On Fri, Feb. 2, 2024, the Recording Academy Entertainment Law Initiative will return to the Beverly Wilshire Hotel for its annual GRAMMY Week Event to honor Atlantic Records’ Executive Vice President of Business & Legal Affairs and General Counsel, Michael Kushner. He will be presented with the 2024 Entertainment Law Initiative Service Award, given each year to an attorney who has demonstrated a commitment to advancing and supporting the music community through service. Capitol Music Group Chair & Chief Executive Officer Michelle Jubelirer will deliver a keynote address at the event.
“Michael’s dedication to the music industry and his service to the Academy’s Entertainment Law Initiative make him an exceptionally deserving recipient of the ELI Service Award,” said Harvey Mason jr., CEO of the Recording Academy. “We look forward to celebrating his accomplishments at the 26th Annual ELI GRAMMY Week Event, and hosting Michelle – a trailblazing woman in music – as the keynote speaker as we gather with the professionals and students making an impact in entertainment law.”
“We’re pleased to be honoring Michael, who has dedicated so much time to our ELI program, and to welcome Michelle as our keynote speaker at the 2024 ELI GRAMMY Week Event,” said Neil Crilly, Managing Director of Industry Leader Engagement & Chapter Operations at the Recording Academy. “Our Executive Committee should take immense pride in its year-round efforts to support our peers in entertainment law and bring this esteemed program to fruition.”
The recipient of the Service Award is selected each year by ELI’s Executive Committee, which serves to support the program in crediting deserving leaders in the entertainment law community as well as mentoring aspiring professionals in the field. ELI’s 2023-24 Executive Committee is comprised of a diverse group of influential figures in entertainment law whose combined expertise spans the depth of the industry.
The ELI GRAMMY Week Event will also celebrate the winner and two runners-up of the Entertainment Law Initiative Writing Competition, co-sponsored by the American Bar Association, which challenges students in Juris Doctorate and Master of Laws programs at U.S. law schools to research a pressing legal issue facing the modern music industry and outline a proposed solution in a 3,000-word essay. A $10,000 scholarship is awarded to the author of the winning paper, and a $2,500 scholarship is awarded to two runners-up, and the winning paper will be published in the ABA’s journal Entertainment & Sports Lawyer.
The winner will also receive travel and tickets to Los Angeles to attend the 66th Annual GRAMMY Awards, MusiCares Person of the Year and the ELI GRAMMY Week Event. The contest is open to JD and LLM candidates at U.S. law schools and students have until Jan. 3, 2024 to enter the contest. See official rules, detailed prize packages and deadlines at recordingacademy.com/eli.
Individual tickets and a limited number of discounted student tickets to the ELI GRAMMY Week Event will go on sale in late November.
Media RSVP for the ELI GRAMMY Week Event is mandatory, and space is limited. Please email madison.thomas@rcpmk.com to RSVP.
GRAMMY Week culminates with the 2024 GRAMMYs, officially known as the 66th GRAMMY Awards, which will return to Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena on Sun, Feb. 4, 2024, and will broadcast live on the CBS Television Network and stream live and on-demand on Paramount+ at 8-11:30 p.m. ET/5-8:30 p.m. PT.
ABOUT MICHAEL KUSHNER
Michael Kushner is Atlantic Records’ EVP, Business & Legal Affairs and general counsel. He heads up the company’s Business & Legal Affairs, Contract Administration and A&R Administration departments.
Michael began his music career at PolyGram Records in 1987. In 1994, Michael joined sister company Philips Media as SVP, Multimedia Music. In 1996, Michael joined Crave Records, Mariah Carey’s joint venture label with Sony Music, and when that label was absorbed into Sony, he joined Sony Wonder as SVP, Business Development. Michael joined Island Def Jam as its head of Business & Legal Affairs in 1999, and then joined Atlantic Records in his current role, which he has held since 2001.
In 2019, Michael was honored by the T.J. Martell Foundation with its Lifetime Music Industry Award, and currently serves as a board member. Since 1987, Michael has served as a founding board member of Bang on a Can, a NYC-based music organization dedicated to commissioning, performing and teaching adventurous new music, and is currently the board president.
Michael is a graduate of Franklin & Marshall College, where he received his BA in English literature. He earned his JD degree at Columbia.
ABOUT MICHELLE JUBELIRER
Michelle Jubelirer is Chair & Chief Executive Officer of Capitol Music Group (CMG), having been appointed to that position in December 2021. As one of the highest-ranking women executives in the entertainment industry, Jubelirer is the first woman to lead Capitol in its 80-year history and was the first woman to be named both Chair and CEO of a major label group within the music industry. CMG’s portfolio of labels includes the flagship, Capitol Records, Astralwerks, Blue Note Records, Capitol Christian Music Group, Motown Records, and Priority Records.
Among her many achievements since taking the reins of CMG, Jubelirer has led the charge to develop and guide rapper Ice Spice—the industry’s biggest breakout artist in two years—to global superstardom, formulated the strategy behind the biggest global single of Sam Smith’s career, the Grammy Award-winning “Unholy,” and brought Paul McCartney back to CMG, resulting in the artist’s first solo #1 album debut and his best-selling album in more than a decade.
Prior to joining CMG in 2013 as Chief Operating Officer and later COO & President, Jubelirer was partner in one of the industry’s most highly regarded law firms – King, Holmes, Paterno & Berliner. She began her career as a mergers and acquisitions attorney at New York’s Simpson Thacher & Bartlett in 1999 before joining Sony Music in 2003.
She is active in social and cultural issues, especially as a longtime and vocal advocate for women’s reproductive rights. She recently completed a six-year term on the Planned Parenthood Federation of America Board of Directors and is currently serving on the board of the UCLA Herb Albert School of Music.
