Online advertising campaigns
One or more commercials placed on third-party websites qualifies as an online advertising campaign.
You need to obtain the production rights (Tariff VN) for each commercial, as well as a licence for making available (Tariff VN-A).
How to acquire the relevant music rights:
- Existing music: synchronisation rights must be obtained from the authors or their representatives, as well as from the label if the music was published on vinyl, CD, or on streaming platforms. This must be done before the film is produced.
- Commissioned music: if you are commissioning music from a composer, the rights of use must be regulated by a contract. If the composer belongs to a collective management organisation, SUISA manages the authors’ rights.
- Production music: beware of purportedly free music from websites. Certain providers claim that all rights are included, but that is not always true. SUISA manages the rights for uses in Switzerland and Liechtenstein in particular.
Production music specificities: no further action required as regards synchronisation rights. Favour our production music contract partners to avoid paying twice for rights.
Making-available rights:
Moreover, for advertising campaigns aired on the internet, you must obtain the making-available rights in addition to the production rights. These rights are based on the Swiss media budget for the airing of the campaign.
Contact:
For questions, please contact our team at: advertising@suisa.ch or +41 21 614 28 / 30
How to proceed:
Select the type of commercial below. Fill in the online form to apply for the right licence. You can save the form and finish filling it in later.
After checking your application, SUISA issues you an invoice. The licence is valid as soon as payment is received.
From the payment proceeds, SUISA distributes the corresponding royalties to the entitled composers, lyricists, and publishers.
Go to licence application
Tariff VN-A distinguishes between single or serial spots.
This could be of interest to you:
FAQ: Frequently asked questions
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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. 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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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.
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Yes. The video production must first be licensed under tariff VN. As part of this process, you are issued a SUISA number. Then when the video is made available on the internet, the terms and conditions for online advertising campaigns are applicable. When registering to make the video available, you will be asked for the SUISA number. For further information.
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Image films are designed to cast a positive light on a company while commercials are designed to promote sales.