Top music law schools

Leah M B

I came across this article today and thought it's interesting for those who are curious about entertainment law. Entertainment law is a niche and a very small one, but if it's your passion, there are ways to get a foot in the door.

This list seems to be mostly top of the T14 and either NY or LA, which is probably the best way to pursue a career in entertainment law. (Slightly surprised Vanderbilt isn't on here, being in Nashville.) Location is probably most important, because you need to get hands-on experience with internships or other work in the industry in order to have a shot. It's cliche, but it's definitely about who you know. I have a background in the entertainment industry, and happy to discuss specifics or answer questions via PM if anyone is interested.

This list is handy too, I think it's a good overview of some of the offerings that these schools have. UCLA's new music law clinic sounds awesome.

https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/magazine-feature/8480764/top-music-law-schools-2018-list?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Newsletter Template BB: Multi Story - 1.0&utm_term=daily_digest

cgracia12

I'm very interested in sports law, and I keep telling myself I'm gonna be an agent! Idc if I sign a big time player or semi-pro player, once they sign pen to paper my dream has been accomplished! haha anyway I always see sports & entertainment law go hand in hand, however I don't think my numbers will get me into a good program. I'm from Texas, so i'll likely attend somewhere in Houston or Dallas, hotbeds for basketball and football.

Thanks for the insight though, and best of luck! I'll PM you soon!

MissChanandler

I'm surprised to see Georgetown! Not that it isn't a great school, just not what I would expect

Peaceofmind

I am interested in pursuing music law, too. Is there any fundamental difference among copyright/intellectual property/entertainment lawyers? Seems like music can fall into either categories, but the pay range for these three types of lawyers are very different. Seems like IP and copyright lawyers are much better paid than entertainment lawyers.

LawSchoolClassof_2022

I'll just add my two cents here. I have a close family member who was an extremely successful lawyer at a small firm. After practicing for about 20 years, being a huge sports fan, he decided to get certified as an NFL agent so he went through the whole process and got it but then realized that making the necessary connections to actually be useful to NFL-hopefuls takes lots of time if you are starting from near scratch (he had a friend who played in the League previously and he lived in Southern California but had never played football at a high level/coached/worked for a law firm that worked in this area). I have another close family member who played in the NFL and his agent went to a small law school in Southern California but had a ton of contacts because he used to coach at a D-1 football program. This guy had NFL coaches on speed dial and he was enormously successful, not because of the university on his JD, but because of his connections.

jkjohnson1991

Thanks for sharing this. I have a background in the entertainment industry as well and looking to get into that field.

Leah M B

@KarateMaster said:
I am interested in pursuing music law, too. Is there any fundamental difference among copyright/intellectual property/entertainment lawyers? Seems like music can fall into either categories, but the pay range for these three types of lawyers are very different. Seems like IP and copyright lawyers are much better paid than entertainment lawyers.

Yes and no. Music is intellectual property, but it seems like in the field of law when people talk about IP lawyers, they almost always mean tech or something tech-related. Really, it's more closely aligned with patent law. That's likely why those salaries are much higher than entertainment law.

As for copyright, I think that would be closer to entertainment law, but still has variation. That could be talking about books or merchandise or any number of things that are copyrighted. It's also a bit more specialized than entertainment law.

Entertainment law can be somewhat broad - that covers people who represent artists in negotiations, or someone in-house at an entertainment company. I would guess that the number of lawyers who are in-house at various companies are likely what brings down the salary numbers for this category. It's still a good paying job, but likely somewhat less than what people make at firms.

Leah M B

@Tongan_Rambo Yeah, that story makes a lot of sense to me. Sports law (and agents) is probably a lot like entertainment... it's more about who you know. You have to build a network to get a foot in the door. Sports is also a little more spread out and has different hubs than music... I think Atlanta is really big for that. (Could be wrong, but just what I've seen.) Music and entertainment is pretty densely packed into NYC and LA, which is nice for networking at least.