Teosto’s Annual Report 2024: a record amount of royalties collected, the establishment of the Teosto Cultural Foundation and the beginning of the age of AI
Last year, Teosto collected a record-breaking EUR 89.2 million in royalties for composers, lyricists, arrangers and music publishers. The Teosto Cultural Foundation was officially established, and the music industry began to actively prepare for the changes brought about by AI tools. You can learn about all of this in Teosto’s 2024 Annual Report and Sustainability Report.
2024 saw a record increase in royalties collected by Teosto for the use of music: royalties increased by 6.4% year-on-year to EUR 89.2 million. Of the total amount, the share of royalties collected directly by Teosto increased to a record high of EUR 80.3 million (2023: EUR 75.7 million). There was also significant growth in royalties from abroad paid to Teosto’s rightholder members, of which Teosto distributed a record EUR 5.6 million (+11%).
The largest relative increase was in royalties from concerts and music festivals, which grew from the previous year to EUR 7.3 million (+34%). The amount of royalties collected in the online category increased to EUR 20.7 million (+6%).
“The growth of the live category is partly explained by the concerts held in Finland by major foreign performers, but also by the growth and activity of the Finnish concert and festival audience. The digital distribution of music also continued to grow, although the growth showed signs of levelling off,” says Teosto’s CEO Risto Salminen.
A record amount of the royalties collected in 2024, amounting to a total distribution of EUR 77 million (+8.9%), will be distributed to rightholders represented by Teosto. The term “total distribution” refers to the royalties collected in a given year belonging to Teosto’s rightholder members, minus Teosto’s operating costs and the withheld cultural contributions and plus appropriations.
Last year, royalties were distributed to a record number of 13,611 rightholders (2023: 12,855). The increase in the number of royalty recipients was almost 6%. There was also a slight increase in the number of individuals receiving royalties totalling more than EUR 20,000 a year.
In 2024, Teosto’s operating costs decreased slightly to EUR 12.25 million (2023: EUR 12.39 million). Thanks to the strong growth in revenue, Teosto’s expense percentage was lower than in the previous year, amounting to 13.4% (2023: 14.6%). Learn more about the determination of the expense percentage here.
The Teosto Cultural Foundation was established
The preparations for using money from the Teosto Fund to establish a foundation, which began in 2019, were completed at an extraordinary general meeting held on 13 December 2023, at which the voting members made the historic decision of approving the establishment of the Teosto Cultural Foundation and appointed the foundation’s first Board of Trustees. The Teosto Cultural Foundation officially started operating in 2024.
Teosto donated to the foundation about EUR 10 million in investment assets in the form of shares in funds as the principal, EUR 0.35 million in working capital and EUR 0.5 million for support activities. The foundation also awarded its first grants, with a total of 68 music authors, composers or organisations receiving grants.
Preparing for the future: the threats and opportunities of AI
The development of generative AI was one of Teosto’s most important themes to monitor and investigate in 2024, as AI will have a revolutionary impact on the music market in the future.
According to a study published by CISAC in December 2024, generative AI services may lead to a loss of up to a quarter of music authors’ revenue in 2028, unless remuneration practices are agreed on with AI developers and AI-based service providers.
Even though the development of generative AI is a major threat to the future of creative work, it also provides an opportunity to use AI tools to assist creative work. In June 2024, Teosto published instructions for registering music produced with the help of AI together with other Nordic copyright societies.
A record increase in the number of Teosto’s voting members
At the end of 2024, Teosto had 42,410 rightholder members, of which 1,762 were new members. The average age of the new music author members was 35. The number of Teosto’s voting members increased by a record 294 members to 1,187 members.
In 2024, women accounted for only 21% of Teosto’s members, which is the same percentage as in the previous year. The proportion of women has increased slowly, although the proportion of women is slightly higher among new members, amounting to 25.6%.
“We strive to promote equality and diversity among music authors. One of the focus areas of our strategy is to ensure that everyone has equal opportunities to get into and work in the music industry. For us, this is a way to ensure that the music culture of our small language area continues to be rich and evolving,” says Risto Salminen.
In 2024, Teosto continued to survey non-discrimination in the music industry and also published a more extensive non-discrimination report in April 2024.
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