PR87684

ZURICH, Switzerland, Jan. 20, 2021 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/ --

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 Lea 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.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1423093/Regie_Volketswil__1.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1423094/Regie_Volketswil.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1423095/Switzerland_Connected_Probe.jpg

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1280143/Swisscom_Logo.jpg

On 13 January at 6 pm, BLAY (Bligg and Marc Sway), Flavie Lea 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 Lea, 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

Swisscom

Media Relations

Florian Maag

Tel: +41 (0) 58 221 9804

Email: media@swisscom.com

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 as

well as blue Zoom (TV channel on blue TV) and YouTube. BLAY were premiering

their inaugural track Denkmal. The new Swiss music duo was supported by

up-and-coming talents Flavie Lea, 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

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 (https://www.swisscom.ch/en/about/network/the-network-for-switzerland.html )

SOURCE Swisscom