Mint Digital Services and SUISA Digital Licensing Manage Online Business for Israeli Copyright Society ACUM

Tel Aviv/Zurich, 15 December 2020 – Mint Digital Services, the joint venture between the Swiss copyright society SUISA and US music rights organization SESAC, has entered into a cooperation with ACUM, the Israeli copyright society. Mint administers the online rights of more than a half-a-million musical works from ACUM’s 12,300 members – authors, composers, and music publishers. The cooperation covers ACUM's international operations.

Better terms for music right-holders
The main contracting partner for ACUM is SUISA Digital Licensing, which will conduct negotiations with international online services such as streaming platforms and download services on behalf of ACUM, integrating the ACUM repertoire into its existing licenses. SUISA Digital Licensing is a subsidiary of SUISA, the cooperative society of authors and publishers of music in Switzerland, and responsible for the cross-border online licensing of music. The joint license structure allows individual right-holders access to better terms, increasing the compensation for their works. ACUM benefits from Mint Digital Service’s state-of-the-art systems to process music usages. Its unique end-to-end approach brings full transparency to ACUM and its members. Mint Digital Services maintains a database with 16 million documented musical works and 96 million sound recordings, of which 25 million are linked to compositions. This is one of the world’s most extensive databases for the identification of musical works. ACUM represents TV composers such as Gilad Ben-AMRAM (FAUDA) and Mark Eliyahu (TEHRAN) as well Israeli pop sensation Static & Ben El Tavori, whose most recent single with Black Eyed Peas is having a global impact. ACUM has a total of 12,300 registered members: creators in the fields of popular music, concert music, publishers, poetry and literature.

Online rights processed by a single source
For ACUM, this collaboration means that online rights will be processed by a single source, instead of them having to work with multiple collecting societies in other countries. “I am excited about our new partnership with SUISA Digital Licensing. I'm confident it will generate great value for our members as to the global exploitation of their works on digital platforms”, says Assaf Nahoum, Chief Business Development Manager at ACUM.“We are delighted to represent ACUM and its members,” says Fabian Niggemeier, CEO of Mint Digital Services. “With the prestigious repertoire of ACUM, Mint can negotiate better terms with the online service providers, which brings financial benefits for the rights holders of music.”.“After years of a trustful relationship with ACUM, I’m pleased that we’ve taken the next steps to work together while providing the resources and expertise of both SESAC Digital Licensing and Mint Digital Services,” added Alexander Wolf, President of International, SESAC and The Harry Fox Agency. “With the emerging marketplace in Israel, the collaboration will not only provide efficiencies within the music streaming sectors in surrounding territories, it will also deliver value to the creators with faster royalty payments.” 

For media enquiries, please contact: 
Mint Digital Services/SUISA
Giorgio Tebaldi
Head of Corporate Communications
giorgio.tebaldi@suisa.ch  
T +41 44 485 65 03

SESAC
Edie Emery
Sr. Director of Strategic Marketing and Publicity
eemery@sesac.com  
T +1 615-963-3496

ACUM
Eran Ohana
Marketing Communication Manager
erano@acum.org.il 
T +972-3-6113531

About Mint Digital Services AG

Mint Digital Services is the alliance between the only U.S. Music Rights Organization (MRO), SESAC, and the Swiss collective management organization, SUISA. Mint is one of the leading administrators for licenses to use musical compositions in online music services on behalf of publishers, Collective-Management Organizations (CMOs) or Independent Management Entities (IMEs).

About SUISA

SUISA is the cooperative society for composers, lyricists and music publishers in Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Its 38,000 members include music professionals from all disciplines. In Switzerland and Liechtenstein, SUISA represents the musical repertoire of two million authors worldwide. It grants licences to use this repertoire to more than 120,000 customers. SUISA Digital Licensing is a licensing unit of SUISA. The company offers to license the Performing Rights of several Anglo-American Performing Rights Organizations on a multi-territorial basis to any digital service provider. In 2017, SUISA and US performance rights organization SESAC founded the joint venture Mint Digital Services. The company manages invoicing and administration for the transnational music licensing businesses of SESAC, its subsidiary the Harry Fox Agency and SUISA with online providers, and also offers its services to publishers.With approximately 240 employees in Zurich, Lausanne and Lugano, SUISA generates a turnover of more than CHF 160 million. As a non-profit organization, it distributes the proceeds from licenses to music authors and publishers after deducting the administrative costs. www.suisa.ch

About ACUM

ACUM is a non-profit corporation that administers the copyrights of Authors, Composers and Music Publishers in Israel. ACUM was established in 1936 by a small group of leading authors and composers, and today has over 12,000 members. ACUM is a member of the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC) and of the International Bureau of Societies administering Mechanical Rights (BIEM), both recognized by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).Through reciprocal agreements with similar collecting societies around the world (International Sister Societies), ACUM manages a rich world music repertoire of millions of local and international protected music works from all genres whether instrumental or vocal. ACUM’s main function is to manage and license collectively on behalf of its members and international affiliates, the performing and reproduction rights under the Israeli Copyright Law. In this capacity, ACUM licenses and collects fees from the users of copyright music either if played or performed in discotheques, restaurants, and any other public places, broadcast on radio, television, Internet or reproduced on discs, videos or any other forms of recordings. In accordance with its internal statutes ACUM then distributes the royalties collected (distribution) to its members and international affiliates.
www.acum.org.il