The short version
- Gåte loses half the grant amount from the Directorate of Culture due to a lack of a report on the use of money.
- NOK 100,000 was granted for the music video for the band’s Eurovision entry “Ulveham”.
- The deadline for the report was 1 February, now 50,000 has been returned to the directorate’s Sound and Image Fund.
- Gåte’s record company boss and acting manager believes the Directorate of Culture has tightened its rules.
- The directorate rejects the claim, and points out that the rules are clear in the contract that is signed.
Sea view
The Melodi Grand Prix winners in Gåte have for several years regularly received public financial support from the Norwegian Directorate of Culture, established on 1 January 2023 as the secretariat for the Cultural Council, the Fund for Sound and Image and the Norwegian Artists’ Grant. A directorate is a public body responsible for specific tasks and areas of responsibility that are managed on behalf of the authorities’ schemes for artists.
The amounts have often been around NOK 100,000 – a significant sum for a Norwegian band in the spheres Gåte operates.
It is also the amount Gåte was awarded, earmarked for the music video for their Eurovision Song Contest entry “Ulveham”.
However, the band’s record company, Indie Recordings, has not submitted a report and accounts for the project.
This despite two postponements of the deadline along the way. The deadline was 1 February.
In a reminder email from the Norwegian Directorate of Culture’s Sound and Image Fund, which originally aimed to provide financial compensation to rights holders in Norway for legal copying of music and video for private use. The fund annually distributes funds to players in the music and film industry. the following was pointed out:
“A missing report will be emphasized in future applications to the Sound and Image Fund and will have consequences for subsequent allocation.”
And further:
“If the Fund for sound and image reveals that the funds have not been used as stipulated in the contract, already paid grants will be required to be repaid.”
50,000 lost
The Directorate of Culture now confirms to VG that 50,000 was paid to the Gåte project, shortly after they received the award on the eve of 2021.
The other 50,000 has now been returned to the Sound and Image Fund, after the case was closed on 1 May.
– We see that there has been activity in accordance with the application and that a music video has been produced, writes the Directorate of Culture’s section leader for artist economy and innovation, Sverre Fossen, in an email to VG.
– We will therefore not demand that already paid grants be paid back, but the applicant must cover the rest of the budgeted grant funds themselves.
The Directorate of Culture says that a report was not submitted for approx. six percent of projects supported by the Sound and Image Fund in 2023.
Believes that practice has changed
Erlend Gjerde, general manager of Indie Recordings and acting manager of Gåte, tells VG that he believes the Directorate of Culture has tightened up the reporting deadlines.
– It used to be a practice where certain projects could run out of time, and then you could get a friendly e-mail that “PS. Remember, this deadline has expired”. So we’ve probably gotten used to it, says Gjerde.
He clarifies that he recognizes the directorate’s right to keep a tight line on the deadlines.
“Unfortunately, this project has ended,” says Gjerde, who believes that a stricter regime became noticeable for his company a couple of months ago.
WANTED FOR RIDDLE: Erlend Gjerde. Photo: Terje Pedersen / NTB
The claim is dismissed by the Directorate of Culture.
– The conditions, notifications and the routine for grants and reporting have been the same for several years, writes Sverre Fossen.
– All grant recipients receive information about reporting requirements and the consequences of non-reporting in the grant contract and in several messages that they receive via Altinn.
Last on the payroll
Very few Norwegian artists can roll in millions in their money bin.
For an indication of what 50,000 can mean for a band like Gåte: The band recently budgeted NOK 65,800 in travel expenses to go to London, Amsterdam, Barcelona and Stockholm and perform at Eurovision “preparty” concerts.
– It is very unfortunate, says Gjerde about the grant money that has now been withdrawn.
He elaborates that Gåte must then earn the 50,000 in another way before they themselves start receiving money for what they do.
– When you own a band, everyone else is on the payroll before you. Technicians, bus drivers, everyone who works in production. If you don’t reach the budgeted income, the band’s fees go first. The vulnerability is very great for the artists.
Gåte’s press contact tells VG that the band themselves do not want to comment on the matter.
Gjerde says that the loss of money has not exceeded the record company’s investment in Gåte, and indicates that they have put a lot of money into the new “Ulveham” video.
See how the freezing recording went:
According to the X account Eurovision Charts “Ulveham” has been the 26th most streamed song from this year’s Eurovision on Spotify in the last couple of weeks.
Gjerde believes that Gåte’s gain from participating in the competition will primarily lie in concert activities and the sale of fan effects.
He says that a number of Gåte concerts in Europe have already been booked, for later this year.
– We see that there is a very large potential out there now.
Gåte has received another grant from the Directorate of Culture, of 85,000, to complete an album during the year.
There, the report deadline is set for 2 July 2025. Gjerde intends to keep it, with the recently lost money fresh in his mind.
– Had we thought there was any chance this could happen, we would never have handled this case the way we did.
- PS. The subsidy for the “Ulveham” video was changed in May 2023 to instead cover expenses for the video for the Gåte song “Svarteboka”. This is because “Ulveham” had to be pushed, since the song had then become relevant for Melodi Grand Prix 2024. The change was approved by the Directorate of Culture, and there is a missing report from the “Black Book” project which is mentioned in this case.