About Copyright

Last updated on 01.09.2025

Contents

• Copyright in Music

• Creative Commons in Switzerland and Europe

• Which Music Is Protected?

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„Copyright in music

About copyright law

The Federal Copyright Act of 1992 (as amended in 2008 and 2019) constitutes the legal basis for the protection of literary works and works of art. It also governs neighbouring rights, i.e. the rights of performers, sound and audiovisual recording producers and broadcasting companies.

The Copyright Act stipulates the rights and obligations of the five Swiss collective management organizations.

SUISA, a co-operative society, manages the rights of composers, lyricists, and music publishers in trust. This means that it collects the remuneration for the authors’ rights and distributes it as royalties to the entitled parties.

Musical works are automatically protected

Pursuant to the Copyright Act, every musical work of an original nature is automatically protected from the moment it is created. It does not make sense to join SUISA unless your works are publicly used (e.g. if they are performed or broadcast).

Who has to pay remuneration for authors’ rights?

Compositions and lyrics belong to their respective authors. Whoever publishes, reproduces, performs, broadcasts or otherwise disseminates a work requires the consent of the author, or of SUISA as the holder of the rights transferred by the author.

Since it is not possible for every user to negotiate with each individual author, SUISA grants users licences on the authors’ behalf for the use of music in Switzerland and in Liechtenstein. Concert organizers, record producers, radio and television broadcasting stations, clubs and restaurants must all obtain a licence.

Weddings and club events

Private use is not subject to remuneration and does not, therefore, require a licence. Private use includes private birthday parties and weddings, for example, but not office and club gatherings, school performances, or background music in shopping centres. SUISA answers your inquiries free of charge if you want to know whether a work is protected, how much a licence costs and which uses are exempt from royalties.

The 2019 copyright law revision

To ensure adequate copyright protection in the digital age, the Federal Copyright Act was revised in 2019; it has been in force in its current form since 1 April 2020.

The most important changes for rightholders and for users of the works and services protected by copyright are:

  • Under certain conditions, providers of internet hosting services are required to prevent the unlawful uploading of works and recordings (stay-down obligation).
  • Data processing for the purpose of prosecuting the illegal use of protected works was simplified.
  • Authors are granted a new entitlement to remuneration for the online use of audiovisual works and performances. This does not apply to music because SUISA already manages the right to use music in films and videos.
  • The term of protection for performers, sound and audiovisual recording producers has been extended to 70 years.
  • The existing exemption for the use of orphan works (works whose rightholders cannot be traced) and works by persons with disabilities have been reinforced.
  • The collective management organizations henceforth have the possibility of granting extended collective licences. They can thus also manage the rights of authors whom they do not represent.
  • Photographs are now also protected even if they are not of an original nature.“

SUISA. (n.d.). Copyright in Music. Retrieved September 1, 2025, from SUISA website: https://www.suisa.ch/de/Musik-und-Recht/Urheberrecht-in-der-Musik.html

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„Creative Commons licences in Europe and Switzerland

Article 5(3) of Directive 2014/26/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2014 (hereafter, the “EU Directive”) provides that rightholders are entitled to grant licences for non-commercial uses of any rights, categories of rights or types of works and other subject-matter that they may choose.

Switzerland is not directly bound by European law. However, SUISA works closely with European collecting management organisations through over one hundred mutual representation agreements concluded with its foreign sister societies. Moreover, SUISA operates in Liechtenstein, which is a member of the European Economic Area.

Accordingly, SUISA has to comply with the Liechtenstein legislation on collecting societies and allow its members to grant non-commercial licences. It has chosen to do so by accepting that its members grant certain Creative Commons licences.

To qualify for a Creative Commons licence, a work must already have been registered by a declaration of works. Moreover, all the rightholders involved must be members of SUISA and must consent to the granting of the licence in question

What licences can be attributed?

SUISA has decided to recognise three types of Creative Commons non-commercial licences for use by its members:

  • Name must be indicated – no commercial use allowed 3.0 Switzerland
  • Name must be indicated – no commercial use allowed – same licence required 3.0 Switzerland
  • Name must be indicated – no commercial use allowed – no derivatives (cahnges) allowed 3.0 Switzerland

For further information, see: http://www.creativecommons.ch/

The above three licences are irrevocable licences for free dissemination. This means that a work under any one of these licences will never generate royalties for its authors.

We would also point out that Creative Commons licences can only apply to uses for which SUISA’s tariffs foresee an individual per-work fee, not a flat-rate or all-in fee. This means, for example, that Creative Commons licences cannot be taken into account with regard to works used for background music or mood music (CT 3a), since the fees charged by SUISA for such uses are all-in fees based on the size of the area in which the music is played and not on the works actually played.

Definition of non-commercial use

Non-commercial uses are uses which are not intended to produce a direct or indirect commercial advantage or monetary compensation.

The following uses, for example, are non-commercial:

charity events (concerts or other musical events) with surplus revenue going to charitable causes, provided the organisers and musicians work for free;

production of sound and audiovisual recordings, provided the recordings are distributed for free and for self-promotional purposes.

Conversely, the packaging or use of a work or a copy of a work:

  • by a profit-making entity of any kind whatsoever;
  • in the framework of or in association with profit-making activities;
  • involving a counterpart, of a financial or other nature, regardless of the beneficiary, title or grounds;
  • in exchange for other goods, whether or not the exchange generates direct or indirect revenues or gives rise to a payment of any nature whatsoever;
  • by broadcasting companies (radio and television);
  • in establishments open to the public such as restaurants, bars, cafes, concert halls, department stores, retail shops;
  • at places of work
  • shall be deemed a commercial use.“

SUISA. (n.d.). Creative Commons Licenses. Retrieved September 1, 2025, from SUISA website: https://www.suisa.ch/de/Musik-und-Recht/Lizenzfreie-Musik/Creative-Commons-Lizenzen.html

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“Which Music Is protected by copyright?

The Copyright Act protects all musical works of an original nature created by individuals. Apart from music, other acoustic works of an original nature, characterised by the use of sounds and not notes, are protected. All these works are protected regardless of their value or purpose. A symphony and a radio jingle enjoy equal protection under the Copyright Act. SUISA only manages what are known as “small rights”, i.e. the rights to non theatrical music. This includes:

  • non theatrical musical works, with or without lyrics, including oratorios;
  • concert versions of theatrical (dramatic) musical works;
  • dance musical works which can be used without dance;
  • excerpts from theatrical musical works which do not comprise a complete act and are not longer than 25 minutes in the case of a radio broadcast, or 15 minutes in the case of a television broadcast.
  • musical works in films or other audiovisual or multimedia works (except in the case of films of dramatic musical works).

SUISA is responsible for performance, broadcasting and retransmission rights, public broadcasting rights, the right to make music available (online rights), mechanical rights (i.e. the production of sound and audiovisual recordings, including audiofiles) and blank carrier and rental rights.“

SUISA. (n.d.). Creative Commons Licenses. Retrieved September 1, 2025, from SUISA website: https://www.suisa.ch/de/Musik-und-Recht/Lizenzfreie-Musik/Creative-Commons-Lizenzen.html