Attorney Jay Cooper is Chair of the Los Angeles Entertainment Practice of Greenberg Traurig. In addition to his decades-long career representing some of the biggest names in rock and pop, Cooper is a former president of NARAS, a noted author in the fields of intellectual property and contract negotiation, and an in-demand guest lecturer. He is also a musician who, early in his career, made the decision to abandon a professional music career for one in entertainment law.
Jay Cooper, a music lawyer based in Los Angeles, assesses the new vogue for 50/50 record deals and whether they are beneficial for artists. He also explains how 50/50 deals differ from traditional royalty-participant deals.
In this panel held at the 2008 meeting of the American Bar Association’s Forum on Sports & Entertainment Law, panelists Ken Abdo, Ann Chaitovitz, Jay Cooper, Mark Goldstein and David Nimmer discuss what they expect will happen as copyright ownership on music recorded since 1978 begins to revert from the labels that released the recordings to the authors of the music, and all the difficulties that will arise from this transition – for example, ongoing attempts by the RIAA to add music to the list of nine specific types of work for hire, the question of who exactly is the “author” of a sound recording, and how future evolutions in content delivery are likely to affect copyright and royalty regulations.
In this plenary panel discussion presented at a 2008 meeting of the American Bar Association, panelists Lon Sobel, Ken Abdo, Jay Cooper, David Given, Joel Katz, David Knochemsen, Ed Pearson and Mike Rudell discuss how the practice of entertainment law has evolved over the last half-century, from a few lonely practitioners doing an ill-defined set of tasks to a large and sprawling body of jurisprudence, legal theory, and competing orthodoxies.
Jay Cooper, a Los Angeles-based music lawyer introduces himself and the practice of music law, and shares some incredibly valuable information about the state of the music business today. Among the topics discussed: how file sharing fits into the history of recorded music; whether new-style record deals like 360-degree contracts, 50/50 deals, and non-traditional distribution channels (e.g. Starbucks) are worth your time; the difficult and potentially costly to artists question of whether recorded music counts as work-for-hire under US law; the real reason the RIAA is suing your grandmother, and much more.
Jay Cooper, a music lawyer based in Los Angeles, discusses what the RIAA does, how their current relationship with the artists' community stands, and what the real motive behind all those music-downloading lawsuits is.
Jay Cooper, a music lawyer based in Los Angeles, explains why it's fair that the copyright term in the USA keeps getting longer, and makes a case on behalf of the rights of copyright owners.
Jay Cooper, a music lawyer based in Los Angeles, discusses the Controlled Composition Clause in historical context, and why it is "an abomination" in its current state.
Jay Cooper, a music lawyer based in Los Angeles, discusses the fiduciary or, as he puts it, moral responsibilities that record companies have to the artists they contract with, how bad it can get it if companies do not make good on these obligations, whether industry-wide trends toward a more moral record industry are in the works, and whether consumers have a moral responsibility toward the record industry in return.
Jay Cooper, a music lawyer based in Los Angeles, offers advice to aspiring artists on what they should do, know, and pay attention to, to have the best chance of having a long and successful career. He also advises artists to stay involved in the industry-wide business issues that artists confront - Cooper for example cites the mystifying lack of artist participation in efforts to get a radio performance royalty passed into law in the USA, the lack of which costs American artists tens of millions of dollars every year in lost revenue.
Jay Cooper, a music lawyer based in Los Angeles, talks about his career in music (playing with Frank Sinatra, Bobby Darin, and many others) and how he made the transition to being a lawyer.
In this segment of a panel held at the 2008 meeting of the American Bar Association’s Forum on Sports & Entertainment Law, the panelists examine the legal underpinnings of the current music copyright landscape, including the coming cascade of music copyright reversions from labels to artists, songwriters and producers, the debates over work-for-hire statutes (and whether recorded music may be considered work-for hire), as well as various revisions to US copyright law – including an attempt in 1999 by the RIAA to insert language in a copyright revision bill adding sound recordings to the list of nine specific types of creation which may be considered work for hire.
In this segment of a plenary session of the American Bar Assocation’s 2008 Entertainment & Sports Forum, focusing on the past, present and future of entertainment law, the panelists discuss how the industry worked when they first began their careers - whether the work has become more or less specialized over time, what they did with their day, how they attracted clients, how big entertainment firms were then, how to help clients today navigate thorny issues of rights, how to help them cross-collateralize their work, and, most of all, what “entertainment law” as a concept even means today.
Jay Cooper, a music lawyer based in Los Angeles, discusses what qualities an exceptional lawyer possesses, and what you should look for in lawyers you are hiring.
In this segment of a panel held at the 2008 meeting of the American Bar Association’s Forum on Sports & Entertainment Law, the panelists discuss the slippage present in the term “author” as applies to the agent of record behind the creation of a sound recording, in the context of Federal copyright law.
In this segment of a plenary session of the American Bar Assocation’s 2008 Entertainment & Sports Forum, focusing on the past, present and future of entertainment law, the panelists discuss what entertainment lawyers need to understand about today’s business, and whether business knowledge has become more important than knowledge of the law. They also offer advice to anyone who wishes to become an entertainment lawyer – especially how dangerous and difficult some statutes can be to interpret, and what the penalties are for not doing your homework when making deals and performing due diligence.
Jay Cooper, a music lawyer based in Los Angeles, reviews the history of previous shifts in how recorded music was distributed to consumers (piano rolls, LP, CD, DVD, etc.) and shares his thoughts on how the fundamental difference of digital distribution from all prior models and media will change the nature of how the music business sells, distributes, and collects revenue for recorded music.
In this segment of a plenary session of the American Bar Assocation’s 2008 Entertainment & Sports Forum, focusing on the past, present and future of entertainment law, the panelists explain how the legal underpinnings of the entertainment industry are likely to evolve over the coming years, and how this relates to cultural and technological changes in how music, film, television and other media are distributed and consumed.
Jay Cooper, a music lawyer based in Los Angeles, explains how several deal structures that have emerged in recent years work: the 360 deal, ad revenue sharing deals, and the strategy of giving away your records and making your money from touring revenue. He also explains why these deals have come about, and how the shift from sole-proprietorships to corporate subsidiaries has changed how record companies do business.
