BECAUSE CULTURE IS A VALUABLE ASSET.

Music business organisations

Organisations providing support

Are you planning to go on tour, to record an album or settle down abroad? Several Swiss organisations can provide you with support for your endeavour.

Professional/trade associations – networks for music creators and event organisers

Just like there are trade unions for employees, there are professional and trade associations for musicians, publishers and event organisers. They support, advise and inform their members and also get involved at political level for their members’ rights.

Swiss collective management organisations

The five Swiss collective management organisations ProLitteris, SSA, SUISA, Suissimage and SWISSPERFORM are jointly involved in promoting fair remuneration for all creatives – from amateurs to international stars – when their works are used.

Partners and further information

Here is some more information and additional useful addresses where you can find further help as a performing artist or producer.

Organisations providing support

SIS

SIS was founded by the Swiss Performers’ Cooperative Society SIG in 1988. Since 1993, it has been regularly subsidised by SWISSPERFORM with performers’ money (audio performers and audiovisual performers) derived from the deductions for cultural and social purposes.

The performers’ foundation supports live performances and tours (music, dance and theatre) and projects focussing on health promotion and preventative projects (e.g. the music creators’ hearing protection project in Switzerland). It grants legal protection in the case of occupational accidents and illness and provides emergency assistance in the case of social hardship cases.

It is also actively involved with Swiss Music Export and the Swiss Foundation for the re-education of performing artists. SIS also supports the work of the Swiss Society for Music Medicine and FIM (International Federation of Musicians) and FIA (International Federation of Actors) at international level.

Phono producers’ foundation

The foundation phono producers exclusively supports projects which promote the respective value of sound recording production and exploitation within the cultural sector. These may include cultural events, competitions, awards, (further) education in the field of sound recording production and exploitation, plus general measures supporting culture in favour of sound recording productions.

The foundation phono producers usually does not make direct contributions to sound recording productions or concerts.

srks.ch

Swiss Foundation for Radio and Culture The Swiss Foundation for Radio and Culture SRKS/FSRC defines itself as a promoter of and mediator in cultural creativity in the radio sector, both in private as well as public radio. It grants amounts to support radio projects upon application.

Aargauer Board of Trustees

The Aargau Board of Trustees promotes the diversity, quality and agility of current artistic creativity. It supports the creation of outstanding works and their interpretation, creates scope for creative processes and for the exchange between artists and the audience as well as among creatives.

Musikbüro Basel

Since 1994, Musikbüro Basel ( former RFV Bâle) has been providing target and in-crowd oriented, efficient and sustainable support to the pop music scene in the Bâle region.

Special section for cultural matter by canton Zurich

The canton promotes intellectual and cultural life in the city and the countryside, as specified in the cultural promotion concept; responsibility lies with the specialist section for cultural matters of the Department of Justice and Home Affairs.

Pro Helvetia

Swiss cultural foundation Pro Helvetia is a foundation under public law and is exclusively financed by the Federation. It acts in a subsidiary manner, i.e. in addition to the cultural promotion of the cantons and municipalities. Pro Helvetia is responsible for any projects with an impact at federal level.

FONDATION SUISA

Since 1989, the foundation FONDATION SUISA has been promoting current Swiss music activities across the board. FONDATION SUISA does not just react “passively” to applications but actively promotes creativity in the Swiss music landscape. By means of the supported projects, its partnerships and the permanent presence at events and exhibitions abroad, FONDATION SUISA continually expands its reach.

Swiss Music Export

Swiss Music Export (SME) ensures that Swiss pop music can also be enjoyed abroad. The association supports artists directly on their path across the European countries and cooperates with partners promoting similar goal

Migros Kulturprozent

The Migros-Kulturprozent («cultural percentage») is a voluntary undertaking of Migros in the cultural, educational, recreational and economic sectors. It provides access for the wider population to cultural and social services by means of its institutions, projects and activities.

Professional associations – networks for music creators

sonart.swiss

The association’s purpose is to promote the interests of Swiss music creators, in particular with regards to the legal framework which influence the creation of music and the distribution of music recordings in the broadest sense; furthermore, the implementation and acceptance in society of such legal frameworks.

Moreover, the association also acts as a hub for intensive exchanges between members and as a platform for various initiatives. Basically all active Swiss lyricists, composers, producers, musicians and performing artists can apply for membership.

SIG

SIG, the Swiss Performers’ Cooperative Society, is the only entity that represents the interests of all performing artists in Switzerland. With its more than 4’000 members it is one of the largest organisations in the cultural sector and very well connected within this sector.

helvetiarockt.ch

HELVETIA ROCKT («Helvetia rocks») uses its projects to work on increasing the quota of women in the genres jazz, pop and rock and on a stronger presence for musicians on stage, in the media and the public.

smv.ch

Since 1914 The Swiss Musicians’ Union SMV-USDAM has been uniting the members of the Swiss professional orchestras and the freelance professional musicians of all styles.

sbdv.ch

The SBDV («Swiss Association of professional conductors») supports further education of its members, gets involved in musico-political issues and gives advice regarding musical and artistic questions.

ifpi.ch

IFPI Switzerland is the umbrella association for music labels (producers of sound recordings and audiovisual recordings) in Switzerland. It is a non-profit organisation and supports interests of music labels in economic and legal aspects concerning music.

indiesuisse.ch

IndieSuisse is an association for independent music labels and independent music producers. The goal of IndiSuisse is to have a say and a voice in politically and economically relevant matters – and to do so as a single, powerful voice.

smpa.ch

SMPA is an umbrella association for professional Swiss concert, show and festival organisers. As early as 1991, the biggest Swiss organisers of concerts, shows and festivals united themselves to create the umbrella association SMPA. SMPA members are responsible for sales of more than 80% of concert, show and festival tickets in Switzerland. They organise around 2’100 diverse events each year, attracting 5.6m visitors, engage approximately 3’400 artists and create a turnover of CHF 401m.

SVMV

The SVMV (“Swiss Association of music publishers”) is the leading association for Swiss music publishers. The SVMV has declared it to be its goal to fully support the new generation of multifunctional, creative and flexible music publishers in their demanding activities.

Swiss collective management organisations

prolitteris.ch

ProLitteris, Swiss copyright society for literature and the arts. ProLitteris manages the copyright on behalf of its members and of members of foreign sister societies.

ssa.ch

SSA is a cooperative of authors in the categories drama, music drama, choreography, audiovision and multimedia.

suisa.ch

In its form as a cooperative for authors and publishers, SUISA promotes musical creativity by ensuring fair remuneration for rights owners.

suissimage.ch

Suissimage administers copyright on behalf of film authors such as screenwriters and directors or copyright owners such as film producers.

swissperform.ch

SWISSPERFORM is a collective management organisation for neighbouring rights (also referred to as related rights) in Switzerland and Liechtenstein.

Partners and further information

smr.ch

The Schweizer Musikrat is an umbrella combining organisations from the music sector. It thus represents the diverse music life in Switzerland with roughly 2,000 brass bands, 1,850 choirs, 200 professional and lay orchestras, thousands of individual musicians, 8 music theatres, 380 music schools with 230,000 pupils and many educational places for professions in the music area. The SMR backs the improvement of politico-cultural and educational basic conditions for the creation, transmission, distribution and conservation of music in its entire diversity.

press-play.ch

2012, five years after the Swiss Music Awards (SMA) had been successfully implemented by the previous event organiser IFPI Switzerland, professional umbrella association for Swiss music labels, the event was handed over to a new organiser. In order to provide Switzerland’s most important music prize with a broader base, the association “Press Play” was founded – its purpose: The promotion of Swiss pop music in general and the annual organisation of the SMA.

CLIP

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the Music Rights Awareness Foundation launched a new online platform to raise creators’ awareness of intellectual property (IP) rights and related management practices, aiming to ensure they receive recognition and fair reward for their work.

CLIP – Creators Learn Intellectual Property – is an innovative, user-friendly and free to use online learning platform that will be filled with curated content from experienced musicians and mentors that will help creators make better business choices.Creators around the world are producing music, art and other content at record levels, and digital distribution is soaring. But they often lack critical information for managing their intellectual property rights and miss out how to get proper credit and be rewarded for their work, especially when it is consumed online – a situation that CLIP aims to improve.

hitparade.ch

hitparade.ch is an independent hit parade and music platform which has continually grown since its launch in 1995. The privately run website counts 2.5m visits per month and is thus the biggest and most comprehensive music communities in Europe.

jugendmusik.ch

«The Swiss Youth Music Association» (SJMV) has been the umbrella organisation for Swiss youth bands since 1930. 141 sections (youth music clubs, boys’ bands, drummers’ and pipers’ groups and cadet bands) are affiliated to the association.