Sponsor Profiles

Partner Frank Scibilia co-chairs Pryor Cashman’s Copyright and Music practices. Frank both litigates copyright and music matters and engages in music transactional work and cutting-edge copyright counseling. Frank is engaged at the forefront of the firm’s practices in litigation, transactions, and regulatory work precisely because his clients often have common interests across all three. Frank’s deep knowledge of copyright law as it applies to the music industry—including the intricacies of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the Music Modernization Act, and the statutory licenses in Sections 114 and 115 and termination provisions in Sections 203 and 304 of the U.S. Copyright Act—helps his clients anticipate legal issues and trends, navigate obstacles, and achieve success in both litigation and business transactions.

Prospective buyers and sellers of catalogs of music assets turn to Frank for his skillful and thorough copyright due diligence of these assets, which provides invaluable assistance in determining the overall value of the assets. For example, Frank handled all of the U.S. due diligence for the landmark sales of EMI Music Publishing and EMI Recorded Music Frank also negotiates and drafts catalog purchase and sale agreements.

Frank has also negotiated and/or drafted licenses for the exploitation of musical works and sound recordings on a myriad of digital platforms, including audio and video streaming services, cloud locker services, lyric services, crowd-sourced music services, and sheet music, guitar tab, and fitness apps and services. Frank negotiated the original “New Digital Media Agreements” that became recognized as the template agreements by which record labels obtained rights from music publishers to bundle in licenses with services for certain types of digital music products.