Swiss collecting society SUISA and US PRO SESAC have created Mint Digital Licensing – a joint venture to license and administer rights for the use of music on digital services.
The initiative is in response to the European Commission’s wish for cooperation among music rights organisations to enable users to negotiate licenses with as few companies as possible.
The multi-territorial platform will offer single source licenses for reproduction, distribution and performance rights for both SUISA and SESAC’s repertoires, as well as those of music publishers seeking to license their catalogues across Europe and beyond – which SESAC hopes will be music to the ears of digital service providers such as YouTube, Apple and Spotify.
In addition, the joint venture will administer licences negotiated directly between those services and individual publishers.
The teaming of the two companies and their data aims to better match songs to ensure rights holders are identified and paid, increase transparency for royalty reporting and reduce processing times to speed up payments.
SUISA and SESAC’s joint database holds around 16 million documented works, over 25m sound recordings pre-linked to music compositions and 96m sound recordings.
“Mint Digital Licensing represents the first step in SESAC Holdings’ plan to build a multi-regional licensing platform at scale.”
john josephson, sesac
John Josephson, Chairman and CEO of SESAC Holdings said: “Mint Digital Licensing represents the first step in SESAC Holdings’ plan to build a multi-regional licensing platform at scale.
“The key to our success will be an unrelenting focus on our customer’s needs, access to the most comprehensive and accurate data available in the market and a best of breed technology solution.
“Like SESAC, SUISA is a leader in technology as well as a dependable and experienced partner. Together, we will significantly improve online licensing for creators, copyright owners and DSPs.”
“This partnership allows SUISA to expand its position in the online arena and remain autonomous in the long term in this competitive market.”
andreas wegelin, suisa
Andreas Wegelin, SUISA CEO, added: “This partnership allows SUISA to expand its position in the online arena and remain autonomous in the long term in this competitive market.
“Furthermore, we will benefit from significant economies of scale in terms of data and IT infrastructure.
“In recent years, SUISA has invested heavily in updating its IT infrastructure to be better positioned for the challenges of copyright licensing for the distribution of online music.”
