Greenberg Traurig

CLIENTS: Kenny Chesney, Miranda Lambert, Florida Georgia Line, Steve Martin, Shinedown, Kaleo, Halestorm

HIGHLIGHTS: Re-negotiating Miranda Lambert’s Sony deal; using the branding acumen from Blue Chair Bay Rum to do FGL’s partnership with Jose Cuervo and the Florida Georgia Line House; going to Iceland to sign Kaleo and getting them a pop deal.

THOUGHTS ON THE “NEW” NASHVILLE:
Containing the growth is key, because if it gets too big too fast, you lose the the heart and the soul of why people go there. It’s a creative place; those people need somewhere they can afford to be, where they can have community.

From a negotiating standpoint, the 360 deal is heading into a new room. The superstars aren’t having to incentivize labels, but for solid acts who can tour and headline, it’s going to become a factor. In pop, it doesn’t have as big a financial impact, but the labels know with country, all these acts do is work—and that’s a significant amount of money.

Make sure you’ve got solid representation. I’m seeing a lot of work done for $2,500, where a new lawyer wants the fees, but they don’t have enough perspective or experience. People come to me all the time to try to clean this stuff up—and these are legal agreements.