PGM: Two speeds

It goes without saying that the technical development of digital media is proceeding at breakneck speed. The legislative process, on the other hand, is slow.

When the Federal Council decided in 2011 in response to the Savary postulate that there was no need for legal measures against illegal downloading of music on the internet, it was met with a storm of indignation from the music industry. This led to the establishment of the working group AGUR 12 I and - after an intensive consultation process - to the continuation of the exchange in AGUR II. This preliminary work ultimately resulted in the Proposal to revise the Copyright Actas it is now available.

In his presentation, Andreas Wegelin, Director General of Suisa, outlined the topics dealt with in the AGUR II and which of these were ultimately incorporated into the draft revision. He emphasized the most important points for music:

• Adjustment of the term of protection for related rights to the EU level (70 years instead of the previous 50 years)
• Stay-down obligation (hosting providers must ensure that illegally uploaded and then deleted content is not uploaded again).
• Data collection in the event of suspected illegal uploads (IP addresses may be investigated in this case so that legal action can be taken).
• Accelerated tariff procedures
• Electronic reporting of usage data to Suisa
• Extended collective license

Christoph Trummer, musician, co-president of Sonart and member of AGUR since 2012, emphasized that illegal downloading, which was the biggest problem for music creators back then, is now only a marginal problem. Network blocking, as desired by musicians, would not have stood a chance in this context.

He also referred to the Gambling Act, which is currently being put to the vote and which does indeed provide for network blocking. Nevertheless, it is important that this revision now goes through. The music sector would also support it if the "shared dissatisfaction" (a quote from Federal Councillor Sommaruga) that had been negotiated over a long period of time remained in place, i.e. if no more changes were made in either direction. - With the exception of a passage in Art. 13a and, analogously, in Art. 35a, where, as Andreas Wegelin had previously mentioned, a compromise that had already been reached had been removed from the draft due to the intervention of the administration. Trummer ended with the remark: "It would be a very bad sign if this compromise did not go through."

Even if piracy is no longer a major problem, the income situation of music creators has not improved. The current problem is streaming! Hardly anyone downloads music anymore, everyone is online all the time. The big providers such as Spotify, Apple Music and Deezer pay copyrights, but these are low compared to those from radio or television. Marlon MacNeill, Managing Director of IndieSuisse, the association of independent record labels, explained that the practice of YouTube, which pays a much lower rate, is particularly offensive. He spoke of the value gap, the gap in value creation, the disturbing fact that only a tiny proportion of the income from such platforms goes to the authors, most of it into their own pockets.

In the concluding discussion, Stefan Müller-Altermatt, National Councillor and President of the Parliamentary Group on Music (PGM), noted that the revision of the law was once again three steps too few. National Councillor Christa Markwalder pointed out that the legislation only applied to national borders anyway and that these tech giants could hardly be legally challenged. In view of this powerlessness, there was a palpable sense of gallows humour among parliamentarians and representatives of the music organizations.

Whether the Motion by Balthasar Glättli could improve this situation by proposing that platforms with more than 200,000 users in Switzerland should also have a registered office in Switzerland? In any case, the proposal will be discussed in the councils shortly.

With Matthias Aebischer, Christa Markwalder, Stefan Müller-Altermatt, Rosmarie Quadranti, Albert Vitali and Karl Vogler, a pleasing number of members of the Federal Assembly were represented at this meeting.