100 Years SUISA

Here’s something well worth celebrating: 100 years of SUISA. The cooperative acts as an agent for music copyrights throughout Switzerland and works to ensure fair payment for musicians. The special feature of this stamp: you can scan it with the Post-App to hear an audible surprise.

How many songs have you listened to on the radio or your phone today? Every time a song is played or streamed in pub- lic, the musicians get paid for it – the so- called copyright fee. SUISA collects these fees for its more than 40,000 members in Switzerland and over 2 million musicians around the world – for example, on be- half of composers, lyricists and music publishers. It also licenses venues that benefit from music played in public, such as the club, bar and radio station depict-ed on the special stamp, bringing in around 130 million francs every year on behalf of musicians.

Thanks to these fees, musicians are paid for their creative work every time their music is used in public. The history of SUISA dates back to 1923, when its pre-decessor organization MECHANLIZENZ was established. Its job was to license the production of sound recording me- dia – which were still music boxes back then. 100 years later, it’s time for us to join together and sing: “Happy birthday to you...”.