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By : Oliwe Anthony
Date: 3 May 2025
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A partner at Hightower Solicitors and Advocates, Akinyemi Ayinoluwa has been named one of the most important music lawyers in the world by Billboard for 2025.
This prestigious recognition highlights his exceptional expertise in music law and dedication to championing the rights of record producers and songwriters.
As reported in the April edition of Billboard, Hightower Solicitors, led by Ayinoluwa, recently finalized a publishing agreement between Empire Music and Ragee, a prominent Afrobeats producer who co-produced Chris Brown’s “Sensational,” which earned a nomination for Best African Music Performance at the 2025 Grammy Awards.
This feat, resulting from extensive negotiations, showcases Hightower’s expertise in guiding clients to build valuable music catalogs, further solidifying Ayinoluwa’s reputation as a leading music lawyer.
Ayinoluwa dedicates his recognition to his late father, who instilled in him the discipline to stay on a journey and introduced him to the legal profession. To him, “I’m dedicating this to my late dad for instilling in me the discipline to stay on a journey, also for introducing me to the legal profession and then also for accommodating my love for music.”
Ayinoluwa’s journey in music law began when he realized that record producers and songwriters were often marginalized and underrepresented in the industry. As a young lawyer, he saw an opportunity to make a difference and has since dedicated his career to advocating for their rights.
“For the past 13 years, I’ve been championing record producers and songwriters,” he says.
“I think the reason for that is because as a young lawyer at that time, I was in my third year of being a lawyer, and the recording artists were already doing well. It wasn’t easy for a young lawyer to maybe represent them, and the record producers and songwriters were the underrepresented and marginalized individuals in the music industry.”
His music law practice focuses on representing recording artists, songwriters, record producers, record labels, investors in music, and talent managers.
He is well-versed in intellectual property and copyright law, contract negotiation and drafting, licensing and royalty agreements, and entertainment law.
Ayinoluwa’s artist-centered approach has helped him build strong relationships with his clients. “One of the reasons for building strong relationships with clients would be understanding their vision, understanding their pain,” he stated. “When you understand it, it’s easy to guide them through all the legal challenges that might arise as they continue to proceed with their journey in music.”
According to Ayinoluwa, the biggest challenge facing Nigerian record producers and songwriters is being compensated appropriately for their work. “The biggest challenges facing Nigerian record producers and songwriters would always be about being compensated appropriately for their work,” he notes. “Usually, they are the foundation for the music, but they are always not appreciated.”
As one of Africa’s finest music lawyers, Akinyemi Ayinoluwa’s recognition by Billboard is not only a personal achievement but also highlights to the excellence of African lawyers.
“My recognition would inspire me to do more, to do more qualitative work, and to also continue to champion the interest of our clients,” he says. “I think it helps to show that, yes, there’s excellence in Africa. African lawyers can do important work.”
Looking to the future, Ayinoluwa is excited to announce a mentorship program to support the next generation of Nigerian entertainment lawyers. “We would be announcing like a mentorship program maybe third quarter, last quarter of the year,” he reveals. “That is something we want to be able to mentor the next generation of Nigerian entertainment lawyers.”
“At Hightower Solicitors, we’ll continue to support talent with our expertise and many, many years of experience,” he says.
“We’ll continue to do what is right for our clients, do right by them. Also, we’ll also continue to be that bridge to connect them to local and international opportunities.”
“I’m looking forward to even bigger accolades in the future, “he concluded
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