Anniversary: 100 years of SUISA
Today, Suisse Auteurs represents over 40,000 composers, lyricists and music publishers who have their copyrights administered by SUISA. And this year, the cooperative looks back on an eventful century for music.
Today, almost everything is digital - back in 1923, most things were still mechanical. Technological change resulted in repeated amendments to copyright law. And so the eventful history of SUISA begins shortly after the first improvement to the original Swiss Copyright Act of 1883 came into force in 1922.
Both composers and musicians at the time were concerned that music machines would compete with their live performances. The most important task of MECHANLIZENZ AG, founded in June 1923, was to license the production of sound carriers. Records were still in their infancy and so it was mainly music boxes that found their way around the world, especially from the Yverdon and Sainte-Croix area.
Everything for the music
One year later, GEFA, the Swiss Society for Performing Rights, was founded. Following the introduction of the new exploitation law, GEFA is transformed from an association into a cooperative and begins operations on January 1, 1942 under a new name: SUISse Auteurs - or SUISA for short.
In 1946, the Board of Directors decides to open an office in Lausanne in order to better serve members and customers in French-speaking Switzerland. The Lausanne branch also becomes the point of contact for all cinemas, film producers and television advertisers throughout Switzerland. In the same year, a small team moves into the Bel-Air Tower, the largest high-rise building in Switzerland at the time. In 1954, the company moved to the future "House of Music" in Lausanne. From 2002, there will also be a branch office in Lugano for customers and musicians in Ticino.
Increasing music consumption
In the post-war years, more and more music is consumed and more and more is composed. Between 1942 and 1960, the number of SUISA members triples. In 1958, MECHANLIZENZ AG is affiliated to SUISA, but remains legally independent for the time being. 22 years later, the complete merger of the two companies is decided.
In 1961, Ulrich Uchtenhagen took over the reins of SUISA and guided it through the changes of the boom period for 28 years. During his time, the World Register of Authors and Publishers was established. SUISA is commissioned by the World Confederation of Societies of Authors and Publishers (CISAC) to compile a "list" of all composers, lyricists and music publishers registered with a copyright society. The result is the CAE Directory of Composers, Authors and Editors covering all genres such as music, literature, film and visual arts. It quickly lists more than one million authors and publishers.
SUISA offers this directory as a service to all collecting societies worldwide against payment of a usage license. Since the end of the 1990s, the CAE has been the IPI (Interested Parties Information), which can be accessed online by all rights holders around the world.
In the 1960s and 1970s, the partnership with important users such as the SRG and the hospitality industry is deepened. Increased music consumption and a growing number of registered works require a dedicated IT system to process the enormous amount of data at that time. Partly due to the huge amount of space required for IT at the time, SUISA builds its current headquarters on Bellariastrasse in Zurich Wollishofen, which it moves into in the fall of 1968.
Promote and demand
At the end of the 1980s, the "SUISA Foundation for Music", today's FONDATION SUISA, was founded. The initiator was the composer and writer Michel Bühler from French-speaking Switzerland and his idea of a central structure to support the chanson. FONDATION SUISA's mission is to promote contemporary music creation in Switzerland and abroad, for which it now allocates around CHF 2.5 million annually.
The beginning of online music distribution at the end of the 1990s is the starting signal for far-reaching and lasting changes. In 2006, the EU Commission issued a recommendation aimed at achieving the greatest possible competition between companies for the administration of online rights. Rights holders in the internal market should be able to decide, free of territorial borders, which company they entrust with the management of their rights. As a result, large Anglo-American major publishers are withdrawing the reproduction rights from the European collecting societies in the hope of being able to license them themselves and directly from the online music providers at better conditions. In response, SUISA is the first collecting society ever to develop a suitable system that separates the work shares of the major publishers (so-called "carve out") and can thus correctly settle the licenses for online use.
After the revision is before the revision
"Does Switzerland need a law against the illegal downloading of music?" This postulate by Géraldine Savary, then a member of the Council of States, was the impetus for the last copyright revision in 2010. The revised CopA, which came into force on April 1, 2020, attempts to anchor the reality of online business in the law. However, the interests of users and creators are far apart in many respects. Consumers are also in a strong position and are defending the permission to copy music privately with compensation via the blank media levy. And so it becomes a compromise in which both sides come to terms. Since then, technology has changed rapidly again: Music is being streamed more and more frequently. A regulation for downloading music comes too late for films.
There is no question that this revision of Swiss copyright law is not the last, but rather the prelude to the next one. Rapidly advancing digitalization and emerging technological developments such as artificial intelligence and machine learning will mean that the legal standards will have to be reviewed again.
Big steps into the future
SUISA's current Executive Board has been in office since 2010. CEO Andreas Wegelin, his deputy Vincent Salvadé and COO and first woman on the SUISA Management Board Irène Philipp Ziebold not only steer the fortunes of SUISA, they also drive the technological renewal of the IT systems and the streamlining and automation of processes.
SUISA is well positioned to compete internationally, not least due to its well-developed and constantly evolving IT infrastructure. In 2017, it founded the joint venture Mint Digital Services together with the US music rights organization SESAC, which has since been used for the settlement and administration of the cross-border music licensing business with online providers. In the same year, the Liechtenstein-based company SUISA Digital Licensing was founded, which is responsible for the licensing of international online music platforms. Both companies also offer their services to other collecting societies and music publishers and last year managed the online business of over 22 collecting societies and 4000 publishers worldwide.
Who could have foreseen this change 100 years ago? And who dares to predict what will happen next? The use of music will continue to change: It will shift even further to the internet and the licensing of music use on TV or for concerts will no longer necessarily be based on the territorial principle but on whoever offers the best service and the most favorable conditions. SUISA is ready for the challenges and would like to thank all former and current employees, all composers, lyricists and publishers for their commitment and trust. Together we have been making music possible for a hundred years.
