SUISA is the co-operative society for authors and music publishers in Switzerland and Liechtenstein. As a collective rights management organisation, SUISA is tasked with exploiting the musical rights of its members, in other words, with turning such rights into money. SUISA represents the rights of some 45,000 members, namely: 

• authors (composers, lyricists, arrangers)
• music publishers, and
• their legal successors (e.g. heirs)
   

Why SUISA is important for authors and publishers
SUISA has been protecting the rights of its members and of countless foreign rightholders since 1923, ensuring that they receive fair remuneration for the use of their works outside the private sphere.

SUISA represents the interests of music-makers; it lobbies political circles for fair framework conditions and copyright legislation. Because without copyright law, creative people would be unable to earn a living from their work.

Why SUISA is important for customers
SUISA is also there for its customers, namely for those who use music outside the private sphere. Without SUISA, they would have to obtain rights of use from each individual author and each individual publisher. Thanks to SUISA, customers in Switzerland and Liechtenstein can, with the corresponding licence, access the entire world musical repertoire from a single source.

SUISA belongs to its members. Its most important body is the annual General Meeting. At this meeting, voting members decide on important matters such as the annual financial statements and amendments to the Articles of Association, and elect their representatives to the Board of Directors and other bodies.

SUISA’s Board of Directors consists of a president and 14 board members. Authors and publishers are both appropriately represented. In addition to member representatives, currently 11 in number, 3 representatives from the business community and one member of parliament sit on the Board. The core duties of the Board of Directors include decisions on the Distribution Rules and the appointment and supervision of SUISA's Executive Committee.

The Executive Committee is responsible for implementing the business strategies decided by the Board. It manages the daily business and has overall responsibility for revenues and the distribution of remuneration to entitled parties.

Legally, SUISA is organised as a co-operative. The key feature of a co-operative is the economic self-governance of its members. SUISA is a not-for-profit organisation; after deducting its administrative costs, all earnings are distributed to the entitled parties.

SUISA is a private-law entity and does not belong to the State. As a collective management organisation, SUISA must satisfy a whole series of statutory requirements and is placed under the oversight of the Federal Intellectual Property Institute (IPI).

SUISA is the Swiss Society for the rights of authors of musical works. It represents music authors (i.e. composers, lyricists and arrangers) and publishers. SUISA ensures that music creators receive fair remuneration when their musical works are used in public (e.g. as background music in a restaurant or shop, in dance or fitness studios, or at concerts and parties). SUISA gives customers access to the entire world musical repertoire, from a single source.

Serafe is the collection agency for radio and television dues. In Switzerland, every household is required to pay a fee to finance radio and television broadcasters. The lion’s share of these fees go to the various SRG-SSR (the Swiss broadcasting company) channels, but this levy also serves to finance numerous private radio and television stations in Switzerland’s four language regions.

Serafe took over from Billag in 2019.

We use the term SUISA members because SUISA is a co-operative society owned by its members. SUISA members are authors (composers, lyricists, arrangers), music publishers and legal successors (e.g. heirs) of these two groups of persons.

Whosoever uses music outside the private sphere must have permission – i.e. a licence - to do so, and is automatically a customer of SUISA. Examples of music use outside the private sphere are concerts, parties, or background music in shops, bars and restaurants.

 
For further information about the licensing procedure and required licences, see: https://www.suisa.ch/en/Kunden.html

SUISA co-operates with other collective management organisations in Switzerland and abroad.
 

The Swiss collective management organisations
There are four other collective management organisations in Switzerland apart from SUISA, each managing a distinct repertoire.

• ProLitteris: literature, photography and the visual arts
• Suissimage: audiovisual works (films)
• Société Suisse des Auteurs (SSA): theatrical and audiovisual works (films)
• SWISSPERFORM: rights of performing artists and producers of music and films, as well as broadcasting companies

The five organisations pursue common goals and collaborate closely to achieve them, e.g. through common tariffs and joint lobbying for the rights of their members. In the case of lobbying activities, through Swisscopyright they speak with one voice in dealings with politicians and authorities: www.swisscopyright.ch.

Foreign collective management organisations
In most countries, there are organisations performing the same tasks as SUISA. These organisations co-operate on the basis of what are known as reciprocal agreements. This ensures that the rights of SUISA members are protected abroad and that they receive royalties for the use of their works in the relevant countries. In return, SUISA protects the rights of foreign music creators in Switzerland. Consequently, SUISA is able to offer music users in this country the entire world repertoire of music.

An overview of SUISA's reciprocal agreements is presented here: SUISA’s international partners

FONDATION SUISA is a non-profit foundation based in Lausanne; it has promoted contemporary music in all genres in Switzerland and Liechtenstein since 1989, supporting its dissemination at home and abroad.

For further information, see the website:
www.fondation-suisa.ch

FONDATION SUISA supports projects which have a connection with contemporary music-making in Switzerland or in Liechtenstein: activities must also be accessible to the public and have supra-regional appeal.

Moreover, the Foundation offers various incentive programmes, such as ‘Get Going!’, encouraging innovative ideas and individual career steps for music creators.

For further information, see the website:
www.fondation-suisa.ch

FONDATION SUISA is funded through an annual allocation of 2.5% of SUISA's domestic performance and broadcasting revenues.

SUISA is the Swiss Cooperative Society of Music Authors and Publishers. It represents their copyrights and ensures they receive fair remuneration for their work.

Requests for funding must be submitted online – via the application portal on the website.

Direct link to application portal

The dossiers submitted are assessed by the Artistic Committee.

Contact for inquiries:
FONDATION SUISA
Avenue du Grammont 11bis
1007 Lausanne
Phone: +41 21 613 50 60
email: info@fondation-suisa.ch

In specific cases, you may contact the office directly. The contact persons and their functions are indicated on the FONDATION SUISA website at: www.fondation-suisa.ch

FONDATION SUISA does not support, inter alia: infrastructure projects, educational and training programmes, pure sound or image productions, arrangement work, PR measures, sponsorship, therapeutic projects and retroactive applications (i.e. for projects that have already started).

The Funding Regulations of FONDATION SUISA contain a detailed description of its funding criteria and exclusions. The Regulations are available on the website: www.fondation-suisa.ch

The following criteria and prerequisites must be met:

• The project must have a direct relationship with current music-making in Switzerland or Liechtenstein – for example, nationality, residence, SUISA membership, or make a verifiable contribution to musical life in these countries.
• As a rule, applications must be submitted at least three months before the start of a project.
• Only one funding contribution per person or project is granted per year.
• Applicants must demonstrate adequate own funds and viable overall financing. No support is provided for free concerts or free online publications.

Mint Digital Services is a joint venture established by SUISA and SESAC, a US music rights organisation. Mint Digital Services offers services in all areas of music rights management – with special focus on digital uses of music.

Mint enables SUISA and SESAC to centralise and streamline the online licensing of their own repertoires.  Moreover, the joint venture offers its services to third parties, including music publishers and other rights management organisations.

For more information, see its website: www.mintservices.com/

Through Mint Digital Services, SUISA is exploiting its high-performance, state-of-the-art IT infrastructure to develop new business.

Thanks to its joint venture with SESAC, SUISA can make more efficient use of its informatics resources while equipping itself strategically for the future. The current model – in which one collective management organisation per country licenses the entire global repertoire – is increasingly likely to be challenged or watered down in the future.

The trend towards direct licensing is clear even beyond the online sector. As part of this trend, transnational licences will be granted, but only for own repertoire – circumventing local collective management organisations.

By establishing Mint, SUISA is responding to these developments in a timely manner, positioning itself in the international music rights business as a digitally competent and competitive organisation.

No –- nothing changes for SUISA members. SUISA remains your contact and continues to issue settlement statements directly to members.

Mint Digital Services has simply taken over certain behind-the-scenes services – primarily relating to the management of digital rights – on SUISA’s instructions.

No.  The partnership with SESAC does not affect settlement flows from the USA.

Revenues from the USA paid to SUISA members for the use of their works will continue to be collected and settled as part of the existing reciprocity agreements between SUISA and the US collective management organisations (e.g. ASCAP, BMI, SESAC).

No – the Mint Digital Services joint venture only provides administration and accounting services. The licensing of the SESAC and SUISA repertoires is not handled through Mint itself, but through own specially established subsidiaries in Liechtenstein:

• • SESAC Digital Licensing AG (SESAC subsidiary)
  • SUISA Digital Licensing AG (SUISA subsidiary)

so as to ensure access to the European Economic Area.

The two companies are responsible for the separate online licensing of their own rights, and for the licensing of the performing rights of most Anglo-American collective management organisations.

We may be able to negotiate better contracts with certain online platforms. But the platforms themselves can decide whether they want to negotiate with the SUISA and SESAC licensing entities individually or jointly.

If a platform negotiates jointly with the two companies, SUISA is likely to profit from the larger SESAC repertoire.  This may lead to better terms and conditions for SUISA, and therefore for the authors and publishers it represents.

SUISA's tariffs regulate the remuneration for the use of authors’ rights. The Distribution Rules stipulate how the remuneration is distributed to entitled parties.

For uses abroad (e.g. for performances and broadcasts), the rules of the collective management organisation of the relevant host country apply.

Who receives money from the distribution?
The remuneration is distributed to:

• authors (e.g. composers, lyricists, arrangers), and
• music publishers

in Switzerland and, through our foreign sister organisations, abroad.

All entitled parties receive a settlement statement showing the share transferred to them.

What is distributed?
We distinguish between:

• performance and broadcasting rights, and
• reproduction rights

Unless special agreements are concluded, SUISA applies the distribution key set forth in its Distribution Rules. In certain cases, a different apportionment may be agreed – within certain limits.

Read more about distribution here: "How royalties are distributed"

SUISA prepares a settlement statement four times a year, on a quarterly basis.

However, certain categories are settled only once a year.

You can view the settlement calendar here: www.suisa.ch – Settlement dates

After the administration cost-coverage contribution, SUISA makes the following deductions:

• 7.5% of revenues from performance and broadcasting in Switzerland are paid to SUISA's Pension Fund for authors and publishers;
• 2.5% of revenues from performance and broadcasting in Switzerland are paid to the SUISA Foundation for Music which promotes musical creation in Switzerland.

These deductions are not applied to revenues from audio and video on demand uses. 

Revenues from abroad are distributed to SUISA members and principals after a deduction of 4% for the additional administrative costs. Legal provisions concerning withholding tax may apply. 

Read more about distribution here:  "SUISA’s cost-coverage deduction"