How Gramo works
Gramo makes sure that performers and producers get paid when recorded music is used in public. Here is how the system works, from music use to money in your account.
How the money flows
1. Use and payment
Every time a recording is played in public, whoever uses the music is obliged to pay for it. This applies to radio, TV, shops, bars and restaurants, hotels, gyms and other public venues.
The obligation to pay follows from section 21 of the Norwegian Copyright Act (in Norwegian).
2. Distribution
- 50% to performers: artists, musicians, conductors and others who contribute to the recording.
- 50% to producers: whoever finances and organises the production of the recording, for example a record label or those who release music themselves.
The money is shared equally between the groups of rights holders, in accordance with section 31 of the Regulations to the Copyright Act (in Norwegian).
To calculate and distribute the money to rights holders, Gramo collects detailed data on what has actually been played.
3. Payout
The money is paid out to rights holders four times a year, after it has been calculated at individual level.
Those who contribute to recordings that are used in public have a right to payment under section 21 of the Norwegian Copyright Act (in Norwegian).
See planned payments here
You do not get payment from Gramo for Spotify plays. Streaming where listeners choose what to play and when is not covered by Gramo.
Gramo in figures
2,613,357
hours
of radio airplay processed
130,948
recordings
matched to identified music use
76,506
performers
linked to the recordings used
4,937
producers
linked to the recordings used
Thinking of becoming a member?
No joining fee, no membership fee.
Yes, if you are registered with Gramo.
Shops, cafés and gyms pay Gramo for the music they play, even when it comes from Spotify.
Gramo does not know exactly what each business plays. That is why we use play data from the streaming services and radio stations the businesses use to estimate what has been played. This is called distribution by analogy.
Read more about distribution by analogy in Gramo's general principles (in Norwegian)
Gramo and TONO both collect money for the use of music, but we administer different rights.
- Gramo collects for the use of the sound recording itself. The money goes to the artists and musicians who performed on the recording, and to the producers who arranged and paid for it.
- TONO collects for the use of the work, meaning the music and the lyrics. The money goes to composers, lyricists and music publishers.
When a track is played on the radio, the station pays both Gramo and TONO. If you both wrote and recorded the track, you can be a member of both.
- Gramo is a collective management organisation. We manage rights for people who have sung or played on a recording (performers), and for those who have organised and paid for the production of the recording (producers).
- GramArt is an interest organisation. They work to promote the interests of artists and musicians.
Gramo and Norwaco are both approved under section 21 of the Copyright Act, but we collect for different uses of sound recordings.
- Gramo collects when sound recordings are played in public, for example on radio and TV, in shops, at gyms or at bars and restaurants.
- Norwaco collects when a broadcast containing sound recordings is retransmitted, for example when TV and radio channels are distributed by cable or streaming.
Norwaco also collects in other areas, including for the recording of programmes for use in education, and distributes part of the state compensation for lawful private copying.
No, it is free to join, and you do not have to pay a membership fee to Gramo.