Music on the internet for large companies
Sie produzieren ein audiovisuelles Werk (Film), wie zum Beispiel ein Spielfilm, ein Kurzfilm, eine Serie, eine Diashow, ein Dokumentar- oder Kinofilm für die Nutzung im TV, Kino, Festival und/oder Video-on-Demand (VOD) und/oder für den Verkauf (DVD, Blue-Ray, usw.)
Large companies (with over 50 employees or more than CHF 9 million in turnover) which publish videos containing music on their websites or social media profiles must essentially distinguish between two groups of rights: those relating to the production of the video and those for its making-available.
When music is used on videos in the internet (e.g. for image videos), the authors are entitled to the following remuneration:
- For the production of the video:
The rights for the use of music in online videos have to be verified for each video individually. You may already have acquired the necessary rights (e.g. in the case of commissioned music) or you may not have produced the video yourself but obtained it from your foreign business partner, for example. However, if the videos were produced in Switzerland without the production rights having been licensed, they must be registered with SUISA. For further information on this subject, see “company films”.
- For the making-available of the video:
The fee in this case is based on the number of videos with music that you make available on your own website and social media profiles. The fee is a flat fee covering the whole calendar year. To enable us to calculate the flat-fee rate, we need you to report the number of videos made available across all your websites, and the date they were counted (counting reference date). The annual flat fee rates lie between CHF 125 and CHF 5,625.
How to proceed:
Please send us the duly completed questionnaire. We will then issue the licence and invoice. Once your payment is received, we distribute the remuneration to the beneficiary composers, lyricists, and publishers.
Please take into consideration any other relevant rights
Für welche Nutzung von Filmen brauchen Sie eine Lizenz?
Filme im Internet
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WebTV is a service offering continuous programmes that are not time-delayed. The user cannot influence the programme playback.
With Video on Demand (VoD), the viewer can choose when to watch a programme: the viewer can start, pause and stop the playback of a programme at any time. Video on Demand also includes videos embedded in websites.
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Videos and websites presenting the same content in several languages on the same domain qualify as a single video or web presence.
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In practice, the uploading person will be sent a warning with a request to delete the video or have it deleted. In certain cases, labels may demand damages for the unauthorised online use. In the case of well-known songs, it may not even be possible to obtain permission to upload. With certain providers, the videos are simply deleted. It depends on the individual case, and on the individual provider and rightholder.
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SUISA can licence all the rights (mechanical rights, worldwide rights for making available , synchronisation rights, neighbouring rights) in what is known as mood music. SUISA maintains corresponding agreements with various publishers of mood music. For further information, please click here.
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SUISA licenses the mechanical rights (production) and the right to make audiovisual productions available. But the production process involves other rights. These are synchronisation rights, generally held by the publisher, on the one hand, and recording rights, held by the label, on the other. To obtain these rights, one normally has to pay the corresponding remuneration.
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These are two distinct forms of use. The mechanical rights are federally regulated and are subject to a tariff. Making available is not federally regulated and is subject to its own set of rules. Both uses are public uses within the meaning of the Copyright Act.
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Package deals are possible if the customer only uses a single offer, e.g. if the customer only ever uses music from the same mood music catalogue, or the same music title for all videos. This must be considered on a case-by-case basis.
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A production budget comprises the pre-production, production and post-production costs.
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Productions must always be registered before the audiovisual recording is produced.
Online allgemein
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If your work is published (by streaming or download) on a third-party website (e.g. Soundcloud, Facebook, Youtube etc.), the owner of the website has to obtain a licence and pay the corresponding licence fee.
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Yes. Basically, it makes no difference whether or not a musical work is used commercially on the internet. Swiss copyright law does not distinguish between commercial and non-commercial usages but between private and public usages, whereby public usages are generally subject to the payment of royalties.
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First and foremost, the provider. The provider is the natural or legal person who places a protected title on an internet server and thus makes it publicly available. As the provider, he is also responsible for the website’s contents and must obtain all the necessary licences.
The service provider is secondly responsible and may be made liable. In Switzerland, contrary to the EU, there are no specific rules governing the liability of providers, and the general rules apply (participation in copyright infringement). -
We distinguish between the following uses for example:
- uploading musical works on a server (mechanical rights);
- making musical works available on the internet (on demand);
- sending musical works via the internet;
- downloading musical works from the internet.
The internet is not a legal no man’s land: copyright law regulates all uses, online and offline. For example: uploading a musical work on a server is the same thing as (digitally) reproducing that work.
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Pursuant to Article 10(1) of the Federal Copyright Act, the author has the exclusive right to decide if, where and how his work may be used. Article 10(2)(c) further provides for the non-exhaustive right to make a work available so that users can access it at the time and place of their choice. This right is assigned to SUISA by its members when they sign the rights administration agreement. Thanks to the reciprocity agreements signed with its sister societies, SUISA manages what is referred to as the world music repertoire in Switzerland (BGE 107 II 60). For a fee calculated in accordance with our online tariff conditions, we make this repertoire available to our clients for use on the internet.
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A web presence encompasses all the websites of a company or an individual on the internet. Different addresses (domains) qualify as different web presences. Each social media profile (Facebook, YouTube etc.) qualifies as a separate web presence.
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No. According to Swiss law, intranet qualifies as a public usage, not as private usage. If protected content is placed on an intranet, it must be licensed at the online tariff rates.
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If access to your website is protected by a password and restricted to family members and a close circle of friends, Swiss copyright law does not require you to licence the music content. Each case must be considered on its own merits. Our Legal Department can assist you with specific cases.
Social media and intranet do not qualify as private use! -
Yes. But in order to do so, depending on the type of licensing, you have to exclude certain rights from the rights administration agreement signed with SUISA. This enables you to licence the excluded rights directly.
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Copyright law is a complex field. The following checklist can be of assistance if you have questions concerning copyrights for uploading music:
For music and video uploads:
Can you confirm all of the following points?
- Did you compose the music yourself?
- Did you write the lyrics?
- Did you record and publish the song yourself or have you obtained permission from the producer or record company that made the recording?
- Do you have permission from all the right-holders to use the relevant samples for your songs?
- Can you confirm that you do not have record contract with a music label or record company?
- Can you confirm that you do not have a publishing deal or music publishing contract?
If you can answer yes to all 6 questions, you may upload your music or film without a licence from SUISA.