Upcoming Event: Wednesday, November 13, 2024 at 12:30 p.m. PT via Zoom Music and AI: Litigation, Legislation and Licensing From the player piano to vinyl records, to digital downloads and giant streaming platforms, the music industry has long had to confront and adapt to new technologies. Many view generative AI as just another chapter in this ongoing technological evolution, but the ability to simulate artists and produce music from existing works presents challenges – and possibilities – unlike any that have come before. Come hear from three industry experts on the front lines who are tasked with protecting human artists, songwriters and the works they create while at the same time leading their industry into the genAI future: Danielle Aguirre of the National Music Publishers’ Association, Amy Isbell of Universal Music Group, and Tim Cohan of Peermusic. The discussion will be moderated by Jacqueline Charlesworth, a partner at Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz and LA Copyright Society Vice President.
Prior to joining NMPA, Ms. Aguirre was an attorney at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP. She received her JD from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and her BA from Georgetown University.
Based in Washington, D.C., Amy represents Universal Music Group before Congress, the Administration, state legislatures and various localities. Recognized by Billboard as a 2020, 2023 and 2024 "Women in Music" honoree, Amy also coordinates the company’s policy positions and collaborates with entertainment industry trade associations and policy coalitions. Amy joined Universal Music Group in 2005. Before joining UMG, Amy was the Vice President of State Government Relations for the Motion Picture Association of America for nearly eight years. From 1991-1994, she served on the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary as a Policy Analyst where she worked on issues such as media violence, criminal justice, firearms safety and judicial nominations. Amy earned a master’s degree in public policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in 1996 and is a 1991 summa cum laude graduate of the University of Illinois, where she was awarded a bachelor’s degree in both Political Science and Speech Communication.
Previously, Jacqueline served as General Counsel and Associate Register of Copyrights of the U.S. Copyright Office, where she had primary responsibility for interpretation of the U.S. Copyright Act and oversaw a wide range of litigation and policy matters, including the Office’s participation in Supreme Court cases. After returning to private practice, Jacqueline was named a Billboard Woman Executive of the Year for her role in helping to craft and secure passage of the Music Modernization Act, landmark legislation to update U.S. music licensing rules. She has lectured extensively on music and copyright law, including at Yale, Harvard, Columbia and other law schools, and serves as a trustee and officer of the Los Angeles Copyright Society. Jacqueline received a B.A. with honors in American Civilization from Brown University, magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, and a J.D. from Yale Law School. At Yale, she oversaw the The Yale Law Journal as an Executive Committee Editor and was a founding member of the Yale Journal of Law & Feminism. Following law school, she clerked for Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum of the Southern District of New York and Judge Betty B. Fletcher of the Ninth Circuit. | 2024-2025 OFFICERS & TRUSTEES President Dan Nabel President-Elect Ian Slotin Vice President Jacqueline Charlesworth Treasurer Secretary Joshua Geller Greenberg Glusker Fields Claman & Machtinger Trustees Robert S. Gutierrez Barbara Quinn Emily Weiss Samantha Kantor Sony Pictures EntertainmentJef Pearlman Andrew Sullivan Xiyin Tang Joel Weiner
Vivian S. Lee |
As Executive VP and General Counsel, Danielle Aguirre oversees NMPA’s legal, business, and policy objectives. Her role is to protect and enforce the copyrights and intellectual property interests of songwriters and music publishers. Ms. Aguirre aggressively combats digital piracy and infringement litigating on behalf of NMPA’s members. She facilitates model licenses with digital services and labels to ensure publishers and songwriters are compensated fairly for the use of their songs. Before the Copyright Royalty Board, she leads a legal team fighting for higher mechanical royalty rates under Section 115 of the Copyright Act. Notably, Ms. Aguirre worked with stakeholders including digital companies, broadcasters, PROs, and record labels to negotiate and pass the Music Modernization Act, which became law in 2018. She currently serves on the board of the Mechanical Licensing Collective.
Tim Cohan is Chief Counsel for the peermusic group of companies, including its recently formed neighbouring rights division serving over 2,500 recording artists and 300 record labels, as well as a long-established music publishing division encompassing a catalogue of hundreds of thousands of works across all genres. At peermusic, Tim and his staff provide centralized legal and business affairs support to the firm’s 38 offices in 31 countries. Cohan also plays a key role in the firm’s strategic and policy initiatives, including legislative advocacy, corporate transactions, and peermusic’s global digital music licensing strategy. Tim is an active representative of peermusic in the industry, including two terms as a board member of the Association of Independent Music Publishers, and as a founding and current board member of the Mechanical Licensing Collective formed under the Music Modernization Act. Tim received his J.D. from Columbia Law School and is admitted to the Bar in New York and California.
Amy Isbell is the Senior Vice President, Public Policy and Government Relations for Universal Music Group (UMG). UMG is the world leader in music-based entertainment, with a broad array of businesses engaged in recorded music, music publishing, merchandising and audiovisual content. Featuring the most comprehensive catalogue of recordings and songs across every musical genre, UMG identifies and develops artists and produces and distributes the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful music in the world. Committed to artistry, innovation and entrepreneurship, UMG fosters the development of services, platforms and business models in order to broaden artistic and commercial opportunities for our artists and create new experiences for fans.
Jacqueline Charlesworth, a partner at Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz, is a litigator and transactional attorney whose practice is focused on music and copyright law. Her roster of clients includes individual songwriters and artists, music publishers, record labels, media entities, software companies and trade associations.