The SUISA General Meeting on 17 June 2022 will mark the first opportunity in two years for our members to meet with other members, with SUISA’s Board of Directors, its Executive Committee and staff. If you are a member and entitled to vote, do take advantage of this opportunity and do get involved in our common cause so that we can ensure that authors receive a fair compensation for their work.
Thanks to the commitment of the SUISA staff and the good cooperation with our customers, the music users, the 2021 business year result reflected only a slight decline overall compared to our all-time record of 2019. The biggest drop occurred in live music performances: Since they could not take place, SUISA also recorded less licensing income from this sector. With a great deal of patience and commitment, our employees nevertheless did everything they could to ensure that music uses were licensed as comprehensively as possible. For this, they certainly deserve our thanks on your behalf as well.
Thanks to the commitment among many of you and of politicians, we were also able to fend off an attack on the enforcement of appropriate compensation in more recent times. On 8 March 2022, the Swiss Council of States finally rejected the parliamentary initiative Nantermod. The initiative demanded that hotels should no longer have to pay any fees for broadcasting radio and TV programmes in guest rooms. This would have resulted in authors losing at least 1 million Swiss francs.
What we are concerned about is the war situation in Europe. It cannot and must not be that cultural achievements are destroyed senselessly and that peaceful coexistence among people is rendered impossible. Let us all see to it that music will triumph over barbarism. For our professional colleagues, you can get involved and give them hope through the coordinated #creatorsforUkraine relief campaign via our umbrella organisation CISAC.
