We distribute remunerations for the secondary use of TV and radio programmes, which includes recording such programmes at home and in educational institutions. Remunerations can be received by authors and performing artist of audiovisual works, such as screenwriters, directors, editors, set designers, costume designers, cinematographers, illustrators, actors, commentators, translators and sound designers for programmes broadcast on freely available channels.
Composers and music performers are compensated by Teosto and Gramex.
Remuneration paid for TV programmes
We pay copyright remunerations to authors and performing artists of TV programmes for different usage areas:
- private use of TV programmes
- online recording services
- educational use
The remunerations are paid to audiovisual authors and performing artists employed by the broadcasting company (Yle and MTV) and/or working as freelancers. The right of different rightsholders to receive remunerations varies by category.
Read more about the remuneration categories for TV programmes and our other payment services
The permanently employed employees of the broadcasting company can apply for grants from the education fund KOURA, which are financed by remunerations for educational recordings collected by Kopiosto. Read more about the KOURA grants and their criteria on their page.
Remuneration paid for radio programmes
We pay remunerations for radio programmes to the authors and performing artists of domestic programmes (such as radio dramas and documentaries) on nationwide radio channels. You can inquire about the remunerations for radio programmes and the more detailed remuneration criteria of the member organisation of your industry.
The distribution of remunerations for the use of radio programmes in libraries and institutions is based on usage information.
Read more about the remunerations for radio programmes
Remuneration for programmes presented outside Finland
Finnish AV authors and performing artists can also receive remunerations via Kopiosto for TV programmes presented outside Finland. We also collect and distribute remunerations for the rightsholders of foreign TV programmes according to the reciprocal agreements we have entered.
The amount of remunerations paid by Kopiosto to individual authors and performing artists varies each year. The payment of copyright remunerations is based on the remuneration principles that are confirmed annually by Kopiosto’s member organisations. The basis for the distribution of remunerations is fair and equal treatment of the beneficiaries of remunerations.
Read more about the remuneration criteria for TV programmes
Read more about the remuneration criteria for radio programmes
We can only pay remunerations to authors and performing artists who have provided us with their current
- personal details
- banking details
- taxation details
In addition to these, the payment of the remunerations requires that you have entered a valid Copyright Agreement for Audiovisual Authors, Grant of Rights for Audiovisual Authors or claim for payment.
If you have not submitted an authorisation with the Copyright Agreement for Audiovisual Authors or Grant of Rights for Audiovisual Authors, you must submit a claim for payment, which is always single-use and only applicable on the remuneration sum accumulated at the moment in question.
You can submit an authorisation or a claim for payment easily on the AV authors’ extranet.
There, you can also update the information required to distribute the remunerations. Use your online banking credentials to log in to the service. If you do not have access to online banking credentials, please contact the Kopiosto remuneration distribution team. Contact details can be found at the bottom of the page.
Delivering programme and author information to Kopiosto
In most cases, we will receive the names of the persons involved in the production of domestic programmes directly from the production companies.
On the AV authors’ extranet, you can see a list of the programmes for which you are marked as a rightsholder on Kopiosto’s database. On the ‘my programmes’ page, you can only see the programmes for which you have received remunerations or remunerations have accumulated. If you see any shortcomings or incorrect details, please contact us at tilitys(at)kopiosto.fi.
Taxation of copyright remunerations
Copyright remunerations are liable to taxation.
You can check your withholding tax rate provided to us in AV authors’ extranet. If we do not yet have your tax rate, please submit it to us for the remunerations to be paid. In most cases, we will receive the information about the tax rate directly from the Tax Administration.
If there are any changes to your tax information during the year, please submit your new tax card to us. We cannot adjust withholding tax afterwards.
If you are about to receive remunerations for the first time, you must submit a copy of your tax card to us. We will receive your withholding tax rates directly from the Tax Administration after this. However, pensioners and minors must submit their tax cards every year.
If you are a permanent resident of a foreign country, in which case you are under restricted tax liability in Finland, you must submit a tax-at-source report to us. In the event that your restricted tax liability ends, you must submit a valid tax card to us.
The Tax Administration does not require a separate notice of distributed copyright remunerations.
Transfer of remunerations to heirs
We will pay copyright remunerations to the heirs of rightsholders who have passed away. To do this, we need to be informed of the passing and receive the information for paying the remunerations.
Please contact us to agree on the details. You can find the forms required and our contact information on the bottom of the page.
We distribute remunerations for TV and radio programmes annually. We distribute most of the remunerations in September. The distribution is always based on the presented programmes’ usage information for the previous year. The remunerations paid to authors and performing artists vary each year.
Remunerations that can be paid after incomplete personal details or claims for payment have been completed will be paid each month. We are constantly working to complete the information and contact the rightsholders.
We retain accumulated undistributed remunerations to authors and performing artists for three years.
You can browse programme-specific paid remunerations on the distribution calculation sheet on the AV authors’ extranet. It is important that you check the details of the sheet every time. Any possible errors and shortcomings can be rectified later on.
We distribute remunerations for the past three years. Author details and other rectifications can be added and performed for programmes presented in this timeframe. Please contact us if you detect any shortcomings or incorrect details concerning remunerations. Contact details can be found at the bottom of the page.
You can find all the programmes we have included you as a rightsholder on the AV author’s extranet.
Please note that remunerations are not paid for all programmes. You can read about the programme types eligible for remuneration and how the remunerations are determined on a separate page.
Incomplete data and unknown authors
If you have not received remunerations, please check your personal data and the programme’s rightsholder details for any incomplete data.
Personal data can be easily edited on the AV authors’ extranet. More details about the data required to pay remunerations can be found in the section ‘How can I receive remunerations for my programmes?’
The programmes’ rightsholder details we receive can sometimes be incomplete. We publish lists of the ‘unknown authors’ for the programmes where information is insufficient to pay the remunerations. The author or performing artist must come forward as the rightsholder of the programmes found on the lists.
If there are several rightsholders in the same position of a programme, a representative of the production company must submit the request for rectification.
Rectification of errors
Rightsholders can submit claims for rectifications concerning the previous three years of each remuneration category. The rectifications performed after distribution may be indicated by negative remuneration sums in the remuneration calculation sheets of authors involved in the programme.
Rightsholders must submit a written notification about any errors to Kopiosto. The notification must indicate the name of the programme, broadcasting date and channel and the detected error.
Errors in the classification of programmes are processed by a distribution complaints board of audiovisual production professionals. If a rightsholder is unsatisfied with the classification of a programme they can submit a claim for rectification to the distribution complaints board. The claim must be submitted with a cover letter, the reasons behind the claim and a sample of the programme. Claims for rectifications are submitted to Kopiosto.