A Swiss cooperative in the best of its power

20.03.2023

Switzerland is witnessing the emergence of new forms of cooperative business. Being an original Swiss format, it’s now increasingly used by young entrepreneurs. A striking example could be the producing co-op – the Red Brick Chapel label.

Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung even compared it with anonymous alcoholics group where “losers in life” come together to publish some songs. However, in reality, this label has nothing to do with similar organizations. When describing their creation, the label organizers say: “If God is a DJ, we are a temple where he plays records with the most up-to-date and spot-on music”.

Indie-band Mnevis, one of the label’s wards, gained million-some audience in Germany: artists are actively oriented on foreign markets as the Swiss one is too small for such a company, and you can burn out if you only focus on it. The label’s other clients are singer Long Tall Jefferson and pop group Alois who were able to succeed in the US.

Red Brick Chapel is the only production company in Switzerland organized as a co-op. “This is our major divergence from almost any European music label: our company is owned by all musicians and producers at once”, says Christian Müller, one of the label’s shareholders. “This form allows artists to determine the company path, at the same time keeping control over their music. Musicians make all decisions regarding their works, and the copyrights are being safeguard. Nonetheless, at the very beginning, we were driven not even by the conviction that we needed to a cooperative, but rather just by the idea to maintain control over our own music”.