A Brief Overview of the Norwegian Music Market

Udgivet
02.09.2016

Flag_of_Norway.svg

1. Introduction to the Market

Population: 5,019,701
GDP per capita: $55,300

Norway’s domestic music market has gained significant global attention over recent years due to the disproportional take-up of streaming services. During the first half of 2015, the Norwegian recorded market grew by 6.5% compared to the previous year. The revenue from different streaming services accounted for a massive 81% of all recorded music revenue for said period (IFPI Norway, 2015). Downloads are on a steady decrease.

Norway’s wider economy has also outperformed the rest of Europe, characterized by high income levels, low interest rates and a technologically advanced society. As a result, Norway’s domestic music market is ranked as the world’s 11th largest. Quite impressive given the nation’s scarce 5M population.

2. Record Labels, Licensing & Distribution

Only a very small portion of the recorded music sales in Norway are physical. In the first half of 2015, the physical sales increased a tiny bit thanks to vinyl, which now accounts for 24% of all physical formats.

According to the 2015 IFPI Norway report for the first half of 2015, music released by Norwegian labels accounted for a ca 75% stake of Norway’s recorded music market.

Some of the key domestic indie labels include:

Musikkoperatørene
Bare Bra Musikk
Playground Music
Cosmos Music Group
VME
Grappa
KKV 
Rune Grammfon
Smalltown Supersound
Aurora 
Simax 
LAWO Propeller Recordings
Indie Recordings
Jansen Plateproduksjon
Fysisk Format

Norway retains a number of independent distributors and digital aggregators, including:

Indie 
Musikkoperatørene 
VME 
Sonet 
Phonofile 
Beat

3. Publishing

Norway’s publishing sector is relatively small but still highly active. Annual turnover for the sector is estimated at approximately 100mNOK. The publishing sector is represented by its trade organisation NMFF – the Norwegian Publishers’ Association.

Some of the main independent publishing companies include:

Hacate 
Oslo Recordings
Waterfall
VME Publishing

3.1 Sheet music publishers
Cantando
Norsk Musikkforlag 
Norsk Noteservice
Musikk-Husets Forlag
Lyche Musikkforlag

3.2 Songwriting camps
Norway is also home to two songwriting camps that encourage different creative collaborations:

Trondheim Calling SONG:EXPO: The co-writing camp is held annually in late January and attracts international song writers, A&Rs and publishers which are teamed up with domestic writers to create a vibrant meeting point in which leads are provided and songs pitched for markets in the US, Germany, UK and Asia.

Waterfall Songwriting Camps: The Oslo-based music publishing company runs a string of songwriting camps for their in-house talent domestically as well as abroad.

4. Performance Rights 

Tono is Norway’s Performing Rights Society and represents more than 22 000 Norwegian composers, authors and publishers. Administration of mechanical rights on the Norwegian market is administered by NCB – Nordic Copyright Bureau.

Gramo is the joint collection society in Norway for musicians, performing artists and phonogram producers.

5. Management

Key Norwegian management companies include:

Pop and Rock:
Stageway
Made
Toothfairy
Unit 
Up Front Artists
HES
Vox Artist

Jazz and Folk:
Kalleklev
Musikkprofil

Classical and Contemporary:
Nordic Artists Management
Classical Management
Artefact
Pro Arte

6. Live

Norway has a well-developed and well-funded live music sector, renowned for its quality and professionalism. More than 20% of the population attends a music festival every year and Oslo, in particular, despite a population of only 600,000 is home to a wide range of venues. The best known of these is undoubtedly the Rockfeller complex, which incorporates the Rockefeller Music Hall (capacity: 1350), Sentrum Scene (capacity: 1750) and the John DEE Live Club & Pub (capacity 400).

Other notable venues in Norway’s capital include Café MonoKampen BistroBlå and Parkteatret, while other cities like Bergen, Fredrikstad, Kristiansand, Stavanger and Trondheim also have strong live music scenes.

In addition to commercially run concert halls, Norway also has more than 100 publicly funded cultural houses in cities and municipalities throughout the country – including:

Oslo Concert Hall
Grieghallen
Kilden
Olavshallen
Stavanger Concert Hall.

6.1 Booking Agents
Live Nation has offices in Oslo, but there are many Norwegian promoters and booking agents who focus on the domestic market, including:

Atomic Soul
Artistpartner 
Amber Booking
Musikkprofil
Kalleklev
Polar Artist
Mentometer
Goldstar
Ramble On

6.2 Festivals
It has been said that every little Norwegian town and village has its own festival. From May to September more than 200 festivals are staged throughout the country. Below is a selection of each genre’s main events:

Pop and Rock:
Øya Festival
Hove 
Norwegian Wood

Jazz:
Kongsberg Jazz Festival 
Molde International Jazz Festival
Punkt 
Oslo Jazz Festival

Traditional folk and world music:
Førde Folk Music Festival
Oslo World Music Festival
Folkelarm

Contemporary and Classical:
Bergen International Festival
ICMF International Chamber Music Festival Stavanger
Ultima Oslo Contemporary Music Festival
Oslo Chamber Music Festival
St. Olav Festival
Oslo International Church Music Festival
Borealis
Risør Chamber Music Festival 
Festival of North Norway
Trondheim Chamber Music Festival 

6.3 Orchestras
Norway’s five largest cities sport a symphony orchestra of their own with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra fronting a strong sector that is active at home and abroad.

The Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra 
The Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra
The Trondheim Symphony Orchestra
Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra
The Arctic Philharmonic Orchestra
Stavanger Symphony Orchestra
Norwegian Radio Orchestra

6.4 Operas
The Norwegian opera scene is spearheaded by Oslo’s Norwegian National Opera, which stages large and smaller operas at its spectacular icebergesque opera house by the capital’s waterfront.

The Norwegian National Opera
Bergen National Opera
The Arctic Opera
Operaen i Kristiansund
Opera Nordfjord 

7. Media, PR & Promo

7.1 TV
TV broadcasting is dominated by public broadcaster NRK – the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation with its three channels (NRK1, NRK2 and NRK3/NRKSuper). Trailing behind is commercial broadcaster TV2 with its five channels. TV Norge is third on the list.

7.2 Radio
NRK is also dominant on the radio waves. Coming in second is the commercial station P4 while Radio Norge is third.

NRK P1 
NRK P2
NRK P3
P4 
Radio Norge

Key music programmes on the radio include:
Lydverket
Musikk i Brennpunktet (Classical/Contemporary)
Jazzklubben (Jazz)
Jungeltelegrafen (Folk/Traditional/World)

7.3 Online
A quartet of music-specific sites that focus on album reviews, festival reports, artist interviews and live reviews:

Gaffa 
Groove.no
Hissig 
Wimp-bloggen
Lydskrift (Contemporary/Classical)
Lydgalleriet (Contemporary/Classical)

7.4 Print
Akersgata, the Norwegian equivalent to Fleet Street, encompasses several dailies that feature album reviews, festival reports and, to some extent, artist interviews:

VG 
Dagbladet 
Aftenposten

A string of niche-oriented, high-quality music magazines have a loyal user base in Norway and cover their respective genres thoroughly:

Eno (Alt, Indie)
Klassisk Musikkmagasin (Classical/Contemporary)
Jazznytt  (Jazz)
Scream Magazine (Metal, Hardcore)

7.5 PR-agencies
Indianer
This Is
Haaland, Eidsvåg & Strøm
Miss Fixit

8. Networking Arenas

Oslo’s by:Larm is widely regarded as one of the Nordic music scene’s premier networking arenas and showcasing festivals. The event is staged annually mid-February in Oslo and features a wealth of showcases with Nordic bands and performers, seminars, meeting arenas and creative networking sessions.

Øya International is the Oslo festival’s programme for its foreign delegates and offers a tailored package for the participants with exclusive concerts, networking sessions and social events.

Molde Jazz Expo is a newcomer on the music industry networking circuit and is staged in conjunction with the Molde International Jazz Festival in mid to late July. International music industry reps, journalists and other key delegates are treated to a tailored programme with concerts, scenic trips and networking opportunities.

After a one-year hiatus, Folkelarm is back as the Norwegian folk/trad/world music scene’s premier meeting point and showcasing festival. Held at Oslo’s Riksscenen – the Norwegian Hub for Traditional Music and Dance, the showcase festival also features seminars and networking arenas for domestic as well as international folk music execs.

The Norwegian contemporary music scene’s main festival is without doubt the Ultima
Oslo Contemporary Music Festival. The festival also features a tailored programme for its invited foreign delegates

9. Taxation

9.1 Value-added tax (VAT)
Norway is not a member of the EU, and therefore extra attention should be applied to the country
stax legislation – although the Norwegian VAT Act is largely based upon the EC Sixth VAT Directive .

The standard rate for VAT in Norway is 25%.

The sale of music performances is VAT free. However, if an intermediary is involved, like a booking agency, then the middle hand’s eventual fee is subject to VAT. The artist’s fee is not subject to VAT.

NormalVAT rate of 25% is collected on record sales.

9.2 Importing goods to Norway
Foreign businesses that only supply goods or services into the country do not need to pay Norwegian VAT when selling. However, the importation of goods is a taxable event and VAT is payable at the time of importation by the owner of the goods
.

VAT is calculated and collected by Customs and Excise and, in terms of imports, is calculated on the customs value. 

It is the owner of the goods who must pay VAT on the importation of goods. It is irrelevant whether a consumer or a taxable person imports the goods. For persons and companies in the VAT register, all VAT on imports is deductible.

9.3 Importing services to Norway
When importing tangible services to Norway (i.e. services that cannot be supplied from a remote location) the foreign business must register for VAT in Norway.

For intangible services (i.e. services that can be supplied from a remote location, for instance consultancy services or digital services) it is the recipients duty to pay the VAT if they are established in Norway.

9.4 Income tax for foreign artists
If you only stay in Norway for a 
limited time (under 182 days in any 12 month period) you are not viewed as a resident and will be taxed as a foreign artist.

The tax for foreign artistes is 15% of their gross income – although travel and other expenses can be deducted providing they can be substantiated.

Foreign artist tax is payable irrespective of whether the income is paid to the artist him/herself, a representative, commission agent or a business enterprise.

Any performances must be reported by a promoter or event organiser to the Central Office – Foreign Tax Affairs (COFTA) no later than three weeks before its scheduled date.

The form RF-1091 Information on artist(s) from event organiser/hirer-out of venue” is used for reporting the events or performances. 

It is recommended that you check best practices with your accountant.

Useful and practical tax information about taxation of Nordic citizens in all Nordic languages can be found on Nordisk eTax.

Sources and additional information (in Norwegian):

https://innsida.ntnu.no/wiki/-/wiki/Norsk/Regnskap+-+Unntak+og+fritak+fra+merverdiavgiften

http://www.startebedrift.no/dette-ma-du-vite-om-merverdiavgift

Click to access 2012-11_Utenlandske_artister_og_idrettsutoevere-ENG.pdf

https://www.nordisketax.net/main.asp?url=files/nor/eng/016.asp

Redigeret
02.09.2016