Faculty Profile: Stephanie Taylor

Stephanie R. Taylor is an entertainment and music industry lawyer providing a broad range of legal services to clients involved in the creation, production and management of creative works. She specializes in entertainment law and understands the special needs of the entertainment industry, including copyright law, music publishing, record labels, media and general business matters. Stephanie represents record labels, recording artists, songwriters, producers, artist managers, music publishers, promoters and music industry entrepreneurs.
Stephanie negotiates a variety of entertainment industry contracts, from recording contracts for artists to licensing and distribution deals for original television programs. In addition, Stephanie serves the needs of entrepreneurs as they work to grow their businesses. Her knowledge of intellectual property law and business helps serve the needs of entrepreneurs in the changing entertainment industry.
Prior to joining Bone McAllester Norton, Stephanie owned her own entertainment law firm. In addition, she was a tenured professor of music business at Middle Tennessee State University and also directed the school's Recording Industry Exchange program with Russia.
A South Dakota native, Stephanie's love of country music inspired her to move to Nashville. She is a classically trained violinist and country/bluegrass fiddle player. Her musical career has included eight years as a contract violinist with the Lincoln Symphony Orchestra in Lincoln, Neb., and she has performed with numerous recording artists, including Grammy-nominated Chris Young, country duo Joey + Rory, singer/songwriters Billy Yates, Billy Falcon and Dana Romanello. She was recently inducted into the South Dakota Old Time Fiddlers Hall of Fame.
Stephanie says her background as a musician makes her a better entertainment lawyer. "When I was finishing the junior year of my bachelor of music, it became apparent that job opportunities teaching in music were becoming more and more limited" she says. "I thought that law school was a great next challenge. I didn't know exactly where it would lead, but now it all makes perfect sense. I traveled a lot of roads to get here, and I use the lessons and experiences from each journey to serve my entertainment industry clients."
She admits she misses the tour bus, but says she loves being home with her husband and daughter a little more.