Like many industries, the music landscape is changing faster than ever before, with artists needing protection from AI, copyright infringement and piracy issues, and savvy negotiation when it comes to catalog sales, brand deals and traditional record and concert contracts. Taylor Swift, Adele, Kenny Chesney, Rihanna, Jay-Z and Bob Dylan, plus such music powerhouses as Spotify, UMG and even spinning giant Peloton rely on these lawyers for navigation, strategy and to bring in the big bucks. Based on size of transactions, profiles of clientele and peer input, this list identifies the attorneys behind the past year’s billion-dollar deals, rivalry spats and library acquisitions that keep the industry turntable spinning.
Brigitte Alanis
KING, HOLMES, PATERNO & SORIANO
Alanis says that she’s “so proud of the breakthrough of Alex Warren. I’ve been working with him since the beginning and helping guide him in his journey to the top of the charts.” That journey might have started on YouTube but culminated in Warren’s “Ordinary” dominating the Billboard Hot 100 for 10 weeks this summer and winning best new artist at this year’s VMAs. Alanis also shepherds negotiations for the recorded music and songwriting of three-time Grammy winner Victoria Monét and closed her debut book deal for Everywhere You Are.
MY THOUGHTS ON AI “As someone who spends a lot of time working to protect copyrights, I’m very concerned about artist’s catalogs being used to train generative AI models.”
Lisa Alter and Katie Baron
ALTER, KENDRICK & BARON
Hot catalog or master recording up for grabs? Alter and Baron are the duo often called in to seal the deal. This past year, they closed more than $1.2 billion in transactions, from Iconic Artist Group’s acquisitions of Rod Stewart’s catalog and partnership with RZA around the Wu-Tang Clan library to Influence Media Partners’ deal with DJ Khaled and masters’ rights acquisitions from Enrique Iglesias and Blake Shelton.
ARTIST COLLABORATION I’D LOVE TO SEE
ALTER “Stevie Nicks and Haim.”
Peter Anderson
DAVIS WRIGHT TREMAINE
“No dispute that there was yelling and some curse words in the hallway,” Anderson said in closing statements after a weeklong civil trial, successfully arguing that there was no proof that Cardi B struck anyone at her Beverly Hills doctor’s office in 2018. The singer was ultimately found not liable for the alleged civil assault of a security guard. That wasn’t Anderson’s only well-publicized win this year. He also presided over a dismissal of claims for Lil Nas X, who had been accused of copying a photographer’s Instagram photos, and successfully defended Mariah Carey, Sony Music and Universal Music Corp. in a high-profile lawsuit alleging that the singer’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” infringed on a copyright of a song with the same title.
THE MUSIC INDUSTRY NEEDS MORE OF … “A blurring of genres, including hip-hop and country.”
Jason Boyarski
BOYARSKI FRITZ
Boyarski has crafted deals for the estate of Maurice White, of Earth, Wind & Fire fame, as well as for reggae icon Peter Tosh of Bob Marley & the Wailers. He also represented Jisoo of Blackpink in a new deal with Warner Records and hip-hop producer Hit-Boy in a recent catalog sale.
MY FIRST LIVE SHOW “Billy Joel at the old Yankee Stadium.”
Jordan Bromley, Binta Niambi Brown and Gary Gilbert
MANATT, PHELPS & PHILLIPS
In the past year, the firm’s entertainment group as led by Bromley has orchestrated more than $3 billion in deals. Bromley also is credited with expanding payment transparency by spearheading Manatt’s music streaming royalty calculator, which compiles direct-source data to show artists exactly how much they are being paid by Spotify and Apple Music. Brown has continued her representation of Rosé of Blackpink and also works with Oscar-winning costume designer Paul Tazewell, whose collaboration with Chappell Roan turned heads at the 2025 Met Gala. DMX’s family turned to Gilbert to protect the rapper’s legacy, and the attorney also repped iconic jazz guitarist and 10-time Grammy winner George Benson in the eight-figure sale of his music catalog.
Sandra A. Crawshaw-Sparks and Anthony Oncidi
PROSKAUER ROSE
The kind of heat an artist doesn’t want? The kind having to do with allegations that concertgoers were not warned about uncomfortably hot venues used in Madonna’s Celebration Tour concert that Crawshaw-Sparks had dismissed with prejudice on behalf of the pop star and Live Nation. As he has for more than 20 years, Oncidi advises the Grammys on day-to-day employment issues and litigation. He also continues to provide strategic advice for the Grammys on diversity and inclusion initiatives, including vis-à-vis its membership criteria.
Derek Crownover, John Frankenheimer, Monika Tashman and Debbie White
LOEB & LOEB
Crownover reps Dolly Parton, KC & The Sunshine Band, Cheap Trick and Big Loud Records, for whom he, along with Frankenheimer and Arash Khalili, closed its minority interest sale of Morgan Wallen’s masters to Chord Partners, a deal valued at more than $200 million. Frankenheimer, who represents Carrie Underwood, Vince Gill and Diana Ross, also ironed out deals for Sony Music Publishing, including the acquisition from Blackstone of Hipgnosis Sony Group and its related catalog — which numbers Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” among its hits. Tashman, whose clients include Deborah Harry and Debbie Gibson, handled the contracts for Latin multiplatinum artist Aventura’s 130-date tour that grossed more than $134 million. For Christina Aguilera, White put together her Las Vegas residency, her deal with Sony’s 5020 Records and her brand sponsorships with Airbnb and Clarins.
Ken Doroshow
RECORDING INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA
Tasked with protecting artists’ intellectual property rights, Doroshow has the tough job of navigating the impacts of AI and addressing piracy issues in real time. He has personally overseen the filing of business-critical amicus briefs in the Supreme Court concerning AI and copyright, ISP liability, the scope of the fair use defense, the copyright statute of limitations and the use of Digital Millennium Copyright Act subpoenas to obtain identifying data from service providers.
MY THOUGHTS ON AI “We embrace responsible and ethical uses as a tool to push the bounds of imagination, but systems built without consent — producing exploitative deepfakes that confuse fans, or those infiltrating the market with cheap knockoffs — cause real harm.”
Damien Granderson and Elizabeth Moody
GRANDERSON DES ROCHERS
A diverse slate of global superstars — including A$AP Rocky, Raye, J Balvin, Ne-Yo, Wizkid, Snoh Aalegra and Lauryn Hill — make up Granderson’s roster. He says he’s been moving his clients away from traditional record contracts and toward distribution deals that allow artists ownership of masters, creative control and the ability to expand their brand value. Case in point: For A$AP Rocky, he orchestrated partnerships with Ray-Ban (as its first creative director), Puma Formula 1 and Bottega Veneta, and for J Balvin, his Futura x Marc Jacobs capsule collaboration. Moody has been dedicating her practice to helping clients navigate the AI space and counsels nearly a dozen generative voice and audio AI companies. “I’ve had to learn how to practice law when no law exists — or it’s in the process of taking shape,” she says.
ARTIST COLLABORATION I’D LOVE TO SEE
MOODY “The B-52s and Chappell Roan.”
Eric Greenspan, Jeffrey Light and Aaron Rosenberg
MYMAN GREENSPAN
Tours are this firm’s trade. Greenspan negotiated the E Street Band’s global deal with Bruce Springsteen, and Dead & Company’s groundbreaking Sphere residency, a 30-show sold-out run grossing $130 million, breaking merch records and pioneering new legalities around the venue’s 360-degree LED tech and extensive IP licensing. Light led legal work on major tours for Queens of the Stone Age, Rob Zombie, Garbage and Violent Femmes. And while Rosenberg handled the deals for tours from Tate McRae, Ariana Grande, John Legend and Jennifer Lopez, he also oversaw contracts for Lopez’s Kiss of the Spider Woman film as well.
THE MUSIC INDUSTRY NEEDS MORE OF …
LIGHT “Executives at the very top of the majors in their 30s and 40s. It’s a new day and time for the old folks to step aside.”
Claire Hall
DLA PIPER
Hall is known as the expert on structured finance and played a leading role this past year in some of the most notable music securitizations — allowing the owners of music royalties (recorded music or publishing) to borrow against the future income from those assets. She represented independent music company Concord in its $1.765 billion music securitization and HarbourView Equity Partners in securing about $500 million in financing with backing by its catalog of music royalties.
Jeffrey Harleston
UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP
As general counsel and exec vp business and legal affairs, Harleston oversees all of UMG’s global businesses. His focus has been on protecting artists’ rights in the face of generative AI companies pursuing unauthorized machine learning on copyrighted works. He also is at the forefront of the company’s work with inclusion and social justice and has been a key supporter for the introduction of the Restoring Artistic Protections Act to protect lyrics from being used in criminal prosecutions.
David Jacobs
JACOBS LAW
A former professional musician in genres from jazz to emo punk, Jacobs devotes himself to championing artists. Though it’s only been a year since leaving Grubman Shire and starting his own firm, Jacobs recently closed a reported $350 million Warner Records album and Merrit Group publishing deal for Zach Bryan. “Guiding and protecting some of the most amazing people in the mania that is the music industry, there is a lot of honor in that,” he says. “It’s always been about the music and discovering great artists.” Jacobs did just that with Bryan, honing in on the singer-songwriter when he was still enlisted in the Navy. With his team, he also works closely with Young Thug, who will be launching a new album and playing at Coachella, as well as Lil Nas X, Ethel Cain and Cameron Whitcomb, among many others. “It was always the dream to help people in those moments,” he says.
Jason Karlov
BARNES & THORNBURG
Bob Dylan, Michael Bolton, T Bone Burnett and Rufus Wainwright rely on Karlov to handle their complex legal matters. Highlights for the past year include repping the NFL for Kendrick Lamar’s explosive Super Bowl LVII halftime show and FiveCurrents for the Bob Marley immersive exhibit in a new 40,000-square-foot facility at MGM’s Las Vegas Mandalay Bay Hotel.
Cynthia Katz, Tim Mandelbaum and Heidy Vaquerano
FOX ROTHSCHILD
Katz and Vaquerano scored major victories representing HarbourView Equity Partners in its acquisition of 30-plus music catalogs valued at close to $1 billion from such artists as Kelly Clarkson, T-Pain and the Estate of Christine McVie. Mandelbaum, who reps Jodeci, negotiated the development of the R&B group’s biopic and documentary. “My focus is on long-term strategy — not just viral success,” Mandelbaum says.
MY THOUGHTS ON AI Mandelbaum: “It has amazing potential. I have a client who lost his singing voice. Through AI, he can re-create his voice and finish an album he started years ago.”
Dina LaPolt
LAPOLT LAW
While representing Joan Jett in a partnership deal regarding her catalog, Mary J. Blige in her For My Fans tour, deadmau5 in his $55 million catalog sale to Creative Music Group and Cardi B regarding legalities related to her new album release and upcoming tour, LaPolt wrote the motivational book Street Smart: Succeeding in a Man’s World, out Oct. 6.
Christine Lepera
MITCHELL SILBERBERG & KNUPP
Lepera won Dua Lipa a summary judgment for her and the other songwriters of “Levitating” and on behalf of Sony Music Publishing, Universal Music Corp. and Warner Records after proving there was no actionable claim of substantial similarity with two earlier disco songs. Lepera also is representing Eminem, Aftermath Entertainment, Interscope Records and UMG in a copyright infringement lawsuit concerning “The Monster,” performed by Eminem and Rihanna. She also acted as lead counsel successfully winning a motion to dismiss on behalf of UMG a copyright lawsuit filed by a songwriter claiming infringement of his work in “Glow” as performed by Drake and Kanye West.
ARTIST COLLABORATION I’D LOVE TO SEE “Alicia Keys and Stevie Wonder.”
Donald Passman, Eugene Salomon and Ethan Schiffres
GANG, TYRE, RAMER, BROWN & PASSMAN
Their solid-gold roster? Swift, Adele, Pink, Billie Eilish, Cher and Ludwig Göransson, among others. They handled the legalities for Eilish’s smash album Hit Me Hard and Soft and sold-out 2024-25 worldwide tour, ironed out the deals for Green Day’s 2024 and 2025 tours and inked music catalog deals for Cher and Randy Newman’s sale of his publishing and recorded music assets to Litmus Music. With Swift’s much-anticipated The Life of a Showgirl release Oct. 3, these attorneys won’t be slowing down.
THE MUSIC INDUSTRY NEEDS MORE OF … Salomon: “Women in positions of authority at the major companies.”
Adrian Perry, Neema Sahni and Jonathan Sperling
COVINGTON & BURLING
Sahni and Sperling teamed to represent Spotify in opposing a petition filed by Drake that accused the streaming platform of participating in a scheme to promote rival Lamar’s Grammy-winning song “Not Like Us.” The upshot: After the team filed a response on behalf of Spotify, Drake withdrew his petition. Perry reps Futureverse and Jen Music AI in matters relating to the development and launch of a fully licensed, high-fidelity model for text-to-music generation (in which a prompt leads to an AI-created song), one that drives collaborations with rights owners and artists.
ARTIST COLLABORATION I’D LOVE TO SEE
SAHNI ”Shreya Ghoshal and Bad Bunny — my kids would be over the moon.”
Rollin Ransom
SIDLEY AUSTIN
Ransom has been busy representing UMG in the lawsuit brought by Drake over the distribution of Lamar’s “Not Like Us” in the headline-grabbing rap battle between the artists. While Drake’s lawsuit accuses UMG of defamation, Ransom has argued Drake simply lost a rap battle that he provoked and in which he willingly participated and that his claim is an “attack on the commercial and creative success of the rap artist who defeated him rather than the content of Lamar’s lyrics.”
Alexis Robinson and Dan Schnapp
SHEPPARD MULLIN RICHTER
While sweating away on your Peloton, keep in mind that it was Robinson and Schnapp who secured comprehensive licensing agreements across all the major and independent record labels and music publishers. They also were an integral part of the team that represents Domain Capital Group — an Atlanta-based investment firm managing more than $8 billion in total assets, including the rights to such catalogs as Iggy Azalea’s.
THE MUSIC INDUSTRY NEEDS MORE OF …
ROBINSON ”A central and accurate database of music ownership rights. This would help streamline licensing and move past the red tape.”
Paul M. Robinson
WARNER MUSIC GROUP
English majors take heart: Robinson’s B.A. in English from Williams College led to his earning his J.D. from Fordham University School of Law — and now he’s responsible for WMG’s legal and public policy functions around the world. As executive vp and general counsel, he played a crucial role on two landmark deals: the purchase of a controlling stake in Tempo Music in February (which since has acquired rights to work by Bruno Mars and Adele) and its $1.2 billion joint venture in July with Bain Capital toward other acquisitions.
Jess Rosen, Bobby Rosenbloum and Paul Schindler
GREENBERG TRAURIG
Rosen negotiated the agreement proving that a country artist, Kenny Chesney, can fill the Vegas Sphere, and his forthcoming autobiography deal at HarperCollins. As the deputy general counsel for the Recording Academy, Rosenbloum led negotiations on the 10-year global television and media rights for the Grammy Awards to be simulcast on ABC, Disney+ and Hulu beginning in 2027. Prominent tech companies, from Meta, Snap, Epic Games, Twitch and Spotify to X, also rely on Rosenbloum for strategic guidance with their global music licensing. Schindler recently closed $200 million in deals for Marc Anthony, Alice Cooper, Al B. Sure!, Keith Sweat, Paris Jackson, Gary Clark Jr. and more.
MY THOUGHTS ON AI
ROSEN ”It’s a terrible idea.”
Eric Sacks and Lawrence Shire
GRUBMAN SHIRE
“Helping clients structure deals that not only make sense today but are flexible enough to handle whatever comes next” is the key to prospering in today’s music landscape, says Sacks. In addition to corporate transactions for Sony Music Masterworks and iHeart, The Boss relies on Shire to negotiate his deals, including for the highly anticipated feature Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, starring Jeremy Allen White, about the making of the iconic album Nebraska. Shire also had time to guide U2 in their historic opening of the Sphere in Las Vegas and Bono in his live one-man show and Apple TV+ doc Stories of Surrender and David Byrne for the new A24 Imax release of Stop Making Sense. J Balvin, Madonna and Andrew Lloyd Webber are also clients.
Keri Schick Norton, Seth Traxler and Rory Wellever
KIRKLAND & ELLIS
Schick Norton, Traxler and Wellever are part of the team that advised UMG on its investment in Chord Music Partners, which owns more than 62,000 songs by the likes of Swift, Fleetwood Mac and Diplo and is valued at $1.85 billion. They also negotiated for Virgin Music Group, the global independent music division of UMG, on the proposed acquisition of Downtown Music Holdings, valued at $775 million. Traxler and Wellever helped advise Blackstone in its $1.6 billion acquisition of Recognition Music Group (formerly known as Hipgnosis), whose catalog includes more than 45,000 songs by such artists as Red Hot Chili Peppers, Journey and Shakira.
Steve Sessa, Ed Shapiro and Josh Love
REED SMITH
Reed Smith’s A-list roster is hard to beat, with clients including Rihanna, Jay-Z, Bon Jovi, The Smashing Pumpkins, Korn, Kesha, Lil Uzi Vert, John Summit, Kaskade and Megadeth. They advised clients on well over $3 billion in transactions this past year, including more than $500 million in deals for Lyric Capital Management, the acquisition of distribution platform Stem for Concord, and a significant investment by Flexpoint Ford into Create Music Group.
ARTIST COLLABORATION I’D LOVE TO SEE
SESSA “Bob Marley and Bad Bunny.”
Beau Stapleton and Alex Weingarten
WILLKIE FARR & GALLAGHER
With a reputation as a tenacious litigator, Weingarten is the guy clients call when it comes to defending their rights. He’s now in litigation against Miley Cyrus and several co-defendants on behalf of Tempo Music, the group behind Mars’ “When I Was Your Man,” over claims of copyright infringement for her hit song “Flowers.” Stapleton’s recent big swings include representing Pophouse Entertainment in its $300 million-plus acquisition of the KISS catalog, including name, image and likeness and merchandising rights. He also represented guitarist Benson in the sale of his music assets to HarbourView and provided pro bono counsel for the FireAid Benefit Concert, drafting and negotiating more than 20 streaming agreements for the show that raised more than $100 million for relief efforts.
THE MUSIC INDUSTRY NEEDS MORE OF …
WEINGARTEN “Equitable compensation for artists. The way to ensure that art flourishes is to ensure that artists receive fair compensation for their efforts.”
Alli Stillman, Jonathan West and Joe Wetzel
LATHAM & WATKINS
Stillman made a name for herself this year defending Spotify in a first-of-its-kind copyright lawsuit brought by the Mechanical Licensing Collective, securing a significant win over how royalties are calculated for interactive music service offerings. West, as the go-to person for identifying music catalogs that will generate royalties into the future, provides music licensing advice to Apple and e.l.f. cosmetics, and he also reps a little-known artist named Beyoncé in corporate matters, investments and protection of her IP and rights of publicity. Wetzel is a trial lawyer who represents social media platforms and legacy media companies on music licensing and copyright issues, and reps a wide range of AI firms, including Suno and Udio, in copyright infringement lawsuits brought by the major record labels.
MY FIRST LIVE SHOW
STILLMAN ”Madonna, Blond Ambition Tour! I was 10, my sister took me.”
ARTIST COLLABORATION I’D LOVE TO SEE
WETZEL “Billie Eilish and Jonny Greenwood — my daughter’s and my favorite artists.”
Julie Swidler
SONY MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT
Swidler oversees a heavy load at Sony. She advises SME’s labels and operating units on all legal agreements and public policy initiatives on a worldwide basis, including artist contracts, litigation, transactions and global government affairs. This past year, Swidler and her team helped Sony Music expand its legendary catalog holdings with the acquisition of Queen’s music rights and Pink Floyd’s recorded music catalog while advocating for policies addressing AI around digital replicas, transparency and permission.
Adam Zia
THE ZIA FIRM
Zia handled legal for the release of MGK’s (aka Machine Gun Kelly) hit song “Cliché” and recently released album Lost Americana, as well as Tommy Richman’s breakout No. 1 hit “Million Dollar Baby.” He also spearheaded the negotiations of several of this past year’s biggest new artist signings, including Gelo’s record-setting contract with Def Jam, Prosper Entertainment’s venture with Warner Records for Maddox Batson, IT Entertainment’s joint deal with Republic Records for Domenic Innarella and Elizabeth Nichols’ recording agreement with Pulse Records.
THE MUSIC INDUSTRY NEEDS MORE OF … “Betting on instincts. Research is an important tool for talent finding and marketing. But many of our favorite artists and songs were found or created because someone trusted their ear, not a spreadsheet.”
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