John Beiter
John Beiter has practiced entertainment law for over 25 years.  His clients have included recording artists, record companies, songwriters, music publishers, filmmakers, and authors regarding talent agreements, entity formation, copyright acquisition and a wide variety of other transactional matters.  His institutional clients include the Americana Music Association, the International Entertainment Buyers Association, and SESAC.  He has been listed in Best Lawyers in America in Entertainment-Music since 2012 and his new firm is listed in the 2020 Best Law Firms in Entertainment-Music, Tier 1 Nashville.  He is a member of the Recording Academy, Country Music Association, and American and Tennessee Bar Association entertainment law sections, and is a former Leadership Music board member and former Chairman of the Nashville Bar Association Entertainment Law Committee.  Beiter helped draft the Songwriters Capital Gains Tax Equity Act and has spoken on several roundtables presented by the Copyright Office and the USPTO.  Previously, he wrote songs for a Nashville music publisher.

Marghie Evans
An expert in the rights clearance field, especially for audio-visual and new media and experienced music publishing executive, Marghie Evans is partner at Do Write Music in Nashville.  She sits on the boards of Leadership Music and the Copyright Society of the South and consults with Fair Trade Music International.

Do Write Music have been in business for 12 years, and represents various songwriters including Janis Ian, Delbert McClinton, Robin Zander (Cheap Trick), Victoria Shaw, Bobby Pinson, Old Crow Medicine Show and Matthan Minster (Cage the Elephant).  Their catalogue includes hits for Toby Keith, Trace Adkins, Blake Shelton, and Christina Aguilera.  Do Write Music was winner of 2018 Music Row song of the year “Most People Are Good”, recorded by Luke Bryant on behalf of their client, songwriter Ed Hill.

Prior to setting up Do Write Music, Marghie was Head of Rights & Clearances for PolyGram Filmed Entertainment and Universal Pictures in London, England. That’s where she learned the music publishing business – licensing in music for film and TV.  She also acted as a consultant (on behalf of both PolyGram and Universal) to the MCPS (Mechanical Rights Protection Society) and BPI (British Phonographic Industry) on rights clearance for new media.

Marghie grew up in Toronto where she was a professional singer/songwriter throughout the 1980s.  She toured Ontario with her eponymous band and appeared on CBC’s “The Entertainers” and “Opry North”.  She eventually signed with RCA Canada and scored a top 20 country hit with “Some Things Never Change” in 1986.  She moved to England in 1988.

Michael Harrington
Dr. E. Michael Harrington has served as consultant and expert witness in hundreds of music copyright/IP matters involving The We Shall Overcome Foundation, Pharrell Williams, Robin Thicke, Taylor Swift, Led Zeppelin, Katy Perry, Dixie Chicks, Adele, Steven Spielberg, Led Zeppelin, Steve Perry, 50 Cent, Tupac, Lady Gaga, Deadmau5, Danger Mouse, Jib Jab, Adam Levine, Busta Rhymes, Samsung, HBO and others.

On February 5, 2020, he spoke about AI and creating music at the “Copyright in the Age of Artificial Intelligence” symposium sponsored by the U. S. Copyright Office and WorldIntellectual Property Organization at the Library of Congress. https://www.copyright.gov/events/artificial-intelligence/

As expert witness, he is responsible for freeing the iconic civil rights anthem, “We Shall Overcome,” on January 26, 2018:  nyti.ms/2Eiibuo

On August 30, 2016, his writings and interviews were cited as authorities in the “Brief of Amici Curiae, 212 Songwriters, Composers, Musicians, and Producers in Support of Appellants” in the “Blurred Lines” decision at the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit bit.ly/2FApIqI.  He co-authored the Brief of Amici Curiae Musicologists in Support of Williams & Thicke, Led Zeppelin and Katy Perry in their appeals to the Ninth Circuit.

He has been interviewed by media including New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Bloomberg Law, NPR, Bravo, CNN, BBC, CBC, The Guardian, ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, Huffington Post, Fortune, Esquire, Salon and others, and lectured at Beverly Hills Bar, Texas Bar, Boston Bar, Minnesota Bar, Harvard Law School, Harvard Business, the American Bar Association, GWU Law, Cardozo Law, BC Law, UNH Law, Vanderbilt Law, Penn State Law, Brooklyn Law, William Mitchell Law, Arizona State Law, NYU, and more than 300 universities, festivals, conferences and organizations.

As Course Author at Berklee Online, Berklee and Coursera, he created the Coursera/Berklee Copyright Law in the Music Business which has attracted students from 117 countries: bit.ly/2zFPLfB. He also created the Berklee Online Graduate Music Business Law course bit.ly/2sifg03, and the Berklee Online Music Business Capstone course bit.ly/2HiHfDv

He was the Jemison Distinguished Professor of the Humanities at the University of Alabama-Birmingham and has taught at University of Miami, Ohio State, University of Pittsburgh, William Paterson University, Belmont University, Berklee and Berklee Online.

He has bicycled twice from Los Angeles to Nashville (2,500 miles) and once from Oregon to Nashville (3,400 miles).  bit.ly/UyfCdd

Randy Wachtler
Founder of 615 Music Companies, a leading worldwide independent production music company, active in more than 70 countries. 615 Music has earned more than 70 awards for excellence in music composition including two National EMMY’S.  615 Music is recognized as a Leader in the field of Sonic Branding & Production Music Libraries. The company was acquired by the Warner Music Group in 2010 and is now part of Warner/Chappell Production Music, where Wachtler served as President and CEO. Wachtler also co-founded the Production Music Association (PMA) based in Los Angeles, CA and most recently the past Chairman and current board member of that group. Current board member of AIMP-Nashville and has served on the boards of Leadership Music and National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS). Current President of RJW Music and Consulting.

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