Six Partners Named to Billboard’s Top Music Lawyers List

Six Latham & Watkins partners have been named to Billboard’s 2023 Top Music Lawyers list: Sy Damle, Gabe Fleet, Andy Gass, Alli Stillman, Jonathan West, and Joe Wetzel. Billboard’s annual list honors “the best attorneys in the business.” All six partners have appeared on this list for at least three consecutive years.

Billboard recognized Damle, Gass, Stillman, and Wetzel for advising “major music companies and organizations including Spotify, Live Nation, Meta, Roblox, Pandora, iHeartMedia, the Digital Media Association, the National Association of Broadcasters and the Digital Licensee Coordinator.” The publication also highlighted the firm’s work on a high-stakes and high-profile dispute before the Copyright Royalty Board on behalf of Spotify regarding royalty rates paid by music streaming platforms to music publishers and songwriters.

West – a member of the firm’s Entertainment, Sports & Media Practice – is well recognized for representing industry leading media companies and high-profile entertainers in connection with major asset acquisitions, as well as negotiating personal services agreements and advising on copyright and licensing matters within the music industry.

Gabe Fleet, who joined the firm in March 2023, was honored by Billboard for his work as Executive Vice President of Business Affairs and Chief Music Licensing Counsel at iHeartMedia. Looking toward the future of music industry law, Billboard quoted Gass, saying: “sorting out the relationship between music rights owners on one hand and the AI sector on the other is the most pressing challenge facing the music industry.”