A legal professional, academic, and art enthusiast, Michael Peters focuses on the complex and nuanced interplays between media, formats, and mediums of the modern entertainment industry. With a specialty in music rights management, media financing, and dispute resolution, Peters is uniquely positioned to advise and advocate for modern artists, content creators, and entrepreneurs who wish to build their brand and media presence empire.

Peters represents a wide variety of clients in negotiating complex agreements and disputes relating to music production, music distribution, media finance, music publishing and administration, film and TV production and distribution, multi-media licensing, and generative artificial intelligence.

Peters is an adjunct professor at Southwestern Law School teaching Independent Film Finance and Distribution and Metaverse, Web3, and NFT Law. He remains invested in the interplay between art, technology, and law.

Prior to becoming an attorney to pursue his passion for advocating for artists and the arts, Peters spent four years working as a musician, with musicians, and for music companies in various facets including song pitching, A&R, film and TV licensing, recording, producing, songwriting, and performing in musical groups around the greater Los Angeles area.

Peters has negotiated over 50 multi-million-dollar senior financing deals including Terrifier 3, Sound of Freedom, Woman of The Hour (starring Anna Kendrick), Cash Out (John Travolta), Savage Salvation (Robert DeNiro, John Malkovich), Gunner (Morgan Freeman, Liam Hemsworth, John Travolta), 97 Minutes (Alec Baldwin), Guns Up (Kevin James), and the Elements Music Festival.

As general music counsel, Peters advises a diverse client base that includes industry leaders such as Imagine Entertainment, Henson Studios, and The Comedy Store. He also represents innovative children’s media brands like Kidoodle and the award-winning podcast Story Pirates, which has featured talent including Lin-Manuel Miranda, Julie Andrews, Billy Eichner, and Bowen Yang.

Peters regularly negotiates music publishing, merchandising, and rights agreements on behalf of top-tier artists and entertainment companies. His portfolio includes Kevin Hart’s Hartbeat—where he played a key role in their Warner/Chappell partnership, the multi-million-dollar sale of a prominent music news outlet to a major media conglomerate, Jim Henson Studios, Lion Forge Entertainment (Iyanu), and music managers and artists such as Ron Rainey (Steppenwolf, August Darnell), Monica Sutton, Chechi Sarai (The Voice 2024), A Boy Named Barbara, Julianna Glasse, Jared Forman (Making a Murderer, Star Wars: Rebels), Ryan Kern (The Dog Bite Murders), and Boardwalk (Chef’s Table).

Peters’ work as production counsel includes music-focused programming such as The Weeknd: Live at SoFi Stadium (HBO), Amazon Music Live, Amazon Music: City Sessions, Apple Music Live, and Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock (Henson).

He has negotiated high-profile music video deals for viral hits like Megan Thee Stallion’s “Cry Baby,” Cardi B’s “WAP,” and Ben Platt’s “The Rain,” serving as counsel to choreographer JaQuel Knight.

Peters’ work in music talent representation spans a range of productions including Bono and the Edge: A Sort of Homecoming, Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues, Carlos, Billie Eilish: The World’s A Little Blurry, Cinnamon (Village Road Show), Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock, Harriet the Spy, Accidental Wolf, and Yo Gabba Gabba. Peters also serves as music supervisor counsel for major film and streaming projects such as Lyle Lyle Crocodile, The Color Purple, Dear Evan Hansen, Better Man, and Amazon’s Countdown. 

Publications and Speaking Engagements 

• “Mental Illness in the Legal Profession Strategies for Coping,” Beverly Hills Bar Association, 2024 
• “Industry Update Music Royalties,” Beverly Hills Bar Association, 2023 
• “Demystifying Artificial Intelligence in the Entertainment Industry,” Beverly Hills Bar Association, 2023 
• “Why Music Supervisors are Clashing with Netflix,” Los Angeles Times, 2022 
• “The Mechanical Licensing Collective: What it is, Why you should care, and How to make it work for you,” Music Connection, 2021 
• “Young v Trump 2020: No More Rockin’ in the Free World,” Daily Journal, 2020 
• “Skidmore v Led Zeppelin: A stairway to clearer lines in music copyright?” Daily Journal, 2020 

Media Mentions 

• “Kevin Hart’s Hartbeat and Warner Chappell Publishing Strike Global Partnership,” Variety, 2022 
• “Mariah Carey sued by writer of another song named ‘All I Want for Christmas Is You’,” Los Angeles Times, 2022 

Affiliations 

• Beverly Hills Bar Association – Entertainment Law Section 
• Recording Academy 
• Association of Independent Music Publishers 

Bar Admissions 

• State Bar of California, December 2018 
• United States District Court, Central District of California, December 2018 

Education 

• Southwestern Law School, J.D. 
• California State University at Northridge, B.A.