Suisa has been in dispute with Energy for two years
Energy Switzerland has been in dispute with the music collecting society Suisa over copyright payments for two years. Energy CEO Dani Büchi continues to deny all accusations.
Suisa has operated Energy Switzerland for around 633'500 francs. Suisa spokesman Giorgio Tebaldi confirmed on Monday a report in the Sunday newspaper (Werbewoche.ch reported). Energy has filed a legal complaint against the debt collection. According to Tebaldi, the reason for the dispute is the copyright fees to be paid for events such as "Stars for Free", the open air "Energy Open", "Energy Live Session" or the "Energy Fashion Show", in which music acts perform. "We are basically of the opinion that the Energy Group already remunerates the copyright contributions for these events via the annual levies of the radios," Dani Büchi, managing director of the Energy Group, informed the company upon request. This is actually the customary practice. If this is not the case, Energy believes that Suisa's assumptions for calculating the fees are wrong, or that the fees are set much too high. In addition, Energy is aware of comparable events to which Suisa applies different and significantly lower standards.
No immediate end for events
According to Büchi, it is not the case that the Energy events can no longer be held immediately because of the additional payment to Suisa. However, the individual event budgets would not allow for such a substantially higher expense item without corresponding additional revenues. Energy Switzerland provides various services for the benefit of all radio stations associated with the Energy Group, including services related to the staging of events. For all Energy events, tickets cannot be purchased, only won. According to Büchi, the qualification of these services and Energy Switzerland's role in staging events are part of ongoing discussions with Suisa. The music collecting society collects copyright royalties from event organizers in order to provide composers, authors and music publishers with the royalties to which they are entitled. Energy Schweiz is wholly owned by Energy Schweiz Holding. The publishing house Ringier holds a 65 percent stake. NRJ, Europe's largest private radio company based in Paris, holds 35 percent. (SDA)
