For a musician, charting is generally perceived as a good thing. Whether it’s a national singles list like the Billboard Hot 100 or a local record store’s Top 10 of the Week, being listed among your peers can be rewarding.
Robert Meitus is now on a chart of a different kind—Billboard magazine has just named him one of America’s “Top Music Lawyers” for 2023.
Meitus, a 2000 Indiana University Maurer School of Law graduate, and adjunct faculty member since 2001, is managing partner at Bloomington-based Meitus Gelbert Rose, where three other Maurer graduates work—partner Tony Rose ’92, associate Keltie Haley ’20, and clerk and upcoming associate Megan Wheeler ’23.
Responsible for the entertainment legal matters for many national clients, including musical artists such as Cage the Elephant, Third Eye Blind, The Alan Parsons Project, Shawn Colvin, and the estate of John Prine, as well as numerous filmmakers, authors, record labels, and other creative business clients, Meitus’ practice ranges from negotiating all types of contracts to protection and sales of intellectual property rights to resolving entertainment-related legal disputes.
The Billboard Top Music Lawyers of 2023 were nominated by their firms and peers and chosen by the magazine’s editors. The magazine asked the class about some of the most important issues facing the music industry today and beyond.
“Working with artists such as Sufjan Stevens, Keb’ Mo’, and Nathan Johnson (composer for Glass Onion and Knives Out), Meitus says a pressing concern for the music business remains ‘gender and racial equity throughout the industry,’ including record production, airplay, the Grammys, and high-level employment opportunities in record labels, publishers, artist management, and other companies,” the magazine said.
In addition to his work as an attorney, Meitus is an entrepreneur. Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, he co-founded and served as vice president for industry development and legal at Mandolin, an innovative broadcast and communications platform that helped pioneer high-quality concert livestreams and connections between artists and fans. The company announced last week that after three years—and with live music audiences back in person—they were ceasing operations.
“I’m confident that Mandolin did much good in the world for music artists and fans and to push the development of livestream technology and fan engagement tools,” Meitus said. “Where this technology and the Mandolin family end up going in the future is a story yet to be written—but one that I look forward to.”
Meitus teaches Entertainment Law and the IP Practicum in Entertainment Law at the Maurer School of Law and serves as an adjunct professor with the school’s Center for Intellectual Property Law.