Koda’s 2026 General Meeting: Proposal for grants office was not adopted despite majority support

On Wednesday 29 April, Koda held its general meeting at Amager Bio. From the stage, Chair Loui Törnqvist welcomed those present and, in her opening address, emphasised that Koda is built on its members and on a strong democratic ethos.

‘Ultimately, Koda is you. Koda is the sum of the many thousands of members behind it. That is what gives us our strength and our legitimacy. This holds true when we negotiate with those who use your music. When we engage in dialogue with politicians and take part in public debate – both here in Denmark and internationally. When we enter into agreements with rights management organisations all over the world. And when we – as we have done this year – take up the difficult battles against the tech services.’

With these words, the overall tone for Koda’s 2026 general meeting was set.

The chair’s report: a joint fight against the great AI robbery

In her report for 2025, Loui Törnqvist went on to address the assembly on the most significant results, events and agendas of the past year. In particular, efforts to secure strong foundations and fair payment at a time of growing pressure from AI services has been at the top of the board’s agenda, Loui Törnqvist said.

Referring to Koda’s lawsuit against the major US AI music service Suno in November 2025, Loui Törnqvist stressed that having proper frameworks in place is essential in order to ensure that, in future too, it will still be possible for people – human beings – to create music and earn money from doing so.

‘We are looking at daylight robbery,’ said Loui Törnqvist, continuing: ‘We cannot and must not accept large international tech giants draining our industry of its money, culture and soul. That is why we need to put our foot down when faced with a tech giant like Suno. And why we need politicians to do the same. Not because we are against new technology. We are not. But because we will fight to ensure that technological developments take place in a responsible and economically sustainable way, where artists receive fair remuneration when their music is used.’

Loui Törnqvist concluded her report by thanking all Koda members for their strong support in connection with the lawsuit:

Approval of the annual accounts and transparency report

Several important items then followed on the agenda, including approval of the annual accounts and transparency report, as well as the election of author and publisher members and alternates to Koda’s board of directors.

The first item on the agenda, the approval of Koda’s annual accounts and transparency report, was presented by Koda’s CEO, Gorm Arildsen, who summed up the year’s accounts in the following words:

Gorm Arildsen also reported that a total of 32,980 members received distributions from Koda in 2025. This represents an increase of 9 per cent compared with the previous year – and more than a doubling since 2013.

Both the annual accounts and the transparency report were approved with strong support from the assembly.

Find Koda’s annual reports here

New members elected to the board

The next item on the agenda was the election to the board. Eight candidates stood for two board seats – one as an author member elected by the general meeting and one as a publisher member elected by the general meeting. In addition, elections were held for three alternate positions.

See the nominated candidates

After each of the candidates had presented their reasons for standing, the vote was held.

Andreas Hemmeth was elected as a new author member of Koda’s board of directors, Lasse Lindorff was elected as a new publisher member, while Bjørn Christiansen was re-elected as an author representative.

Koda’s board of directors now consists of the following nine members:

• Loui Törnqvist (publisher representative)

• Ole Dreyer (chair of Musikforlæggerne)

• Juliana Hodkinson (chair of DKF)

• Lasse Matthiessen (chair of Autor)

• Tobias Stenkjær (chair of DPA)

• Lasse Lindorff (publisher representative)

• Bjørn Christiansen (author representative)

• Pernille Bévort (author representative)

• Andreas Hemmeth (author representative)

Proposal for new grants office did not receive the required majority

After the break, it was time for a presentation and subsequent debate on the proposal for a new joint grants office for Koda’s Cultural Contributions, a proposal submitted by a majority of Koda’s board of directors.

Loui Törnqvist began by presenting the main points of the proposal, which was backed by a majority of the board. The debate that followed included many contributions, with a range of views and opinions expressed before the proposal was put to the vote.

In the vote, 53 per cent supported the proposal for a new joint grants office, but this was not enough to secure the two-thirds majority required to make amendments to Koda’s Articles of Association. The proposal was therefore not adopted.

Adoption of proposal to limit board members’ term of office

The next items on the agenda concerned the board’s proposal to limit the term of office for board members to a maximum of ten consecutive years. Following debate, the proposal was adopted. As this is an amendment to the Articles of Association, the proposal must be put to the vote at an extraordinary general meeting at Koda on 28 May.

The general meeting then considered a number of member proposals submitted by Koda’s members. None of these were passed.

Read all recommendations and proposals

Once the minutes of the general meeting have been approved by the chair of the meeting, Koda members may request a copy by contacting [email protected]