Nordic Sustainability was commissioned to support Koda in creating a sector-wide double materiality assessment (DMA) for the music industry in the Nordics (DK, SE, NO, FI, IS) to identify the most material sustainability impacts and risks in the sector.
The brief
Together with Koda and the other Nordic Collective Management Organisations (CMOs) for music authors and publishers – STIM, TONO, TEOSTO and STEF, Nordic Sustainability conducted a DMA and created a final report showing the most material impacts and risks in the music sector in the Nordics. Recommendations were additionally included for how CMOs and other actors in the industry could come together to address these sustainability issues.
Our approach
The project was divided into four phases:
Sector-wide double materiality assessment of 39 sustainability topics based on 70+ sources, 6 interviews and a member survey of 1,000+ respondents.
- Developing the framework
- Collecting data
- Assessing the impacts and risks
- Verifying the results with sector stakeholders.
During the project’s first phase, Nordic Sustainability created a list of potential topics based on acknowledged sustainability frameworks such as the ESRS, B-Corp, and music sector standards from SASB and FutureFit.
Secondly, data was collected from the participating Nordic CMOs and complimented with sector studies.
Each topic was then assessed using the concept of double materiality with dedicated scoring keys and placed in Environmental, Social and Governance matrices.
The assessment was verified through several interviews with key stakeholders in the sector (including representatives of membership organisations, record labels, publishers, and others), where they provided input to the scoring. Internal workshops with the Nordic CMOs were carried out to further verify the scorings. Additionally, primary data was collected through a member survey conducted in Sweden, with more than 1,000 members.
Finally, we created an external report outlining the findings and recommendations for how the sector, especially the Nordic CMOs, should prioritise and address the identified impacts and risks.
The final report was published by Koda in October 2024.
Result
As part of the first project phase, a robust scoring methodology and supporting documents were developed and delivered.
A key deliverable of the third phase was an Excel-based DMA tool with detailed assessments of all the identified topics.
A final, external report named “Nordic Music Materiality 2024” was developed, outlining the findings and recommendations. Furthermore, materials for conducting their own DMA were provided to actors in the sector, enabling a strategic and data-driven approach to sustainable development.
We have had a very strong collaboration with Nordic Sustainability who has supported the Nordic music rights organisations for music creators and publishers in developing a sector-wide double materiality analysis honing in on the most relevant ESG themes to focus on across the music industry.