Media
Revealed: Billboard’s 2021 Top Music Lawyers | Danielle Aguirre | Billboard
Music Publishing
Danielle Aguirre
Executive VP/general counsel, National Music Publishers’ Association
Even without the pandemic, it was going to be a challenging year for Aguirre, 43, as she led the NMPA’s efforts in building the Mechanical Licensing Collective, which opened for business on Jan. 1 and will begin administering $424 million in unmatched royalties that were turned over to it under the Music Modernization Act. The NMPA also continues to defend a 44% rate increase for songwriters that was approved by the Copyright Royalty Board but which is now under review, while Aguirre and her team are keeping abreast of new technology platforms like Twitch, Snap and TikTok that use music and need the appropriate licenses. “COVID-19 has energized new entrants to the market,” she says, “and they must understand that if they utilize music, they must pay music creators.”
The Songs That Got Me Through the Pandemic: “I have been listening to the music podcast Rivals, and it has led me to relisten to many classics I hadn’t focused on for a while. It has been fun and a great diversion to listen to the likes of Fleetwood Mac, Billy Joel, Guns N’ Roses, N.W.A, The Beach Boys, Neil Young, Oasis, Nicki Minaj, Pearl Jam and more in the context of their music rivalries.”
Read on Billboard