ENTERTAINMENT
ATTORNEY
JAY B ROSS
DISTRIBUTION
BY
CITY HALL RECORDS
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For the last fifteen years, Ross has added to his activities the
creation of a “Right of Publicity” division to his firm. His
competitors are mainly not lawyers who function similarly to agents
relative to the rights of various Artists, both living and dead. His
exclusive and non-exclusive clients include such notables as, Jay
Gordon, James Brown, Ray Charles, Dinah Washington, Leadbelly, Louis
Jordan, Big Mama Thornton, Judy Tenuta, Tom Dreesen, Emo Phillips, Gene
“Duke of Earl” Chandler, The Spaniels, The Chi-Lites, Betty Everett,
Woody Gunthrie, Mahalia Jackson, Dizzy Gillespie, Bessie Smith, Ethel
Waters, Ramsey Lewis, Benny Goodman, Big Joe Turner, Willie Dixon, Joe
Williams, Clara Ward and the list literally goes on and on. Jay Ross was born on February 12th in Brooklyn, New York. A child with an avid curiosity about life and learning he went on to become the Senior Class President and Valedictorian of West Rockford Illinois High School. His quest for higher learning led him to the halls of the University of Wisconsin where he graduated with a Bachelors of Science Degree. He then attended The University of Illinois School of Law where he graduated. He worked his way through Law School by founding Blytham Ltd. Booking Agency and also worked for Upward Bound. Later he taught at a public school in Chicago. He was then duly admitted to the Illinois Bar. Mr. Ross has practiced primarily Entertainment Law since and was admitted to practice in the State of New York in 1987. Mr. Ross has been called in to consult on and supervise negotiations on many occasions. He has negotiated recording, licensing and publishing agreements with every major record company and with most of the prominent television and film corporations. He either consults or negotiates at least one recording contract per month. Mr. Ross was the guiding force behind one of the largest artist’s shares secured for a pay-per-view (James Brown-Warner Brothers Pay-Per-View). He has created numerous contracts for independent entertainment companies, customizing each one to fit the client’s particular needs. He was instrumental in the drafting of a law pertaining to the contracting of minors from Illinois in the entertainment industry that protects both the company and the minor. He has represented large companies for tour support, corporate sponsorship, contracting with corporate spokespersons and other entertainment related activities. Mr. Ross is consulting relative to ongoing copyright disputes of James Brown’s original musical creations that are presently being heard. He was instrumental in developing the precedents that now protect artists whose material is sampled without permission. He is currently working with a former president of Tri-Star Pictures and a former president of CBS-TV assisting them relative to their respective film and television companies. Mr. Ross has written articles for The Entertainment Law and Finance Newsletter, The Blues Heaven Foundation Newsletter, Hollywood East Magazine, The Daily Law Bulletin, Screen Magazine, The Illinois Entertainer and The NARAS Foundation Quarterly. He has even hosted a radio program about Entertainment Law on WYTZ-FM, then Chicago’s ABC radio affiliate, for five years. He also produced/hosted the ultimate insider’s television show, “Backstage with Jay B. Ross”. Mr. Ross has taught Entertainment Law at the Kent School of Law and Previously taught with the Chicago Board of Education and instructed on Entertainment Law and Negotiation Techniques at Columbia College. He has been a guest lecturer at Rockford College, John Marshall School of Law, University of Illinois Law School, The Chicago Bar Association Decalogue Society, Entertainment Law Committee of the Chicago Bar Association, The National Association of Independent Record Distributors (NAIRD), The Rhythm and Blues Convention, Jack The Rapper, The New Music Seminar, Billboard Magazine Panel, MIDEM, The Cutting Edge Music Conference (Louisiana Convention on Legal Education), and numerous NARAS (Grammy Awards) panels. For these persons or their heirs, he has sued for non payment of royalties for unauthorized use of images, royalties for artists whose songs are used in commercials under AFTRA rules, licensing of T-shirts, postcards, calenders, use on postage stamps, and many others. In addition to all of the above, recently Ross is engaged in the termination of publishing rights and their recapture by the songwriters and their heirs and monies due under the newest sources of income in the music industry, collection of monies under the Home Audio Digital Tape Act and Japanese Record Rental Royalties. For further information contact: Jay B. Ross at (312)633-9000. E-Mail: music_law@msn.com
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