Guides

Music publishing in Switzerland

How music publishing actually works in Switzerland: who claims which rights, what the national copyright system does, and what it takes for a publisher to set up and collect.

Who claims which rights

Performance and mechanical: SUISA (also covering Liechtenstein). Sync: direct.

Copyright registration in Switzerland

Automatic under Berne; no registry.

Setting up to claim publishing rights

SUISA admits foreign publishers directly; Switzerland is usually bundled into a GAS territory sub-publishing deal alongside Germany and Austria rather than entered alone.

The societies

SUISA — each linked page covers the society’s history and how registrations reach it.

Rules, fees, and society requirements change, and none of this is legal advice — confirm current requirements with the society or local counsel before committing. Registrations bound for Switzerland can be checked free on the validator · more: setting up country by country · which societies accept CWR.

Two free checks for your CWR file. Is the file correct? Every record, share and control total against the spec, each problem on its exact line. Do its writers match their registrations? Every writer cross-checked against public registration data, including works registered under another spelling or IPI. Nothing stored: check a file at cwrcheck.com.