THE
EARLEY LAW FIRM
Matt E. Earley holds a B.S.B.A. with a specialization in Production & Operations Management from Bowling Green State University, and a J.D. from Capital University Law School. Upon graduating law school, Matt was inducted into the Order of the Curia National Honorary Legal Fraternity, and also earned the CALI Excellence for the Future Award for outstanding achievement in the study of Unfair Trade Practices.
Matt worked for over seven years in the music & video industry for companies such as Sony Music Distribution and Arrow Distributing Company (now called EDGE Entertainment Distribution) before establishing his own law firm in 2006. During that time, Matt negotiated recording, distribution, and production contracts for several regional and national artists, and directly participated in the marketing efforts for many established artists. Additionally, during law school, Matt clerked for the distinguished entertainment attorney, Leon David Bass. Matt also wrote the paper entitled "P2P Royalties: A Statutory Licensing Scheme" under the editing direction of Prof. Bob Berry, Professor Emeritus of Boston College Law School and co-author of Law and Business of the Entertainment Industries 2nd ed. Matt's paper explored the costs and benefits to implementing a royalty-based compulsory license upon music distributed through peer-to-peer networks.
Matt has negotiated distribution agreements on behalf of EDGE Entertainment with artists such as Ween, the Whispers, Hammock, Tha U, and many others. While at Sony, Matt participated in various marketing campaigns for artists such as Bob Dylan, John Mellencamp, Destiny's Child, and many others. Finally, Matt has represented Arrow Distributing at festivals including SXSW and CMJ NYC, and has spoken as a moderator at the Cleveland Music Festival and Allbiz music conference.
In his law practice, Matt primarily works with indie rock groups and singer-songwriters, but does welcome inquiries from artists of other genres. Matt works with "baby bands" and also acts of national acclaim. Should you become a client of Matt's, his primary duty will be to work with your manager(s), accountant(s), recording label/distributor, publisher, booking agent(s), and other members of your team to be sure that every document adequately and correctly spells out the deal at hand; with the ultimate aim toward accomplishing your career goals.
Matt can be reached at (614) 360-3275, and his email address is me@sportsentertainmentlaw.com.