As a self-described “starving actress” and someone who grew up in Los Angeles, pursuing the film and television industry was an obvious choice for Tonya Butler.
She decided to take her interest in the entertainment industry one step further and pursued a law degree. On the first day of law school at California Western School of Law, Butler passed out business cards that read, “future entertainment attorney.”
Over the span of 14 years, Butler worked as an entertainment attorney in-house for record and publishing companies as well as film studios including Rhino Records, Global Disc Records, Pioneer Entertainment and MGM Music. Simultaneously, she taught part-time.
Butler described her experience working in entertainment law as having its “ups and downs” due to the competitive nature of the industry. She found herself enjoying working with companies rather than individuals and artists.
“It was hard to give advice that people paid you to give them but they didn’t always take,” says Butler, who was recently appointed chair of the music business and management department at Berklee College of Music. “And then they come back to you and pay you more to get them out of the trouble that you tried to get them out of originally. And that just became really frustrating.”
She was also bothered by the number of people who needed legal help in the music industry but could not afford it.
Butler eventually switched over to academia full-time, as she served as the coordinator of music business at the University of Memphis. She went on to work at Minnesota State University at Mankato, where she directed the music industry studies program.
