Join Jeff Brabec, Todd Brabec, and Serona Elton for a deep dive into music rates, royalties and fees in 2025 and beyond. Topics include:

• Copyright Royalty Boards
• Rate Courts
• Legislation and litigation
• Rates set by statute in some areas (mechanicals and sound recordings)
• Negotiated rates in other areas (songs in films, television, ads and video games)
• Consent Decrees
• Mandatory arbitration and other dispute resolution and rate setting procedures
• Collection agents created by Congress
• Neighboring rights exclusions
• Multiple types of performing rights organizations with differing contracts, payment schedules, and ownership
• Direct and source licenses
• Non-interactive versus interactive streaming rules and payouts
• Reciprocal agreements between countries

These are just some of the factors that must be considered when dealing in the world of rates, royalties and fees in the world’s largest music market. This panel will discuss what you need to know when navigating this increasingly complex world of Performances, Mechanicals and Sync.

Attention attorneys: this activity is approved for 1 hour of Minimum Continuing Legal Education Credit by the State Bar of California.  The AIMP certifies that this activity conforms to the standards for approved education activities prescribed by the rules and regulations of the State Bar of California governing minimum continuing legal education.

Panelists:
Jeff Brabec, Esq., Senior Vice President Legal and Business Affairs BMG, Board Member The MLC, Co-author “Music, Money and Success”, Adjunct Professor USC

Todd Brabec, Esq., Entertainment Law attorney, former ASCAP Executive Vice President, Co-author “Music, Money and Success”, Adjunct Professor USC.

Serona Elton, Esq., Head of Educational Partnerships at The MLC, Professor and Vice Dean, University of Miami Frost School of Music.

AIMP Members (all levels): Free
AIMP Non-Members: $15

Meet The Panel:

Jeff Brabec is Senior Vice President of Business & Legal Affairs for BMG Rights Management (US) LLC (BMG).  Brabec specializes in evaluating, analyzing, projecting income and negotiating music publishing catalogue acquisitions.   A graduate of New York University School of Law, he has also been a government legal services attorney.  Brabec is the co-author with his twin brother Todd of the best-selling book “MUSIC, MONEY, AND SUCCESS: The Insider’s Guide To Making Money In The Music Business” (8th Edition / Schirmer Trade Books/Music Sales).  Variety Magazine selected the 8th Edition as one of The Best Music Books of 2019.   He is also co-author of the Music Publishing chapter of the 2018 Juris Publications multiple volume treatise “The Essential Guide To Entertainment Law.” He has been awarded the Deems Taylor Award for Excellence in Music Journalism, The Texas Star Award by the Entertainment & Sports Law Section of the State Bar of Texas for Outstanding Contribution and Achievement in the Field of Entertainment Law, the 2019 California Copyright Conference Apollo Award  Honoring Leadership and Achievement In the Music Industry and the 2023 Association of Independent Music Publishers’ Person Of The Year Award For His Support of Songwriters and Publishers. Brabec is an adjunct professor  at USC Thornton School of Music/Business Division where he teaches music publishing and licensing.  He Is also on the board of the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) which was established by the Music Modernization Act and on the board of the Canadian Publishers Committee (CPC) of SXWorks, LLC.

Todd Brabec, former ASCAP Executive Vice President and Worldwide Director of Membership, is an Entertainment Law attorney and industry consultant, a Deems Taylor Award winning co-author of  “Music, Money and Success: the Insider’s Guide to Making Money in the Music Business” (8th edition/Schirmer Books/ Music Sales) as well as the “Music Publishing Law” chapter in the 2018 Juris Publications two volume treatise “ The Essential Guide to Entertainment Law”, an Adjunct Professor at USC where he teaches the course on Music Licensing, Music Publishing and Film, Television and Video Game Scoring and Song Contracts and is a former Governing Committee member as well as Music and Budget Chair of the American Bar Association Forum on the Entertainment and Sports Industries. He is the recipient of the 2005 Educational Leadership Award from the Music and Entertainment Industry Educators Association (MEIEA),  the 2015 Texas Star Award from the Entertainment and Sports Law Section of the State Bar of Texas for Outstanding Contribution and Achievement in the Field of Entertainment Law, the 2019 Apollo Award from the California Copyright Conference for “excellence in the music industry via his leadership, achievements and commitments to the industry”, the 2023 AIMP Person of the Year for his support of songwriters and music publishers and is a graduate of the New York University School of Law.  Brabec lectures extensively throughout the world at conferences, universities, industry organizations and law firms and has been a panelist at major conferences and seminars throughout the world. During his 37 year career at ASCAP, he was in charge of all Membership operations throughout the world, all PRO competitive analysis as well as all advances, loans and other contractual financial arrangements and was responsible for signing many of ASCAP ‘s most successful songwriters, songwriter/artists and film and television composers. In addition, he significantly changed most of ASCAP’s distribution, payment and survey policies and rules and was responsible for significantly increasing the royalties and payment formulas for successful radio writers and film and television score and theme composers as well as eliminating practically all policies, formulas and rules which were not in the best interests of songwriters,  composers and music publishers or which had a negative effect on their earnings. He and his staffs were responsible for taking ASCAP from a total 20% overall market share and 60 million dollars in annual revenue to market share PRO  competitive dominance in radio, broadcast television and cable and worldwide top grossing feature film scores and 995 million dollars in annual revenue. Brabec lectures extensively throughout the world at conferences, universities, industry organizations and law firms and has been a panelist at major conferences and seminars throughout the world    including the bar associations of California, New York, Georgia, Texas, Florida, Minnesota, Washington D.C., Tennessee and Beverly Hills, NATPE, PLI, ABA annual conference,Game Developers Conference, among others. He is the author or co-author of 100’s of published articles on the business and law of music including the ABA Entertainment and Sports Lawyer, the International Association of Entertainment Lawyers annual Midem book, Entertainment, Law and Finance, Entertainment, Publishing and the Arts, Score, USC Law Spotlight, among others. His Mitchell Hamline Law Review article “The Performance Right: A World In Transition” was chosen by Thomson Reuters West as one of the best law review articles on Entertainment Law of 2016. Website: musicandmoney.com. Contact: toddbrabec@gmail.com.

Serona Elton is an experienced music industry professional, educator, and author. She is a full professor and the Interim Vice Dean of the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami. She is also the Director of the Music Industry Program at the school, and a Yamaha Master Educator. Additionally, she serves as Head of Educational Partnerships for The Mechanical Licensing Collective (The MLC). Elton co-authored the book Music Business Handbook and Career Guide (13th edition), and has contributed to news stories for NPR’s Marketplace, CNN.com, Billboard, and other outlets. She was awarded the first-ever Music Business Educator of the Year Bizzy Award by the Music Business Association in 2023. Elton is a member of the Promoting Peace, Education, and Cultural Exchange (PEACE) Through Music Award Committee (part of the U.S. Department of State Global Music Diplomacy Initiative), and serves as a council member on the College Music Society‘s Council on Music Business-Industry and serves as a Director-at-Large on the American Musicological Society Board of Directors. Previously, Elton worked for Warner Music Group and EMI Recorded Music North America, and has provided consulting services to Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, Zumba Fitness, and other music-related companies. She has also served as president of the Music and Entertainment Industry Educators Association (MEIEA), a trustee of the Copyright Society, chair of the Florida Bar Entertainment, Arts, and Sports Law Section, and a governor on the Recording Academy, Florida Chapter, Board of Governors. She is also an alumnus of the Nashville-based Leadership Music program, and a licensed attorney in New York and Florida.