Media Arts Lawyers Named to Billboard’s Top Music Lawyers List

David Vodicka’s Media Arts Lawyers is the Australian representative in Billboard’s Top Music Lawyers list for 2024.

Published this week, Billboard’s special shout-out identifies “the attorneys guiding superstars and industry-driving companies.”

Those legal eagles are responsible for “negotiating recording deals, global tours and catalog sales, their legal savvy drives the music business. And this year, they have much advice to offer on the rise of generative artificial intelligence,” notes Billboard.

Christine Lepera is named as the top music litigator in the United States, while Billboard highlights the exceptional work of founding partner Vodicka and music practice partners Rob Glass, Julian Hewitt, Stephen King, and Marcus Walkom.

According to the New York-based title, Media Arts Lawyers secured mergers and acquisitions totaling US$50 million over the past 18 months, including the “landmark” agreement with BMG for the recorded music rights to Jet’s iconic albums, Get Born and Shine On.

With the myriad options now at artists’ disposal, their team “must identify their specific goals,” Vodicka tells Billboard, “and needs to ensure the resources on offer from prospective suitors will support and strengthen the artist’s trajectory in both the short term and long term.”

The firm’s clients include Tame Impala, Dom Dolla, Rüfüs Du Sol, Timmy Trumpet, Ruel, Gotye, OneFour, Tones and I and Billboard’s 2024 Women in Music Icon Award winner Kylie Minogue, as well as festival promoters, record labels and entertainment companies such as Onelove, Future Classic, Untitled Group, Select Music and BenchMob.

Based in Melbourne, and with offices in Sydney, Brisbane and Auckland, MAL also represents AACTA and Logie awarded television and film talent, Emmy awarded production companies as well as celebrity chefs, designers, authors, visual artists, content creators, top-rating radio presenters and more.

“This prestigious acknowledgment marks a significant milestone for the firm,” reps say in a statement, “establishing it as the first Asia-Pacific entity to secure a spot on this esteemed list.”

Read more here.