As part of my Above The Noise Music Industry Podcast series it wouldn't be complete if we didn't talk about music law. How many times have you wondered if somebody could "steal" your song, or what happens if you have the same name as another band, or what is copyright, or a trademark, etc... ? To answer all these questions and more I sat down with entertainment attorney from Austin Texas, Joseph Stallone.
Aaron Bethune.
Joseph Stallone is accustomed to wearing many hats. A partner in the firm Oaks, Hartline & Daly, Stallone is a top entertainment lawyer and civil litigator. He is a professor of Legal Aspects of the Music Industry at Austin Community College, and frequently tapped as a speaker and panelist on the subject.
Deeply rooted in the music industry, Stallone serves as a Governor of the Texas chapter of the Recording Academy (Grammys,) and worked on the Entertainment Law Initiative for The GRAMMY Foundation. But it was as a member of the board of the Boys and Girls Club Capitol Area, where he was struck by the stark absence of music for so many of Austin’s youth.
Moved to bring music to the kids who need it most, Stallone made it a personal mission to start Grounded in Music (http://www.groundedinmusic.org), and to pull together a team of talented and resourceful individuals to make music a steady and reliable source of laughter, learning, self-expression and confidence for the children of the Boys and Girls Club.