New Swiss music charter with the SRG

This marked the end of around a year of preparatory work: based on the 2016 version, the content of the Swiss Music Charter was critically reviewed and adapted to current circumstances in the run-up to the 20th anniversary: The term "Swiss music" is now defined as follows: "Swiss music - regardless of style and language - is defined as recordings by authors and/or performerswho and/or are Swiss, who and/or have a clear connection to Switzerland, who and/or are regarded as Swiss due to their previous career". A certain degree of modernization has also become necessary due to changes in society's media consumption: for some years now, the content produced by SRG has no longer only been available in linear form as radio and TV channels, but is also available around the clock in digital versions via numerous other channels such as social media, podcasts, streaming, etc.

The following two principles from the Charter are certainly particularly important for the associations that support music in Switzerland:

(1) "It is recognized that the diversity and novelties of the music scene throughout Switzerland - also beyond the language regions - should be brought to bear and the general public should be made aware of them."

(2) "SRG SSR makes an indispensable cultural contribution to the public by taking Swiss music into account."

The SRG's editorial contributions on the Swiss music scene are just as important: music criticism (or cultural criticism in general) is almost non-existent in private media.

The renewed charter also states that SRG is committed to broadcasting an appropriate proportion of Swiss music productions on its radio programs. To this end, benchmarks are set annually with the partners [see right] of the charter, which fortunately are usually exceeded.

At the signing ceremony for the charter in Zurich last March, SRG CEO Gilles Marchand highlighted SRG's successes in the music sector in his speech. He sees the company as being well positioned for the challenges of the future. Representing the associations, Sandra Tinner and Cécile Drexel, Managing Directors of the Swiss Music Council and SONART respectively, addressed the invited guests. Sandra Tinner briefly recounted the history of how the negotiations between the music industry associations and the SRG began at the end of the 1980s and ultimately led to success. Cécile Drexel also praised the charter, but did not fail to appeal to the SRG that there was still "room for improvement" in the benchmarks for Swiss music. It was agreed that the SRG makes an indispensable contribution to Swiss music and that the commitment against the halving initiative will be correspondingly strong.

Partners of the Swiss Music Charter

• IFPI Switzerland
• IG Folk Culture
• IndieSuisse
• orchester.ch - Association of Swiss Professional Orchestras
• Swiss Music Council (SMR)
• Swiss Performers' Cooperative (SIG)
• Swiss Musicians' Association (SMV)
• Swiss Association of Music Publishers (SVMV)
• SONART - Musicians Switzerland
• SUISA, Cooperative Society of Authors and Publishers of Music