Peermusic Appoints Erik Brataas as Managing Director, Peermusic Norway/Head of Northern European Administration

Peermusic, the world’s largest global independent music publishing and neighbouring rights company with 39 offices in 33 countries, has appointed Erik Brataas to Managing Director Norway/Head of Northern European Administration as announced today by Mary Megan Peer, CEO, Peermusic and Nigel Elderton, President of Europe, Peermusic. In this role, Brataas will oversee the company’s Northern European administration as well as operations of the Peermusic Norway office. Erik will be based out of Peermusic’s offices in Norway and will report to Nigel Elderton. 

Erik Brataas is an experienced music industry executive with over 30 years of experience in the Norwegian music market focused on licensing, digital distribution, technology-driven innovation, publishing, and collective rights management. Over his career, he has scaled companies in Norway and across the Nordics, and established operations in the UK and US – from startups to international collaborations between national rights organizations. 

Significantly, Brataas co-founded Arctic Rights Management in 2018, developing into one of Norway’s most successful music publishing companies. In 2023, peermusic acquired Artic Rights Management to grow its market presence in Norway, during a time when the music market in Norway was experiencing significant growth, supported by digital sales, early adoption of paid music streaming services, and live music festivals. The acquistion gave Peermusic the publishing rights to Arctic Rights Management’s 5,000+ recordings and compositions and encompassed a publishing interest in many international hits whilst adding the 32^nd operating country to peermusic’s global footprint. 

Mary Megan Peer commented: “We’re thrilled to welcome Erik back to the family at peermusic Norway. His experience as a founder of Artic Rights (the foundation of Peermusic Norway) gives him deep knowledge of our roster and the Norwegian publishing sector. Erik’s knowledge of the local market and deep understanding of digital rights will create value for our writers in Norway and around the world.”

Nigel Elderton commented: “Erik is well known in the Norwegian music industry for his work in creating sustainable value creation for rightsholders at the intersection of technology, rights, and music culture. We are delighted that Erik has joined peermusic and I know that our writers will benefit from the level of executive talent that he brings to  this new role.”

Erik Brataas commented: “I’m very excited to step into this role at peermusic. Having co-founded Arctic Rights Management, this next chapter feels like a natural continuation. I look forward to working closely with our teams and continuing to support a diverse and outstanding roster of songwriters across all genres, as part of a company with a truly historic and influential legacy in music publishing.”

Prior to joining Peermusic, Erik Brataas served as CEO of Polaris Hub - Nordics, a joint venture created by the Nordic collection societies Koda (DK), Teosto (FIN) and Tono (NO). In this role, Brataas acted on behalf of all three organizations when negotiating and entering into agreements with international digital music services. Since joining the hub in 2022, Brataas has amongst others negotiated Nordic agreements with Apple, Spotify, TikTok, Meta (Facebook & Instagram) and Google. 

Erik Brataas also served as Managing Director, FONO, the Norwegian trade association for independent labels in Norway, where he worked toward political advocacy and industry partnerships, represented FONO in Gramo and Norwaco, and developed training programs for rights holders. He also served as CEO, Phonofile (Nordics/UK/US) from 1999 through 2017, which was a pioneer in digital distribution for independent labels. Through his work there, Brataas helped to build Phonofile into the Nordics’ largest digital music distributor and successfully scaled operations internationally across five countries prior to the company being sold to Sony Music/The Orchard in 2017. Brataas is also co-founded music rights investment firm, Indie Music Rights in 2021; and was the co-founder of independent label TBC Records launched in 2018 (Vamp, Ledfoot, Ronni Le Tekrø, and more. 

Throughout his career, Erik Brataas has served on numerous industry Boards and committees, including: Merlin (Board member from 2011-2017); Music Norway (Board member from 2013-2021); Council for Cultural and Creative Industry Policy (Member from 2015-2017); Gramo (Board member 2021-2022); and Norwaco (Board member 2021-2022). 

Erik replaces Kerstin Mangert as Managing Director of Peermusic Norway. Kerstin joined Peermusic Norway in 2023 when the company acquired Arctic Rights and has successfully steered the integration of Arctic Rights Management into Peermusic Norway. Mary Megan Peer and Nigel Elderton acknowledged Mangert’s invaluable assistance in overseeing the transition of Arctic Rights Management over the past two years whilst contributing to the company’s further growth in the market.