I am honored to have been named once again to Billboard magazine’s “Top Music Lawyers” List for 2023!

You can view the full list here.
Categories: Honors and Awards, Tags: Billboard magazine, billboard top music lawyers, billboard top music lawyers 2023, billboard top music lawyers list, Erin Jacobson, erin m. jacobson, erin m. jacobson esq., music attorney, music lawyer, top music attorney, top music lawyer, top music lawyers, top woman music attorney, top women attorneys, top women music lawyers
I am honored to have been named once again to Billboard magazine’s “Top Music Lawyers” List for 2023!
You can view the full list here.
Categories: Articles, Music Contracts, Music Industry, Press, Record Labels, Tags: capitol records, Erin Jacobson, erin m. jacobson, erin m. jacobson esq., Halsey, music attorney los angeles, music industry, music industry lawyer, music lawyer los angeles, the music industry lawyer, time, time magazine, top music attorney, top music lawyer
Erin M. Jacobson is quoted in Time magazine regarding artist Halsey’s TikTok leak of one of her songs that is unreleased by her record label.
Categories: Honors and Awards, Tags: billboard top music lawyers 2022, billboard top music lawyers list, Erin Jacobson, erin m. jacobson, erin m. jacobson esq., top music attorney, top music lawyer, top music lawyers 2022, top music lawyers list
Erin M. Jacobson, Esq. has been named to Billboard magazine’s 2022 Top Music Lawyers List. This will be the third time Erin has received this honor. Thanks to all at Billboard!
Categories: Articles, Catalogue Acquisitions, Legal Issues, Music Catalogues, Music Industry, Tags: Aretha franklin, book, Eamonn forde, elvis presley, elvis presley estate, Erin Jacobson, erin m. jacobson, erin m. jacobson esq., estate, estate plan, kurt cobain, leaving the building, music estates, music will, prince, top music attorney, top music lawyer, will
I am proud to announce I am quoted throughout a fascinating and original new book, Leaving the Building: The Lucrative Afterlife of Music Estates, by renowned music journalist, Eamonn Forde.
This is a very interesting book that takes an in-depth look at some of the most famous music estates, with commentary from industry experts regarding managing music estates, how the music is used, the problems they face, etc. This is definitely an insider look into a topic that the public usually doesn’t have access to, so pick up a copy if you are interested in this topic!
Categories: Honors and Awards, Music Industry, Tags: best music lawyer, Billboard, Billboard magazine, billboard top music lawyers, billboard top music lawyers list, Erin Jacobson, erin m. jacobson, erin m. jacobson esq., the music industry lawyer, top female attorney, top music attorney, top music lawyer, top music lawyers list, top music lawyers list 2021, top woman music attorney, top women attorneys, top women music attorneys
Erin M. Jacobson, Esq. has been named to Billboard magazine’s “Top Music Lawyers List” for 2021. Ms. Jacobson was also recognized on this list in 2020.
The full article can be seen here.
Thank you to Billboard for this prestigious recognition!
Categories: Copyright, Music Contracts, Music Industry, Music Publishing, Tags: copyright, copyright law, copyright ownership, copyright registration, copyrights, Erin Jacobson, erin m. jacobson, erin m. jacobson esq., music attorney, music attorney la, music attorney los angeles, music book, music business, music business attorney, music business book, music business lawyer, music contracts, music industry, music industry book, music industry lawyer, music law, music lawyer, music lawyer la, music lawyer los angeles, music publishing, music royalties, the music industry lawyer, top music lawyer
Don’t Get Screwed! How to Protect Yourself as an Independent Musician by Erin M. Jacobson, Esq. is now available in both print and ebook versions.
About the Book:
There’s a lot of confusing information in the music business: copyright, different types of royalties, how to get paid, and how to not sign over rights you shouldn’t. Now there is a single resource that explains these concepts in an easy-to-understand format.
Written by Erin M. Jacobson, one of the music industry’s top lawyers, this book is a plain English, straight to the point, primer on the topics you need to understand to make important decisions about your music career.
This book explains:
– what copyright really means and why you should register yours,
– the different types of royalties and how they actually apply in the real world so you can understand how and when your music earns money,
– how to collect the money your music earns,
– the contracts most needed by independent musicians and why they are important,
– traps to avoid, and
– real examples of mistakes musicians have made and how you can avoid making them too.
This book provides information from an industry insider that is not available in other publications, and is an empowering resource for new, upcoming, and seasoned musicians.
Categories: Music Industry, Press, Tags: Billboard, Billboard magazine, Erin Jacobson, erin m. jacobson, erin m. jacobson esq., top music attorney, top music lawyer, top music lawyers, top music lawyers 2020, top music lawyers list
I can finally announce that Billboard has named me to its Top Music Lawyers List for 2020.
It is an honor to be recognized by Billboard, who has served as an authority in our industry for many years, and to share this honor with my colleagues.
Here’s a link to the full article.
Thanks to Billboard and to all of my clients, and you who are reading this!
Categories: Catalogue Acquisitions, Interview, Music Catalogues, Music Contracts, Music Industry, Record Labels, Royalties, Tags: ABC, attorney, Big Machine, copyright, Erin Jacobson, erin m. jacobson, find a music attorney, hollywood, Justin Bieber, Kanye West, master ownership, master recordings, masters, music attorney, music attorney la, music attorney los angeles, music business, music industry, music industry lawyer, music law, music lawyer, music lawyer la, music lawyer los angeles, Nightline, record deal, record labels, Scooter Braun, Scott Borchetta, taylor swift, the music industry lawyer, top female attorney, top music attorney, top music lawyer, top woman music attorney, top women attorneys, top women lawyers, top women music attorneys, top women music lawyers, who owns masters
Categories: Honors and Awards, Tags: attorney, beverly hills, Erin Jacobson, erin m. jacobson, find a music attorney, los angeles, music attorney, music attorney la, music attorney los angeles, music business, music industry, music industry lawyer, music law, music lawyer, music lawyer la, music lawyer los angeles, top female attorney, top music attorney, top music lawyer, top woman music attorney
Erin M. Jacobson, Esq. has once again been named a Super Lawyers Rising Star! Thank you to Super Lawyers for this great honor!
Categories: Articles, Legal Issues, Music Industry, Music Publishing, Terminations, Tags: best music attorney, best music lawyer, copyright, copyright recapture, copyright termination, copyright terminations, Erin Jacobson, erin m. jacobson, female music attorney, female music lawyer, find a music attorney, get copyrights back, legacy music catalogue, music attorney, music attorney la, music attorney los angeles, music business, music catalogue rights, music industry lawyer, music law, music lawyer, music lawyer la, music lawyer los angeles, music publishing, music publishing deals, recapture, rights' owners, the music industry lawyer, top music attorney, top music lawyer, women music attorney, women music lawyer
By: Erin M. Jacobson, Esq.
This article was originally posted on Synchtank.
The window is open for authors and heirs to recapture ownership of their copyrights. Terminations create a lot of new movement for copyrights in the marketplace and rights’ owners need to be just as knowledgeable as authors and heirs in order to stay competitive.
Statutory Requirements
Statutory terminations come with many complexities, but the basics are as follows:
In the United States, termination of a grant can be effected during a five year period: (1) Beginning 56 years after the original copyright date of the work for grants made before January 1, 1978; or (2) Beginning 35 years after the date of the grant for grants executed on or after January 1, 1978.*
Both of these categories of termination require that proper notice be sent anywhere between ten and two years before the effective date of termination and notices must also follow strict requirements. Works for hire and grants by will are not terminable and terminations under U.S. copyright law only apply to U.S. rights.
Outside of the U.S., there are some other countries that have their own rules regarding terminations, most notably, the British Commonwealth countries. British Reversionary Rights are generally uniform throughout the Commonwealth, but vary slightly per country and must be assessed on a case-by-case basis. Other countries do not have any termination rights included in their copyright laws.
Information on the recapture of music rights usually refers to composition rights only, as whether master recordings rights can be recaptured is the subject of an ongoing debate in the U.S. that will only be solved by litigation or a change in copyright law.
Information on the recapture of music rights usually refers to composition rights only, as whether master recordings rights can be recaptured is the subject of an ongoing debate in the U.S. that will only be solved by litigation or a change in copyright law. The issue here is that, as stated above, works for hire are not terminable, and most recording agreements state that the masters are works for hire for the record company. However, U.S. law requires that for a work to truly be a work for hire, it must be either created by an employee within the scope of employment, or specially ordered or commissioned by the company, with an agreement in writing stating the work is a work for hire, and the type of work must fall within nine categories established in the law. The problem here is that artists are not employees of record labels and master recordings are not one of the nine categories required for works to qualify as works for hire. Until this point, labels have been successful in retaining the masters by arguing the masters qualify as collective works or compilations, and by giving artists a few additional royalty points. However, at the time of this writing, there is a class action lawsuit pending in California to decide this very issue.
The Real Reason Why Authors and Heirs Want to Recapture Their Rights
Although the legal requirements for termination are imperative to navigating the copyright recapture landscape, most discussions on this topic fail to address why authors and heirs are so keen to exercise their termination rights in the first place. The answer to this question is that authors and heirs are terminating because they are not happy with their current publisher or label. This unhappiness normally is caused by the companies’ lack of attention paid to the catalogues, which results in significantly decreased earnings for those catalogues.
Authors and heirs are terminating because they are not happy with their current publisher or label. This unhappiness normally is caused by the companies’ lack of attention paid to the catalogues, which results in significantly decreased earnings for those catalogues.
Large companies, typically the “majors”, tend to focus their efforts on acquisitions and growth, which is not bad, but they fail to increase staff and training at the same rate as their growth. This leaves many compositions lost at these large companies because they are not being actively exploited and, in many cases, the staff isn’t even aware of the compositions. Further, when creators or heirs do try to get a company’s attention, their efforts are often ignored because the company does not want to spend time and resources on low-earning compositions. To further exacerbate the situation, many of these companies are not even accounting properly to the creators or heirs, and again, won’t take the time to investigate or remedy the situation because their efforts are focused solely on the highest earning compositions and further growth.
On the master side, not only are the royalty rates from the labels paltry, but in many cases, the albums are out of print and not being sold, and therefore the creator or heirs really just want a chance to do something with the music again instead of accepting the music’s fate of being locked in a vault, with the original tapes rotting away, never to see the light of day again.
In my experience, independent publishers tend to receive fewer termination notices because they do a better job with attending to and exploiting their catalogues, and usually make fewer mistakes in collection and accounting. I work with many independent publishers (both those I represent and those who work for my author/heir clients) who do a fabulous job making sure these works continue to stay relevant and earn income.
Handling Terminations
Some companies think they can prevent authors from terminating their rights by inserting provisions in their contracts whereby the authors waive their rights of termination. However, this practice is completely ineffective because the right to terminate cannot be waived via contract. Some companies also try to prevent terminations by making new, and equally unfair, deals with aging authors and heirs. I’ve even seen major companies effectively force creators or heirs into a new deal by using the threat of litigation against them when these companies know full well that their opponents do not have the resources to fight to reclaim their rights.
The other tactic companies take is to ignore received notices of termination or wait until right before the effective date to raise objections in an effort to deprive the authors/heirs with ample time to respond. It’s a common joke throughout the subset of attorneys dealing with terminations that the fastest way to be ignored by a company is to send them a termination notice (or tell them they owe you money).
When rights’ owners receive a termination notice, they should address it and engage good counsel who knows how to deal with the dynamics of these situations. Typically, once companies can no longer ignore the notices, they then dispatch the same few lawyers to repeatedly make the same narrow deals. When I represent music publishers, I work with them on specific strategies to address the catalogue at issue and craft a deal that benefits both parties in each situation, whereby the company can retain the work and continue to reap the financial benefits, but whereby the author or heirs also feel their needs are satisfied.
Music will always be the foundation of the music business, but the music business is not the same as it was 56 or 35 (or even 10) years ago. Music has a life and legacy of its own and how these copyrights are handled can either set them up to flourish or be forgotten.
Music has a life and legacy of its own and how these copyrights are handled can either set them up to flourish or be forgotten.
The changing times require changing ways and my practice focuses on this innovation to benefit both the rights’ owners and creators so that both can continue to benefit from these magnificent musical creations.
* Technically, section 203 of the U.S. Copyright Law says the window opens at the end of 35 years after the date of execution of the grant, or if the grant covers the right of publication, then at the end of 35 years after the date of publication or at the end of 40 years after the date the grant was executed, whichever is earlier.
Note: This article does not constitute legal advice.
Erin M. Jacobson, known as “The Music Industry Lawyer”, represents and protects independent, established, and legacy songwriters and artists (including their heirs and estates), distinguished legacy catalogues, independent music publishers, Grammy and Emmy Award winners, and other music professionals at her law practice based in Beverly Hills, CA. For more information, visit www.themusicindustrylawyer.com.