Swiss pop stars keep a low profile on the subject of No-Billag

Prime example Baschi: Sebastian Bürgin, as he is known by his real name, built up his career with the kind assistance of the SRG media. He became known through the SRF show "Music Star," and SRF stations subsequently offered him a prominent platform again and again in a wide variety of broadcast formats. And almost more centrally, Baschi has always been a regular on the music program Radio SRF 3 in particular - he has been played a whole 3615 times in the last ten years.

In response to an inquiry from the SonntagsZeitung, his management first said that the musician would not comment on the No Billag initiative. When asked about the reasons for his silence, he then made a statement: He naturally very much hoped that the initiative would be rejected.

Other long-time SRG beneficiaries are also finding it difficult to take a clear stance. Züri West has not yet thought about it - acts such as Florian Ast, Stephan Eicher, Stress or Francine Jordi do not want to comment at all. Even DJ Bobo, whose concerts have already been broadcast several times and who has even been given his own Saturday night show to mark his stage anniversary, prefers to remain silent.

With the exception of Gölä, Büne Hueber, Sina, Marc Sway and, according to the SonntagsZeitung survey, Kuno Lauener, they have not even signed the Suisa resolution against the initiative. Yet the musicians receive considerable Suisa income thanks to the SRF plays. On average, they receive seven francs per song played on the radio. Züri West, for example, has been played over 7500 times on SRF 1 and SRF 3 in the last ten years. In contrast to private radio stations, where the proportion of Swiss music is often less than ten percent, SRF stations must play at least 20 percent Swiss titles. In short, the No Billag issue is also about hard cash for Swiss artists.

Seriousness of the situation not yet recognized

Officially, SRF does not want to comment on the lack of commitment from the stars, some of whom it has supported for years. But the SonntagsZeitung knows that there is great frustration behind the scenes - not only do they feel abandoned by the musicians, but they also accuse them of failing to recognize the seriousness of the situation.

This is also the view of the Verein Musikschaffende Schweiz, the industry organization for pop musicians. The danger posed by the initiative has not yet been grasped by all musicians, says President Christoph Trummer - after all, the entire media system is at stake, not just SRG. The association is planning a campaign.

In addition to a lack of awareness of the seriousness of the situation, there is of course another reason why musicians with a broad target audience often do not express themselves on political issues, or do so only cautiously: they do not want to antagonize the opponents who are also among their buyers and concertgoers. (hae)