Facilitated the buying and selling of $1.2 billion in musical assets, including the purchase of numerous music publishing companies and legendary music catalogs—e.g., Cherry Lane Music (Peter, Paul and Mary; John Denver.) The purchaser was an Australian bank which could not own the assets. We structured the deal so that the assets would be owned by a U.S. LLC.
Facilitated the sale of iconic works like the original Twist, The Pointer Sisters’ catalog, numerous famous Motown songs, and legendary hip-hop compositions. Many of these transactions have been cross-border.
Successfully negotiated and closed a substantial eight-figure loan with a leading English bank represented in the U.S. and abroad, to support further acquisitions by the client. Ultimately, the deal was valued at $125 million.
Facilitated purchases of the rights of Mick Fleetwood and John McVie of Fleetwood Mac, Paul Simon, John Legend, Harry Nilsson, and a share of the North American rights to a handful of early Beatles’ hits like “She Loves You,” “I Wanna Hold Your Hand,” and “From Me To You.”
Represented many of the leading writers of the Great American Songbook, such as Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg (The Wizard of Oz), Leroy Anderson (“Sleigh Ride”), and Mitchell Parish (“Stardust”).
Played an instrumental role in persuading the US Copyright Office to enact policy changes to ensure that the Mechanical Licensing Collective paid post-termination royalties to songwriters, resulting in many millions being paid out to songwriters, including Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones.
Negotiated several book publishing contracts on behalf of novelists, playwrights, cookbook writers, and journalists. For 25 years, has represented the family of author Aldous Huxley in protecting and exploiting his famous works, particularly Brave New World. Negotiated with Random House to keep the novel with the publisher. Also negotiated several film rights options for the grandchildren of the Huxleys.
Successfully represented Joe Simon, the creator of Captain America, in winning Simon’s case against Marvel to recapture copyright in the famed superhero.
Provided counsel on copyright terminations and copyright law in general. On behalf of disparate clients—The Rolling Stones, Joe Simon (creator of Captain America), Jessye Norman (international opera star), etc.—won several critical copyright cases that benefit creators in general and have helped bring clarity to the concept of Work For Hire.
Regularly collaborate with clients to find workarounds for transactions that face restrictions on certain transfers set forth in the Copyright Law. We have devised loan structures that permit transfer of assets in sales and purchases alike.
Collaborated with the National Music Publishers’ Association on anti-piracy efforts aimed at removing copyrighted lyrics from unlicensed websites and negotiating licenses for these lyrics’ use. These efforts created a new stream of royalty income which has generated hundreds of millions of dollars in additional revenue for music publishers and their songwriters over the past 20 years.
Routinely negotiates licenses for the use of clients’ valuable IP assets in film, television, advertising, and special projects across mediums including cable television, satellite transmissions, digital services, pay-per-view, and streaming.