Copyright Society of the South

That’s My Song: The World of Nashville Songwriters
2026-05-13 11:30 - 13:00 (America/Chicago)
Attorney and Vanderbilt law professor Joseph Fishman will report original interview data on the working lives of Nashville songwriters. The presentation will be based on Joseph Fishman’s book in progress, That’s My Song, which tells the story of both how songs get made and how those songs get people paid. The presentation will focus particularly on songwriters’ most important revenue streams and their perceived allies and adversaries within the music ecosystem.
Fishman’s research focuses on intellectual property, particularly as it affects the music industry. His recent scholarship has covered such legal issues as infringing similarity between songs, the role of expert witnesses in music copyright litigation, judges’ definition of musical originality, and trademark issues related to sound recordings. He is currently writing a book on how law affects the livelihoods of professional songwriters. He has also written extensively on the law of trade secrecy. His work has appeared in leading academic journals, including the Harvard Law Review, NYU Law Review, and the California Law Review, and he is a regular commentator in major media outlets such as The New York Times, NPR, USA Today, and Billboard.
Professor Fishman joined Vanderbilt’s law faculty in fall 2015 after serving as a Climenko Fellow and Lecturer in Law at Harvard Law School. He earned his A.B. magna cum laude from Harvard College with a joint major in music and religion, his M.Phil. in musicology from the University of Cambridge, and his J.D. cum laude from Harvard Law School. After law school, he was a law clerk for Judge Jeffrey R. Howard of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and for Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. He practiced as an associate at Jenner & Block in the firm’s content, media, and entertainment group, where he specialized in litigation involving the music industry, before entering the legal academy.

This is a private event for Society members and their registered guests. If you are interested in becoming a member of the Copyright Society of the South, or if you are an active member and did not receive your email invitation, contact us at copyrightsocietyofthesouth@gmail.com .
