Johnson & Johnson LLP congratulates name partners Neville L. Johnson and Douglas L. Johnson for their selection to Billboard's 2024 list of the music industry's top lawyers. The magazine's profile highlights the firm's work on behalf of Janet Jackson, Paula Abdul, and APM Music, along with its ongoing pursuit of fair compensation for recording artists in the era of digital streaming.

The full profile may be found below:

Neville L. Johnson

FOUNDING PARTNER, JOHNSON & JOHNSON

Douglas L. Johnson

FOUNDING PARTNER, JOHNSON & JOHNSON

After resolving what Douglas Johnson calls a “contentious contract dispute in arbitration” for Janet Jackson, the firm is representing Paula Abdul in her sexual abuse lawsuit against Nigel Lythgoe (he has denied the allegations), as well as APM Music in a variety of copyright enforcement matters. “We have been spearheading numerous class actions against the major record labels for improperly lowering streaming royalties paid to legacy artists,” he says. “The cases have enormous implications for older recording artists who haven't individually renegotiated their contracts, since the labels are arguing that they consider any streaming royalties paid to those artists to be charity.”

Most pressing issue: “Streaming platforms continue to underpay record labels, who in turn underpay artists,” Douglas says, “and the status quo is simply untenable.”