Nigeria: Entertainment Lawyer – Akinyemi Ayinoluwa has been recognised as one of the most important music lawyers of Billboard in the world for 2025. He is a partner at Hightower Solicitors and Advocates, and also an expertise in music law and long-standing advocacy for record producers and songwriters.
Ayinoluwa has recently finalised major deals with Empire Music and Ragee, who is a co-producer of Chris Brown’s Grammy-nominated ‘Sensational’. He championed the creatives for more than a decade. This honour reflects Africa’s growing excellence in music law and revealed plans for a mentorship programme to empower young lawyers.
This achievement showcased Hightower’s expertise in guiding clients to build valuable music catalogues. In an interview with media, Ayinoluwa expressed that he feels blessed to be recognised by Billboard as one of the most important music lawyers in the world.
He said, “I’m dedicating this to my late dad for instilling in me the discipline to stay on a journey, also for introducing me to legal profession and then also for accommodating my love for music.”
Ayinoluwa said that his journey in music law began when he realised that record producers and songwriters were often marginalised and under-represented in the industry. He further added that as a lawyer, he saw an opportunity to make a difference and since then they have dedicated their career to advocate for their rights.
For the past 13 years they have been championing record producers and songwriters. He thinks the reason for that is because, as a young lawyer at that time, he was in his third year of being a lawyer and the recording artists were already doing well.
Akinyemi Ayinoluwa further stated that his music law practice focuses majorly on representing recording artistes, songwriters, record producers, record labels, investors in music and talent managers. He said that one of the reasons for building strong relationships with clients was understanding their vision and pain.
He said that when you understand this, it is easy to guide them through all the legal challenges that might increase as they continue to proceed with their journey in music.
According to Akinyemi, the biggest challenge which is faced by the Nigerian record producers and songwriters is being compensated appropriately for their work. He acknowledged that his recognition will inspire them to do more, to do more qualitative work and will continue to champion the interests of the clients.
He further thought that it helps in showcasing that there is excellence in Africa. The African lawyers can do important work. However, looking towards future, Ayinoluwa said that he was excited to announce a mentorship programme to support the next generation of Nigerian entertainment lawyers.