Steals, Deals, and Newly Spliced Reels

ABOUT THE PROGRAM:

John P. Luneau
General Counsel and Head of Business Affairs, Primary Wave Entertainment, LLC

John P. Luneau is General Counsel and Head of Business Affairs at Primary Wave Entertainment, LLC and its affiliates, where he has worked for the past 10 years. John’s principal duties at Primary Wave are the structuring, negotiation and drafting of agreements for the company’s acquisition of major interests in iconic music catalogs and name and likeness rights, including its high-profile acquisitions of rights in the Smokey Robinson, Bob Marley, Burt Bacharach, Paul Anka, Four Seasons, Ray Charles, Whitney Houston, Count Basie, War, Boyz II Men, Steve Cropper, Justin Hayward (Moody Blues) and classical pianist Glenn Gould catalogs. Primary Wave is a large independent music publishing, artist management, digital marketing and branding company based in New York. Before joining Primary Wave, John was Vice President, Business & Legal Affairs at Razor & Tie; Head of Business Affairs/Music at Chris Blackwell’s Palm Entertainment; Director of Business Affairs at Rykodisc; General Counsel of the Pennsylvania Ballet; proprietor of his own entertainment law firm; and an intellectual property and litigation associate at a major international law firm. John is former officer and Trustee of the Copyright Society of the U.S.A., and was Chairman of its New York and Philadelphia Chapters for 6 years. John received his A.B. cum laude from Harvard College, where he was an editor of the Harvard Lampoon, and J.D. cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center. In a prior life (during the early 1980s), John was lead singer / songwriter / guitarist of an all-original new wave band.

Darrell D. Miller
Founding Chairman of the Entertainment & Sports Law Department, Fox Rothschild LLP

Darrell Miller is the founding Chairman of the Entertainment Department at the national law firm of Fox Rothschild LLP. He is a trusted advisor and deal-maker for many of America’s hottest stars — like Angela Bassett, Courtney B. Vance, Jonathan Cain (from the Rock band Journey), Justin Prentice, Daymond John, Cheo Hodari Coker (“Luke Cage” creator), Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Bishop TD Jakes, to name a few. For over two decades, Darrell has worked with individual, production and institutional clients to leverage their careers and high brand equity into multiple streams of income.  He is author of the NAACP Image Award nominated book, “The 16th Minute of Fame: An Insider’s Guide for Maintaining Success Beyond 15 Minutes of Fame”. He has been recognized as one of the top 40 dealmakers in Variety magazine’s Dealmakers Impact Report for seven consecutive years and named in The Hollywood Reporter’s Top 100 Power Lawyers List for five consecutive years.  He was listed in Savoy magazine’s Most Influential Black Lawyers list, the Los Angeles Daily Journal’s list of top entertainment lawyers in California, and in Chambers USA for three consecutive years. In 2016, he was named Entertainment Lawyer of the Year by the Beverly Hills Bar Association.

Erin Tonkon
Producer, Engineer & Mixer / Professor, NYU Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music / Co-founder of Abandon Normal Instruments

Erin Tonkon is a New York City based producer, engineer, mixer and educator. Her credits include David Bowie, Esperanza Spalding, Lady Lamb, Sad13 and Richard Hell. Erin worked for several years as engineer and production assistant for legendary rock producer Tony Visconti. She was a part of the Grammy award winning team for David Bowie’s Blackstar for which she engineered, mixed, and sang backing vocals. Erin attended the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at NYU where she has recently returned as an adjunct professor. Erin is also the co-founder of Abandon Normal Instruments, a membership based maker space for the music industry, set to launch in 2022.

Judith Finell (Moderator)
Musicologist and President of Judith Finell Musicservices Inc. / Professor, Forensic Musicology, UCLA

Judith Finell is a musicologist and has served as an expert witness and consultant in many music copyright disputes throughout the U.S. and abroad. She joined the UCLA faculty in 2019, and teaches the only course on forensic musicology in the country. She also advises film, television, advertising, media and tech companies on a wide variety of music topics, including digital sampling, music rights, infringement, and public domain. In addition to testifying in many notable copyright trials over the past two decades, she was the testifying expert for the Marvin Gaye estate against Pharrell Williams in the “Blurred Lines” trial in Federal District court, and also before the Copyright Royalty Board on behalf of the National Music Publishers Association regarding ringtones. She presides over Judith Finell MusicServices, a music consulting firm in Los Angeles and New York with a team of musicologists advising attorneys and their clients on music copyright issues. Judith Finell was honored to be the commencement speaker at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music in 2018. She is active in the Copyright Society, including serving as the co-coordinator of the chapters, and as a trustee.

CLE CREDIT:

The Copyright Society is an Accredited Continuing Legal Education Provider in California, New York and Pennsylvania. Instructions for verifying attendance will be emailed to registrants prior to the program.

California:  1.0 Participatory
New York: 1.0 Skills / This intermediate program is transitional and appropriate for both newly admitted and experienced attorneys.

Pennsylvania: 1.0 General