#suisa

After months of residing in the darkness of inactivity here comes a fresh review of the recent trip to Switzerland. Those 3 days were without expectations and with plenty of spontaneous decisions that turned out...awesome. I even managed get my Master thesis done and sent to print hours before the trip thus not having to bring my laptop there and work at the airport. I would also use this chance to thank again our hosts for the wonderful time we spent there as well as for helping us with the stay in Geneve. Merci beaucoup...or whatever you write it.  Now what was all this about, when, why and how...please start scrolling. The whole trip was planned a few months ago as one our best and closest Uni colleagues was going to get married. Since we were sitting next to each other since the day 1 of the University life (and were breaking the Erasmus Intership Exchange ice together writing the letters and creating our portfolios in the bars between the Uni lectures...) there was no way for me not to come there. Wait a bit more to see the wedding pics. The interesting story is that she had met her future husband during Erasmus internship in Paris while I was in Vienna (maybe I should apply again for the exchange?). One of the last things in life I imagined was ending up on a wedding in Switzerland and be surrounded with the French and the Međimurci. On the trip there and back again I was with a few colleagues whom we will refer to as “the Noone”. Let’s start with...

DAY 1: Travelling from Zagreb to Venice Marco Polo Airport. Getting lost in Venice. Evening arrival to Geneve 

Just before our trip there were several problems that were kept in secret in order not to spread panic. Our return flight with EasyJet was cancelled due to French Airline’s strike and luckily I was online to check us in on the next one an hour later. Had we not had the second flight the same evening things would gotten nasty with the bus schedule and arriving home on Monday morning to hand in our binded Master’s thesises. 

The second crisis emerged early in the morning around 3am when I realized:

a) I left the sunglasses at my barber’s desk the day earlier

b) I forgot the headphones on my desk!!

We travelled with Flixbus, direct line from Zagreb to Marco Polo Airport, at 7.30am and arrived a bit later than scheduled due to traffic problems on the Italian highway and a traffic mess at the bus station in Trieste (sorry Italians, it was another prejudice come true...). 

We came to our destination around 2.30pm and had almost 5 hours free before the flight. And what should we do?

Go to Venice of course! For the price of 15 Euros you get the bus return ticket from the airport to Venice. My colleague was there for the first time and for me it was the 3rd. I honestly didn’t expect going there but ... was worth it. The plan was to drink coffee somewhere but we didn’t have time as...umm... I wanted to make a tour around and we got lost on our way back...just a bit. : -) In the end we managed to get in time back.

The overall impression of Venice?

Crowded, hot, stinky...few buildings and streets that impress you in the beginning and then you get bored and start counting nationalities and bricks in the walls. As well as the shades to hide in. 

Just before the security check in I realized that I totally messed up with clothes and items in the travel bag...bringing unecessary stuff that took plenty of space. Never again listen to the others and just keep it simple. So I was forced to put my pants, part of ceremonial clothes etc. into the bags of my colleagues. :-D Just like Voldemort with the horcruxes.

Speaking of food and water supplies on your trips and specifically at the airports...there are two kinds of people in this world. Those who buy the bottled water in duty free shops... and those who drink and fill them in the restrooms (toilets). During my 3 days I only drank water from the restroom. Save money, save the nature. 

Our flight was around 8pm and I spent most of it (one hour) sleeping dead tired. For those of you who’ve been following me from before you might remember I’ve already been to Switzerland but never in Geneve. (scroll down the blog for those posts).

Geneva airport? While going towards the exit you pass by numerous billboards of the Swiss watches...Rolex, Rolex, Rolex...and Rolex..and so on for the next 5 minutes. The good thing is that all the arriving guests have 80 minutes free public transport ticket so we went to the next stop (Geneve Cornavin). Our hostel (Geneve Hostel) was about 5-7 minutes by foot and close to the Geneva lake. Boys in one room, girls in another to avoid the potential problems. And unplanned weddings. 

At the hostel we were also given free public transport ticket that was valid for the whole Saturday and Sunday which helped a lot. It included the train, the boats, the buses and the tram within Geneve. Since France was super close (cca 4 km) there was even a tram line leading there (about 30 minutes)...we heard you can have a cheaper lunch there and planned “to visit France” on Sunday but plans changed. 

Before the sleep we searched around the hostel area for some cheap place to grab some food. Now, the word “cheap” in Switzerland is not as same as “cheap” here and the best for your psychological health is not to convert the currency. We found the Ali Kebab place right next to the hostel and ate Chicken Kebab with some salad and French fries for 17,5 Franks, a meal we split for two. This was relatively similar to some prices here so it was not that bad at all. I could have eaten though the whole plate again but my wallet couldn’t. No complaints anyway!

DAY 2: Morning tour around Geneve. Going to the ceremony. The wedding and the afterparty.

I’m a morning person and Saturday morning was no exception. Woke up early, took a shower, breakfast when there aren’t many people and already ready to go at 7.30am. I got the public transport and city landmarks map at the hostel staff and  went to the lake with another early bird. Here are some impressions of the streets, people and cityscape.

Plenty of runners with bluetooth headphones, people walking with dogs, the cylists, expensive cars you see in James Bond movies, the specific architecture, plenty of hotels and banks, mostly clean sterile streets, the promenade and the boats. Pretty much international population and French language everywhere. And I don’t speak French except for few words but was interesting to be in an “alien” surroundings. The lake that is as huge as the sea yet fresh water. Ducks everywhere. What I loved was seeing the bike roads across the promenade and the streets of Geneve. More about it on Day 3. Speaking of traffic behaviour they all more or less stop when you approach the pedestrian zebra crossing and stop even 0,5 m before it if the red light turns on. On contrary, here you’d get run over even if you were sitting on your balcony.

We went back to pick up the third early bird and started our little tour around. There were several bridges in the center and you had a boat connection with other side of the lake. There is the huge wheel with cafes around the big bridge. One of the Geneve’s landmarks is the huge fountain which we reached later and had a free shower. One of the things that pleasantly surprised me was (as I had found out later) the artistic project “Happy City” where there were ca. 20 painted pianos placed around the city’s squares, parks, streets and bridges...where you do as it says “Play, I’m here for you”. So I did what they required you to do. Playing piano on Lake Geneva was another thing I never thought about ... but now I can say “new achievement unlocked”. 

We walked a bit more to the inside of the other side up and down the streets, seen some churches and lots of interenational bars and restaurants. Expensive exotic cars again..and then decided it’s time to go back to hostel. 

On our way back we checked out Lidl and took some emergency food to have just in case of unexpected hunger. This saved us on the next day. I also almost forgot that right now I can buy and drink Rivella.

Travelling to Gland and the Wedding.

We jumped into our suits and wedding clothes and went to the train station around 2pm. We had to arrive to Gland which is ca 20 minutes away from Geneve and there our fiancée’s family was going to pick us up and transport to the ceremony’s place. While there we got to know our French roommates and colleagues offiancé.

What I liked (and probably others) there weren’t many people as it usually is the case here. I won’t go into details here and throw emotions but here are some things. Close friends and family from both sides, that’s it. The ceremony took place at the fairy location called Le Moulin du Creux. Beautiful house with garden, creek and forest around located 100 meters from the road. Check the nice photos of it and you’ll get the idea.

We had two-three pastors, the French ones and the Croatian one. Since most of us didn’t speak nor understood French we had a translator. And it was funny because she was a Slovene translating into Serbian mostly. :)) Nevertheless, an interesting ceremony and a special moment for our now married couple!

What was also new was that after taking pictures and rushing to the tables with food and drinks we also had a game organized - seek and answer game. They hid around 30 photos around the area and we got the papers with questions in French and Croatian. For my team it was kind of a fail in the end. We were trying to learn a few useful French phrases such as J'ai soif which means “I’m thirsty” when sneaking around the table with served drinks.

The other games included a catapult and a cubic football. There was also a gigantic version of the Jenga Tower which was fun to play. We took and received as a memory the polaroid photo with our couple and later moved inside for the dinner and the rest of the show. We watched short movie clips that fiance’s family created about him and our friend. The only problem we had was that we didn’t understand anything as there were no subtitles. :-)

After few more games and meals it was time to go out on the field and light the lanterns. This was a cool thing and my first time to show up and do the thing actually, I think we all enjoyed it. I have no photos of it though but you can imagined what it looked liked having many of them flying up. Let’s hope non of them fell on the forest below. :-D

Soon followed afterparty with some dance music. Some people already had to part and leave. Finally, around 2am we also decided to leave as we didn’t want to miss our train back to Geneve. And of course we missed the first one by being 5 minutes late.

We came to the hostel around 4am and straight to bed.

DAY 3: Tour around Geneve one more time. Coffee & city bikes. Departure.

The final day is here. So far everything great! We made a deal to meet with friends from Nyon around 10.30h at the giant wheel in the center. Shower, breakfast and baggage packed and locked in the hostel. Ready to go. 

We took the boat to the other side and soon met with our friends. We then wasted around an hour going to the “old center” only to find nothing interesting there. However, we saw more of the public pianos and parks. For the next half an hour we were on a quest to find a solid cafe to sit and talk about life. 

We ended up below the giant wheel and had a tiny cup of coffee for 4 Franks. Naturally, we stayed for 2 hours sitting & chatting there to compensate the loss. I ran out of cash and asked the waiter where to go. After all, Geneva is the city of banks and I hadn’t seen a single ATM machine there.  Before running for some cash we decided to visit the giant fountain. On our way there I stopped by the public piano which was now free of ambitious moms and their kids who just pressed random keys but had a cool photo. Actually, I was doing the same. It was funny to have the unusual audience around you. 

Soon by the fountain. Time for a group photo! 

  Time flew by quickly and our friends had to find the bus station as they were leaving sooner than us. We went to the center in search of places to eat and after parting with them three of the original squad left. We had a few hours left before rushing to the train station and the airport. Having lunch in France? Visiting France by trams? Visiting France on bikes? Using city bikes to go around? We rushed to the nearst bike station and...all the bikes were gone. Second chance at the one across the bridge. We somehow were lazy to walk and wasted time on the boat. What happened there? Only two bikes left. I agreed to run  to the other station as the rest follows me. But the guy working there couldn’t find the keys of the bike so we waster 10 minutes there filling the papers and waiting for him to come to common sense. The third and the last luck before giving up was using the tram to the Station No. 5 ... and...three bikes left, keys in the hands and off we go!

There is no better feeling than going around the new place by bike. Pure freedom and flexbility. We gave 20 Franks deposit and decided towards the north along the lake. Bike routes almost everywhere. Going between the streets was fun. No fear of the vehicles around us.

Viele Konzertbesucher gehen an Konzerte und stöhnen ab den immer höher werdenden Konzertpreisen, auch ich gehöre hier dazu. Es ist ja zum Teil wirklich schweineteuer was da verlangt wird. Gerade die Festivals in der Schweiz, und ich mein hier nicht die vielen kleinen Festivals, sondern die richtig grossen kosten mittlerweile eine echte Stange Geld, und wenn es mehrere Tage geht kommen so schnell mal ein paar hundert Franken zusammen. Was viele vergessen, ist das die Veranstalter nicht nur Gagen an die Künstler bezahlen, sondern auch Gebühren abdrücken müssen an die Urheberrechtsgesellschaft in der Schweiz, an die SUISA. Diese wiederum verteilt die Einnahmen an die Künstler weiter. Dies wiederum bedingt dass die Künstler auch ihre Setlist mit den an Konzerten gespielten Lieder einreicht. Somit verdienen Musiker natürlich irgendwie doppelt. Deshalb wird wahrscheinlich auch schnell klar, weshalb Bands so konzertfreudig geworden sind, jetzt wo die Plattenverkäufe ja so stark eingebrochen sind. Es sind da einfach mehr Einnahmen zu generieren. So kommen Gagen, Einnahmen aus dem Merchandising und auch die Urheberrechtszahlungen hinzu. Die bekommen natürlich auch nur diejenigen, die auch aktiv am Liederschreiben sind. Nun hat die SUISA einen neuen Tarif für Konzerte festgelegt, welcher ab 2017 gültig sein wird. Um jetzt mal aufzuzeigen wie das funktioniert folgt hier eine kleine Erklärung dazu mit Rechenbeispielen. Als Quelle dient mir hier die SUISA Website und verfasst hat den Text Chantal Bolzern

Wieviel Urheberrechtsvergütung der Veranstalter eines Konzerts bezahlen muss, hängt von verschiedenen Faktoren ab: Grösse des Konzerts, Anzahl veranstaltete Konzerte pro Jahr, Verbandsmitgliedschaft, mögliche Abzüge etc. Ein exakter Betrag kann ohne individuelle Angaben nicht im Detail vorausgesagt werden. Es gibt jedoch je nach Grösse der Veranstaltung ein paar Faustregeln. Kleinkonzerte Eine Konzertveranstaltung wird als Kleinkonzert auf der Basis des Gemeinsamen Tarifs Kb (GT Kb) lizenziert, sofern das Fassungsvermögen des Clubs oder des Geländes maximal 999 Personen beträgt und maximal CHF 15 000 Billetteinnahmen brutto generiert wurden. Für solche Kleinkonzerte sollte der Veranstalter als Obergrenze 9,5% der Billetteinnahmen für die von der SUISA in Rechnung gestellten Urheberrechtsvergütungen budgetieren. Der Prozentsatz sinkt auf 3,5%, sofern während mehr als der Hälfte des Konzertes Musik von Komponisten gespielt wurde, die vor mehr als 70 Jahren verstorben sind oder die keiner Verwertungsgesellschaft angeschlossen sind. Der Veranstalter kann zudem von einem Mengenrabatt profitieren, falls er einen Vertrag mit der SUISA abgeschlossen hat: Der Mengenrabatt kann 5% bis 20% betragen, wenn der Veranstalter im Vorjahr mehr als 10 Konzerte durchgeführt hatte. Weiter erhält er einen zusätzlichen Rabatt von 10%, wenn er einem Verband von Konzertveranstaltern wie SMPA oder PETZI angeschlossen ist. Insgesamt kann ein Veranstalter somit bis zu 30% Rabatt erzielen, wenn er alle Vertragsbedingungen einhält. Konkret heisst das, dass damit der Lizenzsatz bei Kleinkonzerten von 9,5% auf 6,65% sinken kann. Zuguterletzt hat ein Konzertveranstalter Anspruch auf 2% Skonto, wenn er die letzte Rechnung der SUISA innert 10 Tagen beglichen hat. Kleinkonzert – vereinfachtes Berechnungsbeispiel Konzert im Club – 400 Personen Fassungsvermögen – 350 verkaufte Tickets à CHF 23. Billetteinnahmen 350 × CHF 23 CHF 8 050.00 Lizenzbasis 6,65%, Höchstrabatt (30%) CHF 535.30 – 2% Skonto (von CHF 535.30) CHF 10.70 = Entschädigung für Urheberrechte CHF 524.60 Grosskonzerte Organisiert der Veranstalter ein Grosskonzert, wird die Lizenzentschädigung gestützt auf den Gemeinsamen Tarif Ka (GT Ka) berechnet. Als Grosskonzerte betrachtet werden Konzerte in Lokalen oder auf Geländen mit mindestens 1000 Personen Fassungsvermögen oder für die der Veranstalter Billetteinnahmen von mehr als CHF 15 000 brutto erzielt hat. In diesen Fällen sollte der Veranstalter höchstens 10% seiner Bruttoeinnahmen aus Ticketverkäufen für die durch die SUISA eingeforderten Urheberrechtsvergütungen budgetieren. Der Veranstalter eines Grosskonzerts kann – sofern er alle entsprechenden Belege vorlegt – gewisse Abzüge von den Bruttoeinnahmen geltend machen; beispielsweise im Ticketpreis inbegriffene Bahnbillette, Zutritt zum Campingplatz oder Ähnliches. Weiter kann er pauschal 10% Kosten für die externe Vorverkaufsstelle abziehen. Auch der Grosskonzertveranstalter kann von verschiedenen Rabatten profitieren, sofern er einen Vertrag mit der SUISA abgeschlossen hat und die Bedingungen einhält. Er erhält einen Mengenrabatt von 5% bis 10%, wenn er im Vorjahr mehr als 10 Konzerte veranstaltet hatte. Je nach Grösse des Fassungsvermögens des Veranstaltungsortes kann es von 5% bis 15% Rabatt geben. Wie bei den Kleinkonzerten gibt es auch für die Grosskonzerte einen Verbandsrabatt von 10%. Somit kann der Veranstalter von Grosskonzerten insgesamt von bis zu 35% Rabatt profitieren, wodurch der Lizenzsatz von 10% auf 6,5% sinken kann. Der Skonto von 2% wird auch für Grosskonzerte gewährt, wenn der Veranstalter die letzte Rechnung der SUISA innert 10 Tagen bezahlt hat. Grosskonzert – vereinfachtes Berechnungsbeispiel Konzert Openair – 11 000 Personen Fassungsvermögen – 9985 verkaufte Tickets à CHF 110. Billetteinnahmen 9985 × CHF 110 CHF 1 098 350.00 – 10% Kosten externe Vorverkaufsstelle (GT Ka Ziff. 29) CHF 109 835.00 – Kosten für im Billett inbegriffener ÖV (GT Ka Ziff. 11) CHF 29 995.00 = Zwischentotal CHF 958 520.00 Lizenzbasis 6,5%, Höchstrabatt (35%) CHF 62 303.80 – 2% Skonto (von CHF 62 303.80) CHF 1 246.10 = Entschädigung für Urheberrechte CHF 61 057.70 Zusätzliche Vergütung für Pausenmusik Sowohl für Kleinkonzerte als auch für Grosskonzerte gilt: Sofern an den Konzerten zusätzlich Musikaufnahmen abgespielt wurden, zum Beispiel als Pausenmusik, muss der Veranstalter zudem noch eine Vergütung für die verwandten Schutzrechte bezahlen. Informationen dazu finden sich in den Tarifen GT Ka und GT Kb sowie auf der Website der Swissperform.

Quelle: SUISA / Text von Chantal Bolzern