Raised in the countryside between Bern and Olten, Marcel Hunziker now calls London home.
SWI swissinfo.ch
Marcel Hunziker lives in London where he runs Playliveartist, a company specialising in “direct‑to‑fan” digital marketing for the music industry. Growing up in the countryside between Bern and Olten, he never imagined a life like this.
Marcel Hunziker, 44, was not raised with an entrepreneurial spirit. Growing up, his father often tempered his ambitions about what life might hold.
“My father had the mindset that our family just ‘does not do’ certain things. Things like going to university or starting a business were things my father thought we couldn’t, or shouldn’t, do,” he says.
As a shy child, he often felt limited. When imagining his future, Hunziker remembers often thinking to himself, “Oh, how can I possibly do something like that?”
As a shy child, Marcel Hunziker often doubted what was possible for him. He would later become the first in his family to attend university.
Photo courtesy of Marcel Hunziker
He grew up in the countryside between Bern and Olten, the son of a Swiss father and an Italian mother, who worked hard to integrate into Swiss society at a time when being foreign was often seen as something to be ashamed of. He did not grow up speaking Italian, his mother’s native language, because she believed integrating into Swiss-German culture was deeply important.
Hunziker was the first person in his family to attend university: he studied history, English literature and linguistics in Bern. “Education changed everything for me,” he says.
It was through his friendships at secondary school and university that he encountered people with perspectives very different from those he had grown up with. And these connections helped him realise how much was possible.
“It was during this time that I thought, ‘I can actually do the things I have dreamed of’. Because of this, I know how education can really empower people,” he says.
Classroom to concert halls
It was his sister, Claudia, who sparked his passion for music and inspired him to start a career in the music business. In the early 2010s, she was a huge fan of the Belgian singer-songwriter Milow.
Marcel, who at the time was working as a secondary school teacher, saw an opportunity to bring smaller artists to Bern. By providing relatively unknown musicians a place to stay and paying for some of their meals, he was able to organise intimate live performances in the city and help these artists reach new audiences abroad.
In 2013, what began as a small passion project grew into PlayLIVE#Bern. With naïve optimism and persistence, Hunziker organised a concert for Belgian singer Jan Kerckhofs at the small tapas bar Volver, without knowing whether anyone would even show up. Later that year, he organised a performance by Tom Vanstiphout, the guitarist for Milow at the Kleine Schanze park.
But he soon realised that if he wanted to build a name for himself, he would have to leave Bern. “I didn’t want to talk to middlemen. I wanted to go directly to the source and work with artists and their managers globally,” he explains.
Taking risks
It was not Hunziker’s original plan to move to London permanently. But after six weeks, he knew he would stay. “I realised I had become unhappy in Switzerland. I had been teaching for over a decade and I no longer saw the long-term perspective it could give me,” he says.
As he began to establish himself and his business, he quickly realised that being Swiss was not necessarily an asset.
“If anything, people see you as privileged, and that is not the way to connect with everyday people. It became an insecurity of mine to be perceived as privileged when I am not,” he says.
The entrepreneur tried to distance himself from his nationality and its associated stereotypes. Slow, safe and secure – the safety net of having a Swiss passport – are traits that Hunziker says hinder an individual’s potential.
“The typical Swiss person would say to me, ‘It’s so cool that you are taking such a risk, but in the worst-case scenario you can always return to Switzerland if it doesn’t work out.’ I think taking a risk with a safety net isn’t really taking a risk,” he says.
Swiss values, global success
Before leaving for London, Hunziker felt frustrated with Switzerland’s lack of entrepreneurial spirit and what he saw as its slow-moving, risk-averse mentality.
But distance from Switzerland has also changed his views on his own identity. There are some Swiss characteristics he says he is proud to embody: “My work ethic, precision and extreme obsession with quality are very Swiss traits that have brought me very far. I think these values resonate with people globally – especially with the best of the best in the UK music industry. These are unifying traits among people who do great business. In this sense, being Swiss is a superpower.”
Those qualities also helped shape the reputation of Playliveartist. Five years after registering his company in London, Hunziker experienced a “full-circle moment” – many of the people he connected with, both successfully and unsuccessfully, as a naïve concert organiser in Bern are now his clients. “I want people to say, ‘It was a great experience working with them. And they were kind and empathetic, too.’”
Playliveartist is a London-based company specialising in direct-to-fan digital advertising in the music industry. The company works with artists, venues, promoters and management agencies across markets including the UK, Ireland, United States, Germany, France, Switzerland and Italy.
Playliveartist focuses on highly specialised digital campaigns tailored to different music markets and audiences. The company employs digital specialists and consultants who understand the culture and behaviour of music fans across a variety of international regions.
The business of human connection
Despite AI transforming key parts of the music industry, Hunziker believes audiences are increasingly seeking more authentic, human experiences in response to digital saturation.
“When something is done online with ease, it becomes less interesting,” Hunziker says. “People want to see artists with exceptional raw talent – artists who can really sing and perform live.”
He believes this reflects a wider shift in the music industry and that audiences are slowly becoming disenchanted with digital-only moments and increasingly want more personal, authentic experiences with artists and music.
Playliveartist House, a creative space designed to bring artists and audiences together.
Photo courtesy of Marcel Hunziker
That belief is also reflected in the newly launched “Playliveartist House”, located in London Fields in the east of the capital. Hunziker describes it as a “blank canvas” creative space, a fan and music hub designed to bring artists closer to their audiences. At its heart is a piano that features prominently in social media videos, where performers play as fans gather around and sing along. The Playliveartist House hosts album launches, fan meet-ups, workshops and listening sessions, bringing artists and fans together in an intimate setting. Hunziker hints that several secret gigs are planned for later this year.
One recent “activation”, as Hunziker calls it, was held for British indie-pop artist Nieve Ella, whose image was painted in a large mural across the shutters of the building. On a recent video post on Nieve Ella’s Instagram page, one user wrote, “I need to experience this live”, an indication that the desire for live events is strong, even for smaller artists.
A mural of British indie-pop artist Nieve Ella adorns the shutters of Playliveartist House during one of the venue’s events.
Photo courtesy of Marcel Hunziker
In many ways, the Playliveartist House is a return to the intimate small-venue culture Hunziker first tried to build years ago in Bern.
Maintaining connection – from a distance
The entrepreneur remains connected to Switzerland via the many friendships he has built throughout his life, as well as through the venues he once worked with. What is his favourite venue in his home canton? “Bierhübeli – I feel deeply connected to the venue and the organisers. I try to visit them every time I return home,” he says.
After nearly a decade in London, listening to the HeuteMorgen programme on Swiss public radio SRF and the BBC’s Global News Podcast has become part of his morning routine, connecting him to Switzerland while grounding him in his new home.
For now, he has no plans to return to Switzerland: “My biggest achievement is my own independence and the independence of my company. I am proud of myself. I know what I would be missing out on if I were still in Switzerland.”
Edited by Samuel Jaberg/sb