PUBLISHED:February 26, 2013

RIAA head Cary Sherman to focus on music industry in the digital age during Frey Lecture, March 6

Cary Sherman

Cary Sherman, chairman and CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), will discuss the digital-age transformation of the American music business when he delivers Duke Law School’s annual Meredith and Kip Frey Lecture in Intellectual Property on March 6.

Sherman has helped guide the RIAA, the organization representing the nation’s major music labels, through a period of tumultuous change for the music industry. He joined the organization as general counsel in 1997, became president in 2001, then became chairman and CEO in 2011.  The massive growth in numbers of internet users, and in the use of digital technology to sell, share, and pirate music, over that same period of time, has put Sherman in the middle of debates over file-sharing policy and enforcement issues.

A copyright law expert who served as a senior partner at the Washington, D.C. office of Arnold and Porter, where he led the firm’s Intellectual Property and Technology Practice Group, Sherman will address the potential for new licensing, legal, and technology initiatives to help advance the American music business, which now derives more than half of its revenues from a variety of digital formats. He will discuss how a combination of these growing digital formats and targeted enforcement initiatives can strengthen and stabilize  the legitimate music marketplace.  Sherman will also discuss music’s integral role in driving social media and device sales.

The lecture is free and open to the public. It will begin at 12:15 p.m. in room 3041 of Duke Law School, located at 210 Science Drive on Duke University’s West Campus. Parking is available at the Bryan Center. The lecture will be webcast on Duke Law's Ustream channel.