Taking a quick look at this University at Buffalo’s Law School Alumnus, John Simson, it is clear that innovation and passion for entertainment law were at the core of John Simson’s career journey. John Simson graduated from the Law School in 1978, and he quickly became a well-accomplished lawyer in the entertainment industry.
Before he started his legal career, John signed a recording agreement and released one LP that he recorded in London in 1971. Following the release of his LP, John joined Jethro Tull during his 1971 Aqualung Tour as an opening act. After his time on the stage, John turned to law school to pursue a legal degree and sang three to four nights a week during his time at UB Law.
John Simson is well known for his role in the development and launch of the program SoundExchange. SoundExchange serves a community of over 700,000 artists, labels, and publishers worldwide.1 SoundExchange allows for digital service providers, such as Spotify to use artists’ work fairly and promptly to meet their professional needs.2 For example, artists can use SoundExchange as a free service via their website or app by tracking their recordings and overall managing their business as a creator.3 It also collects royalties on behalf of artists and recording labels from services that play artists’ music. SoundExchange has been named one of the fastest growing companies, responsible for more than eight billion dollars worth of distributions, and has been named one of the most innovative companies.4
Not only has John been an innovator, but he has also served as an entertainment lawyer for over 30 years, helping clients with intellectual property issues, specifically copyright, and other legal matters in the entertainment industry. He is well versed in entertainment law, advising clients that are either artists themselves or a producer of entertainment for products such as film, television, or visual arts. Some of John’s well-known clients include five-time Grammy winner Mary-Chapin Carpenter and Harry Belafonte. John was even shouted out as a special thank you during Mary-Chapin Carpenter’s first Grammy-winning acceptance speech!
In addition to helping artists manage their work, John Simson has earned his own Emmy for his music supervision of the PBS series, “American Roots Music.” He noted in an interview for PopStyle that his eye for creativeness and his critical thinking as a lawyer often went hand in hand during his career.5 During his time working to produce “American Roots Music”, John had to obtain over 150 compositions and recordings, and at the time had begun to start to creating SoundExchange.6
John Simson has also served as a Professor of Entertainment Law at Washington College of Law and Georgetown University Law Center. He has said that with his extensive experience with the music industry and entertainment law, he has learned one of the best takeaways from his career is “fairness, transparency, inclusion, ensuring that all stakeholders are treated with respect. But, also, to question why things are done in a particular way, if that way no longer makes sense.”7
John was named the Outstanding Volunteer Lawyer by Washington Area Lawyers for the Arts on their 10th Anniversary. John Simson remains a leading innovator of legal entertainment and is well-versed in current legal issues dominating the entertainment industry, such as artificial intelligence, artists’ rights, and intellectual property.
John Simson’s career story from University at Buffalo’s Law School to becoming an innovative, driven, and inspiring entertainment lawyer is an inspiring story for any law student or aspiring entertainment attorney.
- https://www.soundexchange.com/ ↩︎
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- https://popstyletv.com/an-exclusive-interview-with-legendary-music-industry-veteran-professor-john-simson/ ↩︎
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- https://popstyletv.com/an-exclusive-interview-with-legendary-music-industry-veteran-professor-john-simson/ ↩︎
Image credits: https://www.american.edu/kogod/faculty/simson.cfm
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