biography

Steven S. Sidman is a deeply experienced, highly regarded transactional attorney dealing in the business of pop culture. His practice focuses on the modern entertainment, food & beverage and hospitality industries.

For 25 years, Steve has provided sophisticated, insightful front-line legal advice and business affairs counsel to highly creative high-performance talent and high-profile individuals, as well as their various entrepreneurial ventures. His clients have included legendary recording artists and songwriters, Emmy-winning on-screen talent, creators and showrunners, iconic athletes from a variety of sports, and their various production companies and furnishing entities.

Additionally, over the last decade, Steve has also served as outside counsel to some of the world’s most iconic brands, advising corporations concerning a wide array of goods and services. He also spearheads a nationally renowned practice as lead counsel and trusted advisor to some of the world’s foremost chefs, restaurateurs and food & beverage brands.

Steve’s specific areas of professional concentration include:

Recorded Music

R...

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  • Representative Transactions
    • Representative client relations include serving as the outside general counsel and business advisor for a wide array of individuals, companies and entrepreneurial ventures, including the following recent and/or ongoing representations:
    • Legendary recording artists and songwriters across popular musical genres in all facets of their careers, including the renegotiation of cornerstone agreements.
    • Iconic pop music producers and songwriters in record producer and music publishing agreements, as well as all related licensing relationships.
    • A “Big 3” global music group, analyzing its core contractual relationships with its artists across the group’s labels and imprints, for use in connection with a database to be deployed in connection with the commercial exploitation of the group’s recorded music assets.
    • The world-leading film & TV streaming service in connection with music rights clearances for a client-owned major motion picture release and client-owned television series and related soundtrack album rights.
    • An iconic music industry executive in connection with various matters related to his various entrepreneurial ventures, including recorded music, music publishing, book publishing matters, multiple television series development agreements, podcasting deals and motion picture investments.
    • An NCAA Division 1 national championship-winning college football quarterback in all NIL, corporate and intellectual property-related matters.
    • Multiple NBA stars in multiple legal matters unrelated to their player contracts.
    • A World Top-Five professional golfer in the negotiation of an international product endorsement and personal services agreement.
    • Multiple internationally renowned independent record labels in the Latinx music market across all matters related to recorded music and music publishing.
    • A nationally renowned record production and songwriting duo, in multiple production agreements with global superstar recording artists and a music publishing agreement with a major international music publisher.
    • An international fragrance manufacturer and an international fashion design house in music licensing matters related to advertising and marketing campaigns.
    • The estate of an iconic songwriter, advising the estate’s administrator about various matters related to the commercial exploitation of the composer’s repertoire and related intellectual property rights.
    • A multi-unit national health club brand in connection with its music licensing matters applicable to all club locations.
    • A young, up-and-coming recording, songwriting and performing duo with a groundbreaking, multi-faceted deal with a major international retailer and a rapidly growing national and international touring base, including the negotiation of foreign distribution agreements and music publishing administration deals.
    • A multi-national spirits and alcoholic beverage conglomerate in connection with the creation of a celebrity-driven “craft” spirit, and thereafter expanding that project beyond liquor and into ready-to-drink, canned alcoholic malt beverages.
    • A world-renowned fine-dining restaurateur for commercial real estate, corporate, intellectual property, and employment matters.
    • An internationally revered, culinarily ground-breaking chef-restaurateur and his business partner, overseeing all media-related aspects of their multiple businesses, book publishing and distribution agreements, product endorsements, personal appearance deals, and intellectual property portfolio protection, as well as multiple restaurant concept developments.
    • A nationally renowned chef, restaurateur and author in the negotiation of the motion picture rights agreement for his New York Times best-selling memoir, as well as all related agreements.
    • An award-winning actor/writer/director/producer of an iconic American major network sitcom in connection with investments in the food & beverage and hospitality industries.
    • An iconic prepared foods and lifestyle brand in negotiations for multiple celebrity endorsement agreements related to its core product and dietary services line.
    • A nationally recognized chef-restaurateur in the settlement of trademark infringement charges, as well as the subsequent negotiation and documentation of multiple separate restaurant development and consulting deals, including in connection with a major international 5 -star hotel brand’s move into a major American metropolitan market.
    • A nationally recognized chef-restaurateur in the negotiation of a restaurant operating agreement for his first personally developed fine-dining concept, located in a landmark building in New York City.
    • A nationally recognized on-screen personality and content producer in the food TV space, as television production counsel in connection with the cable TV re-launch of his career-making show and related state tax credit issues.
    • A nationally recognized singer-songwriter-producer and TV personality in the negotiation of an “arena” deal for her restaurant brand.
    • Multiple highly regarded chef-restaurateurs in the negotiation of licensing agreements for the development of restaurants to be located in the terminal of a major international airport.
    • An internationally revered engineering professor in the negotiation of an on-screen talent agreement for a TV program developed by a joint venture among an Oscar-winning director-producer, the BBC and National Geographic.
    • An independent film production company regarding the production and distribution of a documentary film about the life of a legendary orchestral conductor.
    • Multiple ultra-high net worth individuals and family offices in connection with various investments in the entertainment industry.
    • An up-and-coming social media “influencer,” recording artist, songwriter and model for all matters related to her career.
  • Professional Honors
    • Rated Martindale-Hubbell® AV Preeminent® (peer-reviewed; awarded as of September 2014; 2014 – present)
    • Listed in Best Lawyers in America (Lawyer of the Year, copyright law, Atlanta region, 2023; copyright law, 2021, 2022, 2023; entertainment law, 2010)
    • Voted as a Georgia Super Lawyer (Entertainment Law): Super Lawyers magazine (2011-2021)
    • Ranked in the Top 100 of all Georgia Super Lawyers across all disciplines in 2015 and 2016
    • Selected as a “Rising Star” by the same publication in 2007 and 2009
    • Selected as one of the “Legal Elite” for entertainment law in Georgia: Georgia Trend magazine (2012, 2016-2021)

 

 

Atlanta

Steve Sidman

Partner

[email protected]

+1.404.334.0112

Credentials

Admissions

Georgia

Education

Emory University School of Law, J.D., 1997
Colgate University, B.A., cum laude, 1992

Prior Law Firm Experience

Greenberg Traurig
Carlton Fields

Practice Areas