Today we’d like to introduce you to Erin M. Jacobson, Esq.
Hi Erin M., we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My previous interview with VoyageLA at https://voyagela.com/interview/life-work-erin-m-jacobson-esq/ discussed my background.
Since my previous interview in VoyageLA, there have been many exciting updates, a few of which are:
Billboard magazine named me to their “Top Music Lawyers” list in 2020, 2021, and 2022.
Our firm staff has grown.
I wrote and published a book called, Don’t Get Screwed! How to Protect Yourself as an Independent Musician, which is a plain-English, straight to the point, primer on the topics musicians need to understand to make important decisions about their careers, including information on copyrighting musical works, the different royalty streams in music and how to collect them in order to not miss out on income, the most-needed agreements by independent musicians, and real-world examples of how musicians have gotten screwed – and how to avoid those situations.
I was featured in Music Business Worldwide’s “Inspiring Women” interview series about inspirational women in the music industry.
I was featured in the book, Leaving the Building: The Lucrative Afterlife of Music Estates by Eamonn Forde.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am known for protecting my clients and caring about their career success. My firm only handles music transactional legal matters (i.e., contracts, not litigation). I personally focus on music publishing, licensing, catalogue acquisitions, legacy catalogues, and I am one of the leading attorneys handling copyright termination (recapture) matters.
I have, and every member of my team has, a passion for protecting our clients and making sure they are treated fairly as music creators and rights owners. We provide high-level work and expert advice because we want to see our clients succeed, and we love creating innovative solutions for clients to maximize that success.
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
The consumption of music will continue to move more into the digital realm and payments will likely follow suit.
Our industry has been fighting hard to get fair payment for music creators and rights owners and has been making headway; although there is still a long way to go. It is my hope this will progress.
Transparency for artists’ business dealings and income will increase due to more artists speaking out about these issues.
AI will become more prevalent, and as a result, so will the legal and ethical issues that stem from it.
In addition, as more music creators recapture ownership of their works via the copyright termination/recapture process, it will continue to foster more activity in the marketplace and hopefully yield higher payments to many of those creators and their families.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.themusicindustrylawyer.com
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/MusicIndustryLawyer
- Other: https://dontgetscrewedbook.indieartistresource.com
Image Credits
Personal photo is credit Montana Ruderman. Headshot credit Allison Knight Images.
