The result of these changes is that the reservation regarding mutual rights (reciprocity) does no longer apply. In the past, recordings were qualified as fully protected on condition that the original producer or at least one contributing artist originated from a country granting reciprocity. This means that a functioning, non-discriminatory administration of the respective rights for Swiss performers is carried out in the respective country. Recordings that did not meet these conditions of reciprocity were not considered for a usage-based distribution. They were only considered in the turnover-based distribution which distributes, among others, the revenues from private copying.
As from the upcoming distribution 2020 to be carried out at the end of 2021, this rule will no longer apply. This means that the distributable amount for the audio producers will be distributed according to the same criteria to all recordings falling in the usage-based distribution, irrespective of reciprocity.
It is likely that a larger number of recordings will benefit from the distributable amount than before.