CaliforniaLawBusiness

Supplementlo the Los Angeles Daily Journal and the San FranciscoDaily Journal M o n d a yM
, a r c h2 1 , ' 1 9 9 4

Reprinledby permission
fromThe DailyJournalColP.
ENTERTAINiIENTLAW

BEST
IN THE
WEST
JohnBrancais gladMichaelJacksonis
againhisclient,butevenwithouthimthe
attorneyhadhisthreemostproductiveyears.
By ICHAEL D. HARRIS
away from Mr. lietds and back into his own
n the srnalt,elite circle of high'pol.
d^zzling stable of clients,a virtual Wio's
ered enlertainment la$yers, it was
who ofrock'n' roll andpopmusic.
t h e c l i e n t c o u p o f 1 9 9 3 .J o h n
Branca, indispulably the top music Nothins could be turther trom the truth,
lawyer on the West Coast and per-Mr. Brancasays.In fact, he maintains,those
haps in tle country - his friend,yearswere the most producdve of his career
New York's Allen Grubrnan, being by Iar. "Of course I wanted Michael back,'
his only tsue competitor for the latter tide -
says the soft-spokenattorney who rarely
reunited with superstar entertainer Michael grants intewiews. "But I never mounted a
Jackson, who was about to become deeply c"mpaisn to set him back. I was not sittins
irnrnersed in battlins child nolestation there Iyins in wait. Tbat is simply not the
alegations. case.Michael makes his ortl decisions.'
'The fact that Michael
Back in 1979,Mr. Branca was a youns tax Jacksoncameback
to me was a nice vindication in a s€nse,"h€
p a r t n e r w i t h t h e n o w - d e f u n c tH a r d e e ,
Barovick, Konecky & Braun, when he ]vas says, "but it wasn't something I was basing
assiSnedto work on Mr. Jackson'saccourL my care€r on. The past three years have
W}len Mr. Jackson'scareer skyrocketed been the most productive of my caree/ in
with the 1982release of the mega-platjnum which he negotiated a majority of the mega-
'"Ihriller" albun - the bissest-sel:ins afiist dealsin the record business.
album of all time - Mr. Branca took otr Those deals inctud€d representins
with him, negotiatingdcals for the enter- A€rosmith in a four-album. S30 million
tainer and helpilg to managehim. In the recordins contract ltith Sony Music, the
process,Mr. Brdnca mad€ his repu[adoo as Rotlinc Stonesin a threealbum, $40 milion
well asmillions ofdollars. recording agreernentwith Wgin Records-
But in 1990,that muhally lucratjve rela- the largest in history for a rccording gmup
tionship ground to a halt R€portedly at the - and Elton John in a S39 million music
urgiry of entertainment czar David Gefien, publishing dealwith Warner/Chappel
\,vhofelt Mr. Branca]vas wielding too much Other dealsincluded representing ZZTop
influencewith the superstar,Mr. Jackson in a fivealburn, $30 nilion recording asree
teartully ircd the attomey and jumped ship ment with BMG Recordsand negotiating,
to Bert Fields, primarily kno\rn as a heavy- along with fello]v ZiI&en Brittenham partner
w€ight entertainmentlitjSator. Gary Stiffelman, the Prince/Warner Bros.
lrte last year, however, Mr. Fields - a deal worth a reported 5100 million. (Before Time/wamer and Delicious Vinyl in the already formidable roster of clients that
name partner with Century City's switching to Zif&en Brittenham, Prince used e s t a b l i s h m e n to f a j o i n t v e n t u r e w i t h includes such personal favorites as the
'Iime/Warner,
Greenberg, GlLrsker,Fields, Claman & to be representedby prorninent music attor- and helped establish a joint Beach Boys and the Doors. (BeIore settins
Machtinger - resigned for undisclosedr€a ney lee Phillips, a name partner with west venture between Sony Music and Dick his law degree from UCLA in 1975,Mr.
sons as Mr. Jackson'sattorn€y a month Los Angeles' Manatt, Phelps & Phillips. Clark Productions for the creation of new Branca played keyboards in a band that
before the ent€rtain€r reportedly paid mi! Prince filed suit against Manatt Phelps and recordings and the telemarketingof openedfor Jim Morrison and companyat
his former accountantsfor breach of fiducia
lions of dollars to settle a career-threatening records. the \4liskey).
molestation lawsuit filed agarnst bim by a ry duty and conspiracy to deiaud, but the H€ also began representing the estate of Mr. Branca was obviously a very busy
l4yearcld boy. action w?s later settled.) Elvis Presley and picked up as clients a host man during his years away from Mr.
But thafs not all. During that period, Mr.
A n d M r , B r a n c a ,a n a m e p a r t n e r a t of alternative and rap artists such as Jackson- so busy, he says, that he wasn't
Ziffren, Brittenhan & Branca, the premier Branca also repr€sentedJVC in negotiations Niwana, Rage Against the Machine, Tool, left with a lot of time to worry about how to
Century City ertertrinment boutique, once with MCA to €stablish a Japanesejoint ven- Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogsy Dog, Sir Mix-a-l,ot, get the superstar back with Ziffren
again found himselJ handling the sef-styled ture record companlt DefAmerican Records MegadethandToad the Wet Sprockel Brittenharn.
"King of Pop's"substartialbody of music and its founder, Rick Rubin, in establishinga Durig that period, he also started doing He says his reunion with Mr. Jackson
joint venture with iryamer Bros. Records; music work for such esiablished recording sternned fom a lunch he had last summer
For that he will be forever glateful. But and Interscope Communications in es. artists as Don Henley, Duran Duran, with fte entertaine/s manager, &ndy Gal-
Mr. Branca,43, feels the media has perpetu- tablishing a joint venture rvith Atlantic Traveling Wilburys, Kiss, Dwight Yoakan, lin, with whom he had representedthe ult!
ated a misconception about the three or so Recordsand the formation of Interscope Meatloaf, Tony Toni Tone, Chris Isaak, mately disgmced Mi i Vanilli. Mr. B.anca
years he was in exile from the Jackson Records. George Winston al|d former Motley Crue says he and Mr. Gallin practically went
camp: Namely, that he did lihle more than In addition, he representedRhino lead singervince Neil. through the en6,"elunch without discr.rssing
sit around plotting how to get the superstar Records in establishiry joint ventures with The new clientsexpandedMr. Branca's the supeFtar, but 6naly did after Mr. Galin

/ Monday,March21, 1994 CALIFORNIAI


B{B
brought lus name up.
Afterwards, Mr. Branca says, Mr. Gallin
telephonedMr. Jackson,who in tum tele
phonedMr. Brancaseveraldayslater and
askedhim to once againjoin the team.
Mr. Jackson quicldy reap€d the benefits
of his rcnewed association\,\,ithMr Branca-
The attomey brokered for him the larsest
music publishinsdeal in history.worlh an
e s t i m a t e dS 1 0 0 r n i l t i o n -U n d e r i r . M r .
Jackson's\€st publishing holdings - which
include mosi of the bnnon/Mccartney
catalog as well as soDgsby Mr, Presley,
Uttle Richard and many others - will be
administeredby EMI Music.
Mr, Bmnca,who has been a name parher
at Zitren Brittenhan since 1984,lets on that
being 6red by Mr Jackson left him shalen
for a brief period of time.
'In this business, if you re viewed as lut
nerable, or you've lost your power base,the
AW BUSINESS
lultures start circling," he says."And people
were waiting to see if that was it, hoping ihat
I would ride into the suns€L"
'So yeah, there \rere some nervous
'But I nust say that I was
times,'he alows.
fortunate in that a number of very important
clients - both corporate and artists -
showed confdence in me by retaining me.
And in retrospecL the pmctice continued to
grow without missing a beaL"
Mr, Branca denies reports that ever since
being 6red by Mr. Jackson,he's been was'
ing a war of revengeagainstMr. Geffen.
'As
fir as I'm concemed, there is no dis
pute .,vithDavid Gefren,' he says.
But industry observers note Mr. Branca
took Aerosmith from Geffen Records to
Sony and started representing ex-Eagle
Henley, who is suins to leaveGefien.
To that, Mr. Branca says, "I'm a person
who people identify as somebody$,ho is
DAZZLINGCLIENT LIST _
"l was forlunalein that a
numberol very imporlant
clientsshowedconlldencein
me by retainingme," says
atlorneyJohn Branca,who
represenlsrnusrcneavy-
weighls (lrom lett) Don
Henley;Aerosmith,lor whom
he negotlaleda $30 million
recorddea; [,lichael
Jackson,who returnedlo lhe
fold in lhe clientcoup of
i 9 9 3 i a n d P r i n c ei,o r w h o m
he and parlnerGary
Sllflelmanhandleda deal
wilh Warner Bros. repo edly
w o r t h$ 1 0 0m i l l i o n .
independent,and who will stand up and
representa client ag$€ssively."
The past few years have seen Ziffren
Bdttenham hit with several conllict{iinter-
est suits. One was dismissedon summary
judsmenq one was setded and two are p€nd-
mg.
Mr. Brdncasals they're all Stoundless.
'"!Vhat'sreally happening,"he says, 'is
that when you're successful,peoplecome
out of the woodwork looking to t le a shot,
to see if they can get a settlemenl"
"Conlticts are absolutely ineviiable in any
businessas small as the music business,"he
goes on. "It may be a big dollar business,
but there ar€ only six major distnbutors in
North Arnerica and five international disfib-
utors. And without being arrogant, I would
say the number of top law firms that are
handling most of the tr-ansactionsare maybe
four or 6ve."
M o n d a y ,M a r c h2 1 , I 9 9 4/