Commission Grant Committee.

As a commissioner, you are obliged to inform the secretary of the Commission Grant Committee of any changes to the date of completion of the composition or to the first performance.

If the work is too different from the description given in the application, Teosto has the right to not pay the grant.

Teosto may also decide to not pay the grant if the application’s/agreement’s dates regarding the completion of the work are exceeded by an unreasonable amount. The deadline is three years from the decision to award the grant.

The party commissioning the work is obligated to report any changes to the composition’s completion date or the first performance to the secretary of the Commission Grant Committee. If the composer/the party commissioning the work cannot provide a good enough reason for the delay, the awarded commission grant will be given to someone else once the deadline has been missed.

Complaints cannot be filed regarding the decisions of the Commission Grant Committee.

• Grants for Score-based Music 2025 (pdf)
• Grants for Score-based Music 2024 (pdf)
• Grants for Score-based Music 2023 (pdf)
• Grants for Score-based Music 2022 (pdf)

For further information about the grant for score-based music, please contact the secretary of the Commission Grant Committee and music expert: musiikkiasiantuntija(at)teosto.fi.

Members of the Commission Grant Committee are listed in the document found here under Working Groups and Committees.

The Finnish Music Creators’ Association awards grants for example for working and travelling.

Learn more: www.musiikintekijat.fi

Music Finland offers financial support for internationalisation efforts to music industry operators in the form of various grants and broader programmes related to music exports.

Learn more: www.musicfinland.com

The Finnish Music Foundation (MES) provides financial support for activities such as live music events related to Finnish music, the production of music videos and documentaries, the marketing and export of music, publishing, education, research and development.

Learn more: www.musiikinedistamissaatio.fi/en

The Sibelius and Madetoja funds managed by the Society of Finnish Composers as well as the Society’s composition concert and travel grants help promote Finnish creative compositions.

Learn more: www.composers.fi/en

Taike provides grants and subsidies for the promotion of art and culture.

Learn more: www.taike.fi/en