Brooklyn Law Makes an Encore as Billboard Names 2024 Leading Schools for Music Attorneys

04/05/2024
Billboard Top School for Music Law

Billboard’s 2024 list of top music lawyers and law schools has been published, revealing that Brooklyn Law School is again a top-mentioned alma mater for many of the best music lawyers in the business.

In addition to representing top musical artists, these leading entertainment attorneys are tackling thorny legal issues brought about by artificial intelligence (AI), digital streaming platforms, and social media. We congratulate the following alumni, along with one of our adjunct faculty members, who were named on a list that Billboard published digitally on April 1.

Publishing

At Sony Music Publishing, Peter Brodsky ’90, executive vice president of business and legal affairs and general counsel, and Nicole Giacco ’00, senior vice president of business and legal affairs, were named alongside members of their team. Sony Music has kept its status as the industry’s largest music publisher by bringing in new writers and extending the contracts of established stars, including Usher; Tyler, The Creator; Mick Jagger; and Keith Richards, among others. A top issue of late: balancing the opportunities of artificial intelligence with ensuring that the copyrights of songwriters are respected.

Talent & Litigation

  • Cynthia L. Katz ’10 and Alex Threadgold ’06, both partners at Fox Rothschild, were named as part of a team whose vast client list includes 10K Projects, Berry Gordy, Cash Money Records, Coco Jones, and the estates of Bill Withers and Muddy Waters, among others.
  • Jordan Bromley ’05, partner and leader of Manatt Entertainment at Manatt Phelps & Phillips, explained that to help creators make the most of their brand value, he and the Manatt Entertainment team launched its own “unique U.S. Streaming Royalty Calculator” in October 2023 to give artists a reliable way to understand how much revenue they get from Spotify and Apple Music streams. The firm, which represents the Eagles, ODESZA, and Alicia Keys, among others, closed $1 billion in asset purchases and sales, including for the catalog of the 1960s English rock group The Zombies, Billboard noted.
  • Adjunct Professor Vernon Brown, founder and CEO of V. Brown & Co., who launched his business and financial management company in the early days of rap, has negotiated deals for a wide range of stars from Erykah Badu and Public Enemy to up-and-coming R&B sensation October London and rising multiplatinum producer Hendrix Smoke. One big focus recently is getting platforms like TikTok and Instagram to properly pay rights holders for the use of their music, the report noted.
  • Paul Schindler ’71, a shareholder and senior chair of the New York entertainment and media practice at Greenberg Traurig, was listed with his team for their work in advising performers including Britney Spears, Katy Perry, and Kenny Chesney, and organizations like Epic Games, and Meta, among others. The team is also working with emerging companies in AI by providing “strategic guidance for establishing platforms and services that legally use generative AI technologies,” the report said.
  • Dorothy Weber ’81, a partner at Herbsman Hafer Weber & Frisch, was recognized as part of a team whose clients include Lenny Kravitz and Desmond Child, as well as the estates of John Lennon and Jimi Hendrix, among others. They also represented Foreigner’s Mick Jones in a global publishing deal with Warner Chappell Music for the band’s impressive catalog. The team, like its peers in the industry, is focused on addressing AI as it forges agreements for its clients.
  • Alexander Kaplan ’00, a partner at Oppenheim + Zebrak, was part of a team that filed a complaint in federal court on behalf of Universal Music Group, Concord Music Group and ABKCO Music, against AI platform Anthropic, “claiming it was unlawfully copying and disseminating copyrighted works to train AI models, including its assistant, Claude, to generate new lyrics,” in what has become a key legal battle, Billboard reported. The case was moved for a preliminary injunction.
  • Edward Shapiro ’91, a partner at Reed Smith, which represents artists including Bon Jovi, The Smashing Pumpkins, Korn, Megadeth, and the companies Kobalt, Lyric, Shamrock, among others, was named alongside his team. Reed Smith represented Concord in the purchase of the Round Hill Music Royalty Fund in a $469 million deal. The firm is focused on fair compensation and revenue distribution for artists, particularly in the digital streaming era, the report noted.