Swiss Artists And Swisscom Score A World Premiere: First Public Broadcasted, Decentralised Live Music Experiment Was Successful

ZÜRICH, Switzerland, Jan. 20, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- At 6 pm on 13 January, Swisscom was hosting Switzerland Connected, the first decentralised live music experiment in Switzerland, featuring famous Swiss artists BLAY (Bligg and Marc Sway), Flavie Léa and a host of up-and-coming artists. The experiment was successful: Musicians from six locations all over the country were connected virtually over the Swisscom network and created a unique live music experience.

Switzerland Connected. The first live music experiment on the network for Switzerland.

On 13 January at 6 pm, BLAY (Bligg and Marc Sway), Flavie Léa and various other up-and-coming Swiss artists were performing together from six separate locations. The world premiere was successful: Swisscom was able to broadcast the song «Denkmal» performed by Swiss Artists BLAY and various newcomer bands for the first time – decentralized live and synchronized in one livestream. From their respective bases in Bellinzona, Montreux, Klosters, Zurich, Bern and Volketswil, the musicians' voices and instruments came together over the Swisscom network and created a shared and unique live experience.

At the press conference prior to the Event Swiss Artist Bligg (BLAY) explained: "The big challenge is bringing everything together at the same time. If the artists in Ticino, for example, are just a beat faster than those in Zurich, you will be able to tell." Exactly this synchronicity has been successful at the live experience. After a long hiatus from live performing, the artists were particularly looking forward to the live music experiment. They were really missing the whole live experience and the audience. The prospect of taking advantage of Swisscom's technological capabilities to join other musicians and create a unique, emotional and live-like moment for everyone was very appealing to them.

A shared experience despite the distance

Explaining the joint project, Dirk Wierzbitzki, member of the Swisscom Group Executive Board and Head of Residential Customers, said: "We were pushing the limits of Switzerland's network and were hoping to leverage the opportunities of the networked world to bring our community a shared and enjoyable music experience. We are far beyond happy that the experiment succeeded." The live music experiment represented a major challenge for Swisscom's engineers and experts. For physical reasons, the network, transmission from the individual locations and signal processing had different response times – so all audio and video signals needed to be perfectly orchestrated to bring the performance together. And it worked out perfectly. As far as Swisscom is aware of today, no similar setup has succeeded worldwide in a public broadcasted event so far, which makes «Switzerland Connected» a successful world premiere.

Switzerland Connected aimed to ascertain whether and to what extent the digital sphere can create genuine live experiences and shared moments despite physical distance and at the very limits of modern technology. In the Panel Discussion after the event Swiss Artists BLAY, Flavie Léa, member of the Swisscom Group Executive Board and Head of Residential Customers Dirk Wierzbitzki,  media psychologists and organisers addressed these questions. «Switzerland Connected » aimed to explore what new digital formats will be possible in the longer term and whether one can bring together the best of both worlds in the future.

Press contacts

SwisscomMedia RelationsFlorian MaagTel: +41 (0) 58 221 9804 Email: media@swisscom.com^[1]

About Swisscom

Swisscom, Switzerland's leading telecoms company and one of its leading IT companies, is headquartered in Ittigen, close to the capital city Berne. Outside Switzerland, Swisscom has a presence on the Italian market in the guise of Fastweb. In the first half of 2020, about 19,000 employees generated sales of CHF 5,443 million. It is 51% Confederation-owned and is one of Switzerland's most sustainable and innovative companies.

About Switzerland Connected

The big moment was streamed live on 13 January 2021 at 6 pm for the whole of Switzerland on the Swisscom network on www.swisscom.ch/switzerlandconnected^[2] as well as blue Zoom (TV channel on blue TV) and YouTube. BLAY were premièring their inaugural track Denkmal. The new Swiss music duo was supported by up-and-coming talents Flavie Léa, Make Plain, Andryy, Vibez, Ben Pavlo, Joel Goldenberger and Miss Kryptonite. The event was held under observance of all applicable coronavirus measures.

Highlight Movie: https://youtu.be/j0BDg9KL4aQ^[3]

Technical info

If you have ever noticed the slight delay when you listen to yourself on headphones, you will be familiar with the problem of latency. A delay like this can make conversation stilted but it makes music impossible. Delays are a natural consequence of transmitting and processing signals. With 5G, for example, these can be greatly minimised. However, you need to go even further for the perfect orchestration of image and sound, to ensure that everything comes together at the same time. The director in Volketswil used Sonobus software to support synchronising the audio signals from the different locations and then match the sound with a total of eight live camera images again. The final TV signal takes no more than three seconds to produce. A project of this nature depends on an efficient and responsive network such as Swisscom's network for Switzerland. . Swisscom used mobile technologies such as 5G, 4G as well as fibre and landline copper access for the experiment. More about Swisscom's award winning network^[4]

Switzerland Connected. The first live music experiment on the network for Switzerland.

Switzerland Connected. The first live music experiment on the network for Switzerland.

Photo - https://mma.prnasia.com/media2/1423093/regie_volketswil__1.jpg?p=medium600^[5] Photo - https://mma.prnasia.com/media2/1423094/regie_volketswil.jpg?p=medium600^[6] Photo - https://mma.prnasia.com/media2/1423095/switzerland_connected_probe.jpg?p=medium600^[7] Logo - https://mma.prnasia.com/media2/1280143/Swisscom_Logo.jpg?p=medium600^[8]

References

1. ^{^} media@swisscom.com (www.prnasia.com)
2. ^{^} www.swisscom.ch/switzerlandconnected (www.swisscom.ch)
3. ^{^} https://youtu.be/j0BDg9KL4aQ (youtu.be)
4. ^{^} More about Swisscom's award winning network (www.swisscom.ch)
5. ^{^} https://mma.prnasia.com/media2/1423093/regie_volketswil__1.jpg?p=medium600 (mma.prnasia.com)
6. ^{^} https://mma.prnasia.com/media2/1423094/regie_volketswil.jpg?p=medium600 (mma.prnasia.com)
7. ^{^} https://mma.prnasia.com/media2/1423095/switzerland_connected_probe.jpg?p=medium600 (mma.prnasia.com)
8. ^{^} https://mma.prnasia.com/media2/1280143/Swisscom_Logo.jpg?p=medium600 (mma.prnasia.com)