AIMP Panel

Place: View Map
House of Blues
8430 Sunset Blvd.
West Hollywood. Valet parking, on site $7. Call for directions.

Panelists, from left: Kenny MacPherson, Jeffrey Light, Evan Medow, Gene Salomon, Don Passman and Linda Newmark.

Photos by Liz Redwing, courtesy of House of Blues Sunset

Sponsored by:

www.musicregistry.com

Additional Speaker Information

Twenty-five year music industry veteran Jeffrey Light has been a partner of Myman, Abell, Fineman, Fox, Greenspan & Light since 1992 and is an adjunct professor of law at Southwestern Law School. Jeffrey and his Firm do work for many recording artists, songwriters and producers, video game companies, film composers and many executives in the entertainment industries. Jeffrey has been involved as lead counsel in some of the most innovative entertainment industry deals of the last two decades, most recently in the negotiation of experimental Internet licenses against ASCAP and BMI and in the sale to MTV of the company that invented the paradigm-changing video games Guitar Hero and Rock Band. Jeffrey received his bachelor's degree and his law degree from Columbia University so long ago he no longer tells people what year.

As President and Senior Executive of Chrysalis Music Division North America, Kenny MacPherson presides over one of the most diverse independent music companies in the US. MacPherson and his staff are currently working with My Morning Jacket, TV On The Radio, Bon Iver, No I.D., Andrew Bird, Mastodon, Missy Higgins, Ray LaMontagne, Dan Wilson, BRMC and Outkast to name a few. Chrysalis is also home to a legendary catalogue encompassing the hits of Blondie, David Bowie, Jethro Tull, Paul Anka and Cy Coleman.

Mr. Medow has been in and out of private practice in the entertainment field, mostly in the realm of music, representing clients as diverse as Warner Bros. Pictures, Warner Bros. Music Publishing (now Warner Chappell Music Publishing), Columbia Pictures, Geffen Kaye Music Publishing, and Windswept Pacific Entertainment Co, as its outside attorney as well as many successful songwriters, producers and record companies. He also served as the in-house counsel to Dot Records, ABC/Dunhill Records and spent eight years as the Vice President of Business Affairs and International at Irving/Almo/Rondor Music Publishing, the music publishing arm of A&M Records. In 1991, he gave up the glamorous life of an entertainment attorney and took a position as the CEO of Windswept Pacific Entertainment Co. and subsequently, its successor entity, Windswept Holdings LLC. He is presently the president of Opus 19 Music LLC. He has been on the NMPA and Harry Fox boards of directors for the last 18 years and is also currently the Treasurer of NMPA and Chairman of the NMPA Finance Committee. Lastly, he served as a board member and President of the Association of Independent Music Publishers for several years.

Mr. Salomon is a partner at Gang, Tyre, Ramer & Brown practicing in the music department. Prior to joining Gang, Tyre, Ramer & Brown in December 2000, Mr. Salomon spent thirteen years at Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp, where he was the partner heading its music practice. Mr. Salomon has handled all types of transactions in the music industry including recording agreements, publishing agreements, touring agreements, management agreements, employment agreements, joint ventures and other arrangements for a wide variety of clients, from major record and publishing companies to multi-platinum recording artists. Mr. Salomon has also advised various internet ventures in connection with music industry relationships and music licensing issues. He serves on the Planning Committee for the USC Entertainment Law and Business Symposium, on the Executive Committee of the Music and Entertainment Industry Chapter of the City of Hope, and as a member of the Board of Directors of the Southern California Committee for the Olympic Games. Mr. Salomon earned a B.S. in Economics in 1984 from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Salomon earned a law degree from the University of Southern California Law School in 1987 where he was a member of USC Entertainment Law Society and a Staff Member of Southern California Law Review.

Donald S. Passman is the author of “All You Need To Know About The Music Business”, and a graduate of the University of Texas and Harvard Law School. He practices law with the Los Angeles firm of Gang, Tyre, Ramer & Brown, and has specialized in the music business for over thirty years. He has lectured extensively on the music industry, including Harvard Law School, Yale Law School, USC Law School, UCLA Law School, the Los Angeles Copyright Society, and the Beverly Hills Bar Association. Don is also the author of two novels, “The Visionary” and “Mirage”, published by Warner Books. Don has been listed in the Best Lawyers in America for over twenty years, as well as the Top 100 Lawyers in California, the Top 500 Attorneys in America, Hollywood Reporter’s Top 100 Entertainment Attorneys, and Southern California's Super Lawyers.