Local StoriesMay 30, 2024

Inspiring Conversations with Brianna Schwartz and Alexis Schreiber of Schwartz & Schreiber

Local Stories

Today, we’d like to introduce you to Brianna Schwartz and Alexis Schreiber.

Brianna and Alexis Schwartz (Brianna) and Schreiber (Alexis)

Hi Brianna and Alexis, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Alexis: I’m originally from San Antonio, Texas, and I’ve always loved music. I grew up as a singer-songwriter, playing guitar from age 11.

While that remains a passion, at some point, I decided that I didn’t quite have what it takes to “make it” as an artist but had a much brighter future on the business side of the music industry, so I decided to combine my passion for music with my skills in education to become an entertainment attorney.

Brianna: I have also been a music fanatic since childhood. I was a dancer, pianist, and the kid who always had headphones and a stack of CDs with me anywhere I went. I started working in music all the way back in college. I was first hired to work with DJs at Florida State when electronic music was just hitting stride. I went on to work at Ziglaw, Ultra Music Festival, and Viacom and led the music department of a boutique law firm before we started S&S.

Both: We met at the University of Miami Law School, and we both selected specifically for the joint degree program, which offered a law degree as well as a Master’s in Music Business. After school, we each went our own way for a few years, pursuing separate career paths, but rejoined in 2019 to form a law firm focused specifically on our passion – helping artists.

We started out with just a few clients, including a couple of developing DJs/producers and Pitbull’s indie record label “Mr. 305,” which then quickly grew to a diverse portfolio of over 50 GRAMMY® Award-winning and nominated, multi-platinum talent, festival brands, influencers, tech companies, record labels, recording studios, sync houses, and more.

From there, we started expanding the team and brought on our assistant/paralegal as our first hire; in 2023, we added an additional attorney to the team and moved into our first office in MiMo.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
We have found that building a business is never easy or smooth, regardless of industry or skill. As young female founders in an otherwise male-dominated industry, we have a lot to prove, and the only way to do that is through action. It takes a lot of hustle, persistence, dedication, meticulous drafting and review, and countless hours, even after the first few years.

We are so grateful for the clients who have trusted us to help build their careers and brands, and we don’t plan to stop there. We have ambitions to create a brand that is bigger than ourselves – renowned and trusted in the entertainment industry for full-scope legal services.

Even now that we have gotten past those first few years of grinding, we are still working through weekends and traveling for clients and events constantly. The thing is, we really love it. Our clients are amazing, and the work is endlessly fascinating.

Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about Schwartz & Schreiber?
Our primary focus is providing legal support to those on both the talent and business side of the music and entertainment industry. Our goal is to become a one-stop shop for all business and legal needs– working with clients across all aspects of the industry.

Day to day, we work with our clients to navigate important business decisions and minimize risk, which is especially important in music and entertainment as the industry is constantly evolving with the rise of new laws, new platforms, and new technologies like AI.

Unlike many traditional law firms, our priority is to immerse ourselves in our clients’ worlds and become an integral part of their team. We deeply understand the culture of our clients and their work. We listen to their music, we attend their shows, we travel for the festivals. We listen to both the short and long-term goals of the client, which allows us to provide a deeper level of support when we get into contract agreements and negotiations.

Just as fans crave authenticity from their artists, artists want the same from their partners, and we strive to give 100% authenticity every day. We are very selective about who we work with. We’re very dedicated to our work, and we want to work with clients who have the same mindset – those committed to their craft and willing to go the distance.

That kind of alignment makes such a difference in creating success.

Can you share something surprising about yourself?
A common misconception about lawyers – especially in music – is that we just help with contracts and paperwork, which isn’t all true! We look at a client’s vision holistically and act as a right-hand partner for any business decision in their career, adding value in any way that we can.

We embed ourselves in our client’s business as a strategic member of the team, often playing many different roles. The closer we are to the business strategy of the client, their marketing efforts, how they want to be perceived, and the brand they’re trying to build, the better we are able to advise and advocate for them, which goes well beyond just pushing paper!

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