The 55 Legal Heavyweights Behind the Hitmakers

Blockbuster catalog sales, publishing rights changing hands, epic Las Vegas Sphere residencies by Zac Brown, Kenny Chesney and Illenium, sold-out tours for Phoebe Bridgers as well as Raye, a Billie Eilish concert film with James Cameron and a movie score for Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey ­— their attorneys are working behind the scenes to make it all happen. They also guided Grammy Award-nominated breakout group Katseye, closed a portion of Quincy Jones’ catalog, represented A$AP Rocky as he released his first full-length album in nearly eight years, handled transactions for estates ranging from Dolly Parton’s to David Bowie’s and covered the waterfront in terms of all kinds of legal matters for such culture-changing stars as Rihanna, Bad Bunny, Jay-Z and Bon Jovi. Not to mention, some of these legal eagles are setting the agenda when it comes to the impact of artificial intelligence on the music industry. Based on the size of transactions, profile of clientele as well as peer input, this list honors the premier attorneys behind the year’s biggest defining moves in music.

Lisa Alter & Katie Baron

ALTER KENDRICK & BARON

These two formidable women have closed an impressive $1.25 billion in transactions in the past year. Their feats include representing Influence Media Partners in its agreement to acquire Anthem Entertainment’s portfolio of music publishing and master recordings of such artists as Britney Spears and DJ Khaled. They also acted as lead counsel on partnerships with Future, Enrique Iglesias and Blake Shelton. For Iconic Artists Group, they assisted in its acquisition of Rod Stewart’s catalog and its partnership with RZA, centered on the catalog of Wu-Tang Clan.

Biggest AI challenge

ALTER “Failing to act collectively. When labels, publishers, songwriters and artists work collaboratively to bolster copyright protection by initiatives such as the No Fakes Act, the whole industry is strengthened.”

Peter Anderson

DAVIS WRIGHT TREMAINE

In Cher’s copyright battle with Sonny Bono’s widow, Mary Bono, Anderson scored a summary judgment win for the Goddess of Pop, awarding her $187,000 in lost revenue. The court also confirmed her right to 50 percent of future royalties of “I Got You Babe,” among other songs. And the attorney’s work is far from over, with Bono appealing and with Cher appealing the court’s order denying legal fees of reportedly $1 million.

Charles J. Biederman, Jess Rosen, Bobby Rosenbloum & Charmaine D. Smith

GREENBERG TRAURIG

A true stalwart of the music industry, Rosenbloum serves as deputy general counsel for the Grammy Museum and Recording Academy and led negotiations for the latter’s historic 10-year global TV and media rights agreement with The Walt Disney Co./ABC Television. Rosen has been behind Kenny Chesney’s Sphere residency agreement, Kane Brown’s sale of his publishing catalog to HarbourView Equity, and major moves for Kacey Musgraves with the newly relaunched Lost Highway label and a publishing deal with Warner Chappell. For Miranda Lambert, Rosen negotiated a Nashville restaurant license deal, making her the first female country star with a branded venue, and a Vegas residency agreement. Biederman repped Miles Davis Properties in the sale of a majority interest in the publishing catalog and recorded music rights to Reservoir Media. Smith served as strategic music counsel to OpenAI and Meta in its music licensing needs.

Five years from now …

BIEDERMAN “The most pressing issue will be how much of a human contribution to a piece of music, art, literature, etc. is required for protection under the Copyright Act.”

John Branca & David Lande

ZIFFREN BRITTENHAM

Perhaps you’ve heard of the Michael Jackson biopic Michael? With an opening weekend of $97 million domestic and $217 million globally, the record-setting biopic has crossed $1 billion in global ticket sales. Branca, one of the executive producers, has been the extraordinary steward of Jackson’s estate, taking it from $500 million in debt to about $3.5 billion in revenue. Meanwhile, Lande negotiated deals that brought Justin Bieber to Coachella and Shakira to the World Cup final, while helping to launch Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter album and tour, not to mention SZA’s co-headlining Grand National Tour with Kendrick Lamar.

Jordan Bromley, Robert Jacobs, John Meller & Sarah Moses

MANATT

With such clients as Diplo, Jack White, Major Lazer, the Eagles, Cold War Kids and Kim Petras, Bromley prides himself on being an advocate of creators’ rights. He has been working to help establish guidelines for the ethical and responsible use of AI in music. On the litigation front, Jacobs filed an eight-figure copyright infringement lawsuit for BMG Rights Management against Anthropic and brought a copyright infringement suit on behalf of The White Stripes against President Trump and his campaign for their unauthorized use of “Seven Nation Army.” Last year alone, Meller negotiated nearly $500 million in catalog acquisitions. Moses provided pro bono counsel to FireAid LA’s benefits concert, held to support communities impacted by the 2025 Los Angeles fires.

Five years from now …

MOSES “The music industry should have greater clarity on copyright and right of publicity issues surrounding AI, including fair use and First Amendment implications.”

Derek Crownover, John Frankenheimer & Kenneth Kraus

LOEB & LOEB

As Dolly Parton’s trusted adviser, Crownover represented the Queen of Country in all her business, personal and philanthropic dealings, including the multiyear, multimillion-dollar gift renaming of East Tennessee Children’s Hospital as Dolly Parton Children’s Hospital; her work with the Imagination Library, which gives children under 5 a free book every month until kindergarten; the grand opening of her Songteller Hotel in downtown Nashville; and licensing and multimedia deals tied to the October opening of Dolly’s Life of Many Colors Museum. Kraus kept pace, handling deals for Morgan Wallen’s “Sand in My Boots” music fest and This Bar and Tennessee Kitchen venue in Nashville; and Carrie Underwood’s 2025 gig replacing Katy Perry as a judge on American Idol. Frankenheimer, meanwhile, led the team in Sony Music Publishing’s multibillion-dollar acquisition of Recognition Music Group (successor to Hipgnosis); advised Howe Sound Music Publishing on its purchase of Zach Bryan’s catalog; and repped Diana Ross on touring across Europe and North America.

Gabe Fleet, Andy Gass, Alli Stillman & Joe Wetzel

LATHAM & WATKINS

Fleet, who serves as Suno’s primary outside counsel, says he spends “nearly every hour of the day thinking about how the AI industry and the creative industry can live harmoniously and within an ecosystem that benefits artists, creators, fans, rights holders and technology companies.” That philosophy played out in real time when he repped Suno in a multifaceted deal with Warner Music Group — bringing the former adversaries together to collaborate on next-gen licensed AI music and see Suno acquire Warner’s Songkick live music and concert-discovery platform. At the same time, Gass and Wetzel are on the front lines of AI’s biggest legal battles, defending Suno and Udio against copyright infringement claims brought by a group of music labels as well as a series of class actions from independent artists in cases poised to shape the future of AI and music. Rounding out the group’s high-stakes work, Stillman and Wetzel are representing Spotify before the Copyright Royalty Board in a proceeding that will set industrywide songwriter and publisher royalty rates for streaming and downloads from 2028-32.

Favorite concert this year

WETZEL “A friend at Interscope helped me get tickets to Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour for my daughter’s 20th birthday, and she invited me!”

Sid Fohrman

PAUL HASTINGS

During the past 12 months alone, Fohrman has steered more than $25 billion in deals, shaping some of the industry’s biggest investments, strategic partnerships and IP matters. His recent work with Primary Wave reads like a who’s who of classic rock royalty: partnering with Pete Townshend to build out future creative ventures; teaming with Kool & the Gang founder Robert “Kool” Bell on his catalog; and acquiring a stake in Foreigner’s catalog alongside founder Mick Jones, Primary Wave’s largest single-artist deal to date.

Shellie Freedman, Kelly Mellecker, Keri Schick Norton & Seth Traxler

KIRKLAND & ELLIS

Traxler, Freedman and Mellecker advised Virgin Music Group on its $775 million acquisition of Downtown Music Holdings, while Schick Norton, Traxler and Freedman guided Recognition Music Group on the sale of its music catalog to Sony Music Publishing, an epic deal reportedly valued between $3.5 billion and $4 billion. That catalog entailed more than 45,000 songs, including Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’,” Fleetwood Mac’s “Go Your Own Way,” Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It),” Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” and Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” among untold others.

Sarah Graham

GIBSON DUNN

Ol’ Blue Eyes is smiling now. Graham spearheaded one of the firm’s biggest moments: a landmark investment in Frank Sinatra’s catalog. Representing Irving Azoff’s Iconic Artists Group, she helped orchestrate its move to buy into the marquee catalog, along with the crooner’s name, image and likeness. She also guided Defiant Ones, founded by Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Jimmy Iovine and Main Street Advisors, on equity investments and the launch of Gin & Juice by Dre and Snoop, one of the most closely watched artist-led brand launches on the market.

Favorite concert this year “I enjoy Stagecoach every year, and Peso Pluma. His energy was electric and the production was fantastic.”

Damien Granderson & Elizabeth Moody

GRANDERSON DES ROCHERS

“AI trends are the biggest challenge in the industry right now. I’m sitting in the middle of it, crafting the deals with AI companies and rights-holders,” says Moody, who repped Udio in a settlement with Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and Merlin. The deal structured a collaboration among the companies to develop new AI generation tech and a new streaming platform. Topping that feat, she represented Roblox in its partnership with Universal Music Group, bringing direct commerce and artist activations to the gaming platform. Granderson was behind A$AP Rocky’s deals surrounding Don’t Be Dumb, along with his appointments as a Chanel house ambassador and Ray-Ban’s first-ever creative director. Granderson also handled deals for Raye with her sophomore album, This Music May Contain Hope, and her This Tour May Contain New Music arena jaunt, and for J Balvin, handled deals for the Back to the Rayo North American tour and his headlining performance at the inaugural World Cup final halftime show at MetLife Stadium.

Jordan Gutglass & Daniel Shulman

EISNER LLP

With millions of Eyekons watching their every move, Shulman and Gutglass co-rep girl group Katseye in all aspects of their career, from their Gap endorsement deal to Fendi and Glossier sponsorships. The duo also handled the legal work for Leon Thomas’ Mutts Don’t Heel tour. Shulman guided the legal strategy for Jon Batiste and his 2025 Americana album, Big Money, his composer deal for Michael B. Jordan’s The Thomas Crown Affair and a cameo in The Devil Wears Prada 2.

Jeffrey Harleston

UNIVERSAL

As UMG global general counsel, Harleston helmed industry-first agreements with Spotify, Nvidia, Udio, Klay, Splice, Stability AI and more in relation to ethically trained AI products. He also was involved in high-profile litigation against Suno and Anthropic for unlicensed training and artist-centric deals with TikTok, Hook, NetEase Cloud Music and Roblox, among others.

Cynthia Katz & Heidy Vaquerano

FOX ROTHSCHILD

Vaquerano and Katz repped HarbourView in one of the most talked-about deals of the year: the acquisition of its compositions written by Swedish collective Wolf Cousins, founded by Max Martin and Shellback, which includes hits released by Ariana Grande and Taylor Swift. They also assisted HarbourView in an acquisition of select assets of recorded music and publishing catalogs, film and TV assets from the Quincy Jones Estate (including the Michael Jackson catalog). Five years from now … Katz: “The core legal battle will be defining ownership and compensation when AI is involved in the creative process and how to prevent market devaluation from AI-generated content. The deals we structure today must account for an entirely new layer of IP protection.”

Dina LaPolt & Tom Dean

LAPOLT LAW

LaPolt worked alongside Dean and others at her firm negotiating the Live Nation tour agreement for Cardi B’s 2026 Little Miss Drama Tour and her second album, Am I the Drama?, as well as agreements with MGM and Live Nation for Mary J. Blige’s My Life: My Story Las Vegas residency and Joan Jett’s catalog partnership with Seeker Music. Dean also played a lead role in Akon’s Live Nation tour agreement for his Nights Like This global co-headline tour with Ne-Yo, along with Tinashe’s new recording agreement with Atlantic Records.

Biggest AI challenge

LAPOLT “Ensuring that innovation doesn’t outpace artists’ ability to control how their identities and creative work are used.”

Michael Lebowich, David A. Munkittrick & Tony Oncidi

PROSKAUER

In groundbreaking litigation, Munkittrick is leading the charge for Warner Music Group in a first-of-its-kind case arguing that the major labels’ licensing of sound recordings for generative AI training violates the Sound Recording Labor Agreement. He’s also spearheading the recorded music and publishing industry’s crackdown on unlicensed use of recordings in corporate social media advertising, recovering more than $100 million for labels and publishers to date. Meanwhile, Lebowich sits at the table as lead negotiator and primary labor counsel for the four major unionized record labels ­— Sony Music, Universal Music, Hollywood Records/Walt Disney Records and Warner Music/Atlantic Records — in their high-stakes talks with SAG-AFTRA over singers’ and music video performers. Oncidi continues two decades as lead employment counsel to the Recording Academy.

Five years from now …

ONCIDI “The most pressing issue will be authenticity: Who has the right to create, authorize and monetize a digital version of an artist, and how will audiences know what is real?”

Christine Lepera

MITCHELL SILBERBERG & KNUPP

Fresh off a win for Dua Lipa after defeating the copyright infringement claim against her for “Levitating,” Lepera continues to represent the singer, this time to redress an alleged infringing use of her NIL rights by Samsung. She also reps Eminem, Aftermath Entertainment, Interscope Records and Universal Music Group in a copyright infringement lawsuit concerning the hit song “The Monster.” She reps Drake, FKA twigs, J. Cole and Post Malone, too. Biggest AI challenge “Since this is all brand-new, evaluating the monetization and where the money is going to land and grow is the biggest question mark.”

Josh Love, Eric Marder, Steve Sessa & Ed Shapiro

REED SMITH

Love, Sessa and Shapiro, who have built reputations as go-to authorities on catalog acquisitions, guided nearly $20 billion in transactions over the past year. They served as legal counsel to Concord on its combining with BMG, forming the world’s leading independent music company; repped the buyer in the acquisition of master recordings from The Weeknd, widely reported as the largest deal ever for a contemporary artist, and the seller in BMG’s $250 million-plus acquisition of Jason Aldean’s catalog. Marder and Shapiro also handle Jay-Z, Christina Aguilera, Bon Jovi, Rihanna and Bad Bunny.

Kenny Meiselas, Eric Sacks & Lawrence Shire

GRUBMAN SHIRE

Under Meiselas’ guidance, the firm was behind some of the year’s most talked-about deals, from the Britney Spears catalog sale to a string of blockbuster sold-out tours spanning 2025 and 2026, including Lady Gaga’s. Meiselas and Sacks also drove major catalog deals for The Weeknd, Usher and Chris Brown. Shire represented Bruce Springsteen across all his film, streaming, TV and music work; U2 and Bono in their historic opening of the Sphere; David Byrne on his Who Is the Sky? world tour; the estate of David Bowie; and Andrew Lloyd Webber on all his transactional work, including Masquerade, the new Broadway immersive experience inspired by The Phantom of the Opera, and a film deal with Amazon for an adaptation of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

Donald Passman, Eugene Salomon Jr. & Ethan Schiffres

GANG TYRE

As the author of All You Need to Know About the Music Business, now in its 11th edition, it’s no surprise that music icons turn to Passman for guidance. This year, he handled the Quincy Jones estate’s catalog sale to HarbourView, reportedly worth $300 million to $500 million, which included his producer royalty rights to classic Michael Jackson songs. Passman and Schiffres also ironed out the deals for Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft film with James Cameron. Passman additionally teamed with Salomon to represent Zac Brown in connection with his Sphere residency and 2026 tour, with Salomon also negotiating Brown’s new publishing agreement with Sony. On the film score side, Schiffres handled deals for the Oscar-winning Ludwig Göransson, from scoring Star Wars: The Mandalorian & Grogu to The Odyssey.

Favorite concert this year

SCHIFFRES “It’s between Paul McCartney at the Fonda and taking my 7-year-old son to see Counting Crows at the Hollywood Bowl. Quite a trip experiencing the hit songs from my youth with him.”

Rollin Ransom & Matthew Thompson

SIDLEY AUSTIN

In one of the industry’s most closely watched disputes, Ransom reps Universal Music Group in a federal defamation lawsuit brought by Drake. The case, dismissed by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, is now on appeal, with the outcome carrying stakes for lyrical freedom and the role labels play in backing artists. Thompson advised Warner Music Group in forging a joint venture with Bain Capital, pairing the label’s industry expertise with Bain’s financial firepower, unlocking up to $1.2 billion for purchasing catalogs.

Paul M. Robinson

WARNER MUSIC

The executive vp and general counsel provided crucial counsel on several landmark transactions, including the expansion of a joint venture with Bain Capital to acquire legendary recorded music and publishing catalogs while leveraging WMG’s global distribution and marketing infrastructure. Robinson and his team continue to navigate shifts in a brave new world by striking groundbreaking deals with AI music heavyweights and ensuring companies cease training on unlicensed works.

Biggest AI challenge “Without a doubt, we need strong guardrails, but if those guardrails become roadblocks, all of us lose.”

Brian Schall

BARNES & THORNBURG

Bringing EDM to the Sphere, Schall negotiated agreements for Illenium’s residency, reaping a reported $58 million in ticket sales during its sold-out 11-day stay, with appearances by Ellie Goulding, Bastille and Alok, during a year in which the venue’s revenue rose by 40 percent to $370 million. In a run that testified to EDM’s growing popularity, Schall also negotiated Vegas residencies for Subtronics at Wynn and Dombresky at LIV.

Beau Stapleton

WILLKIE FARR & GALLAGHER

He repped Wolf Cousins as U.S. counsel in the blockbuster sale of publishing rights of their catalog to HarbourView, which included a stake in hits like Taylor Swift’s “Style.” He also represented 101 Studios in its CBS primetime music competition series The Road and the launch of label Country Roads Records.

Five years from now … “The question is whether young artists will still have the economic freedom to become great. The business is built to monetize established catalogs. We need to be equally serious about letting emerging artists experiment, fail and spend years finding their voice before the economics have to ‘work.’ “

Stephanie Yu

SONY MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT

As general counsel and executive vp, business and legal affairs for Sony, Yu oversees business, legal and governmental strategies globally. She has been shepherding the company’s approach to clearing such emerging technologies as generative AI and is also a key player in working to advance transparency and education for artists through the company’s Artists Forward initiative.

This story appeared in the Oct. 7 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.