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Films on audiovisual carriers

Apply for a licence

Licence to reproduce protected music on audiovisual carriers

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Are you planning on making available a film with music on DVD, BluRay, or on other audiovisual carriers? You can obtain the licence to reproduce protected music on audiovisual carriers from SUISA.

Documentary and feature films

Tariff VI applies to the recording of music on audiovisual carriers intended for the public, i.e. audiovisual recordings designed to be sold, given away for free, or used for advertising purposes. This tariff applies to audiovisual recordings which do not mainly consist of music (e.g. documentary films and feature films, etc.).

Who is responsible for declaring the audiovisual carrier?

The producer or the principal is responsible for declaring the audiovisual carrier. The principal is the person or company that finances the production of the audiovisual carrier and has the right of disposal over it.

Tariff VI distinguishes between single transactions and standard productions customers:

Pressing licence subject to reserves!

SUISA issues the pressing licence subject to production, performance and synchronisation rights. These must be obtained directly.
For more information in this regard, see the ‘Further rights’ page. 

Observe the deadlines

If you entrust reproduction to a pressing plant, registration must be made at least 10 days prior to execution of the order so that we can deliver the necessary permission to the plant.

Procedure

Please complete the online form. Once your application is complete, we proceed as follows:

We check the copyright status of the musical work and enter the recording in our system.
Based on your application, we prepare the invoice applying the calculation basis under Tariff VI. 
Lastly, we send the necessary licence directly to the pressing plant.

What is a standard productions customer?

Qualifying conditions: You can become a standard productions customer if you:
 

  • regularly produce, import or distribute recordings commercially
  • are established in Switzerland or Liechtenstein
  • have a proper book-keeping and inventory accounting system;
  • guarantee compliance with copyright requirements, and are prepared to make monthly down payments and deposit a one-time amount by way of security

Additional conditions

  • At least five new productions per year
  • At least 1000 units per production
  • Before concluding the contract, you must have paid licence fees for single transactions under Tariff VI for at least one year.

Preferential conditions for standard productions customers

  • Standard productions customers have a general production licence. This is part of the contract. We regularly inform the pressing plant about who has signed such a contract with us.
  • Standard productions customers pay licence fees on a six-monthly or annual basis for the number of audiovisual recordings sold. Sales must be reported via electronic mail (Excel list).

Observe the deadlines

Standard productions customers must register the audiovisual carrier with SUISA no later than 30 days after its release. 

Procedure

Please submit your sales declaration to us electronically every year or every six months (Excel list). You will then receive an invoice from us.

Once it receives your payment, SUISA distributes the corresponding royalties to the entitled composers, lyricists and publishers.

Häufig gestellte Fragen und Antworten

  • Yes. If you intend to record music protected by copyright on audiovisual carriers for uses outside the private sphere, you need permission from the author or rightholder – generally the publisher.  This permission is called a synchronisation licence.

    Without such permission, you may not use or reproduce the music. You must obtain the licence in advance, before recording. As a rule, SUISA cannot issue such licences itself.

    You do not need a synchronisation licence if you add sound to or reproduce film recordings with music exclusively for private use (e.g. family videos).

  • Productions must always be registered before the audiovisual recording is produced.

  • If you combine music with other works (pictures, dialogues etc.) on the audiovisual recording or make the audiovisual recording for alien purposes (advertising, sales promotions or public relations), you may be going against the author’s principles or intentions.

    To protect the author's moral rights, SUISA only issues licences to record music with the authors’ consent – as a rule this is evidenced by the "sync" (synchronisation) licence.