By Andy Kaufmann
Evita G. Kaigler
Founder, Law Offices of Evita G. Kaigler, Future Music Attorneys
Years with Company: 6
Address: Atlanta, GA
Web: http://evitakaigler.com, http://www.futuremusicattorneys.com
E-mail: [email protected]
Clients: Big K.R.I.T., Joey Bada$$, Jarren Benton
BACKGROUND: After a disenchanting run at a singing career, Evita Kaigler decided she’d get close to music in a different way—by becoming an attorney. Many of the challenges and misconceptions she’d been forced to overcome in following that path, she realized, didn’t need to exist. Hence, she created Future Music Attorneys, a non-profit program dedicated to educating aspiring entertainment lawyers through seminars and an online presence. Having grown exponentially between the program’s first and second installments, FMA’s future looks brighter than ever.
Fantasy, Meet Reality:Music chose me; I didn’t have a choice. I was an artsy kid, always in my own world, and music was there. I had to be involved with music somehow. I thought, I want to be a performer. I had stars in my eyes. I remember standing in line at auditions saying to myself, this is not what I had in mind. It was my dream meeting the real world.
A New Path:
I began reading books about the industry and came across Donald Passman’s, All You Need to Know About the Music Business. It was amazing. This is the bible of the industry and it’s written by a lawyer. Clearly, this is a guy who’s in demand and involved in music.
First Steps:
Law school was tough, because I was there to get to the music but none of my classes dealt with that. Graduation came around and I did not have a job offer for what I wanted to do, so I started my own practice. I began to understand I had to build a brand for myself, just how an artist or producer would. Eventually, people start paying you, not much at first or at all. Then you get that client that you’ve been with from the beginning and they become successful.
