Teosto,
Finnish Composers'
Copyright Society
(from www.teosto.fi):
"Teosto was established in 1928 to administer the copyright of Finnish creators of music.
Through the reciprocal representation contracts made with foreign copyright societies, Teosto also represents foreign copyright owners in Finland, and
vice versa, foreign copyright societies represent Finnish copyright holders in their territories.
The copyright owners Teosto representes are: composers, lyric writers, arrangers and music publishers.
Teosto is a non-profit, non-governmental association."
The most important role of Teosto is to act as a mediator between the "consumer" (or user of the copyrighted material) and the copyright owner. Thus making it simple and easy for both parties to communicate and work with each other. Teosto sells licences to users of copyrighted material and distributes the fees thus collected to the copyright owners.