Billboard names Akinyemi Ayinoluwa to its 2025 Top Music Lawyers List 04 Jun 2025
THE REVERED NIGERIAN LAWYER REPRESENTS SOME OF THE BIGGEST AFROBEATS PRODUCERS INCLUDING MAGICSTICKS (ASAKE), RAGEE (DAVIDO), MARVEY MUSIQUE (AYRA STARR), REXXIE (BURNA BOY) AND BLAQ JERZEE (MR. EAZI)
Hightower Solicitors & Advocates is proud to announce that its founder and managing partner, Akinyemi Ayinoluwa, has been named to Billboard’s 2025 Top Music Lawyers list – a prestigious and landmark global recognition reserved for the most influential legal figures shaping today’s music industry. The only Nigerian lawyer featured this year, Akinyemi Ayinoluwa is celebrated for his unwavering dedication to the creative rights and economic empowerment of Africa’s behind-the-scenes music creators, particularly record producers and songwriters. This recognition underscores his 13-year journey of advocacy, education, and leadership in championing fair, forward-thinking legal frameworks across the African music ecosystem.
Ayinoluwa’s firm, Lagos-based Hightower Solicitors, is widely regarded as Africa’s premier music law firm, with an award-winning client roster that includes some of Afrobeats’ most in-demand producers: Magicsticks (Asake, Tiwa Savage), Ragee (Davido,Adekunle Gold), Damie (BNXN, Fave), Rexxie (Burna Boy, Zlatan), Blaq Jerzee (Mr Eazi, Wizkid), Masterkraft (Justin Bieber, Yemi Alade), and Marvey Muzique (Ayra Starr, Qing Madi), among others. In the past year, the firm finalized a major publishing deal between EMPIRE and Ragee, co-producer of Chris Brown’s ‘Sensational’, a 2025 Grammy Award-nominated track for Best African Music Performance. The deal, a result of months of strategic negotiation, reflects Hightower’s core mission: advocating for better representation, compensation, and visibility for behind-the-scenes creatives, and empowering African talents to build sustainable and valuable music catalogs that generate long-term wealth.
With roots as a former recording artist and songwriter, Akinyemi Ayinoluwa brings a rare mix of artistic empathy, industry insight, and legal precision to his practice. Beyond the courtroom, he invests in the future of African music through songwriting competitions across Nigeria and Ghana, mentorship initiatives for young lawyers, and advisory services for beatmakers navigating the ever-changing music industry. “This Billboard recognition is not the end,” he shares. “It’s a powerful reminder of why we began – to amplify, protect, and elevate African music creators globally. The journey continues.” With Hightower expanding its reach into South Africa and Tanzania, and with major initiatives planned for 2025, Ayinoluwa remains a leading force at the intersection of creativity, commerce, and justice on the continent, protecting creators and shaping the future of African music law with integrity, innovation, and vision.
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THE HEADLINES
Elliot Grainge has breathed new life into Atlantic Records (see Features)
BPI CEO addressed the SXSW London conference (see News)
Elton John slams Labour over the AI act (see Opinion)
Jim King's 30-year reign (see Features)
TikTok launches TikTok for Artists (see Digital)
Culture secretary Lisa Nandy talks AI policies and regulation (see News)
A study from ICMP on music publishing revenues shows that digital now dominates (see Reports)
Majors in talks to license music to AI firms Udio, Suno (see News)
Taylor Swift has bought back rights to her master recordings, a win for her but also a potentially major win for the industry (see Features)
UK music business power players: 2025 list revealed (see Reports)
Music industry unites to call on the UK Government to bolster investment in music export and exchange (see News)
UK recorded music exports rose in value by 1.9% in 2024 (see Reports)
European artists earned a record-breaking €1.7bn in royalties on Spotify in 2024 (see Reports)
How Live Nation is devouring the live music industry (see Analysis)
Nick Clegg: Artists’ demands over copyright are unworkable (see News)
Beeban Kidron: We have a chance to prevent AI decimating Britain’s creative industries – but it’s slipping away (see Comment)
The Ivors Academy: "creating the global recognition that songwriters and composers deserve" (see News)