About Ari
Ari Solotoff is an entertainment lawyer with extensive experience counseling clients across all aspects of the entertainment, music, and arts industries. As Leader of the firm’s Entertainment, Media, & the Arts practice group, he represents clients who are consistently recognized for their work in music, film and television, literary publishing, podcasting, and the visual and performing arts. Drawing on his professional background as an arts executive, Ari delivers clear and practical advice to help clients navigate the complexities of the marketplace and the law.Ari’s practice uniquely blends representation of a diverse range of clients, who are known for defining and defying contemporary culture, including Rock & Roll Hall of Fame producers; Billboard-charting catalogs; Pulitzer Prize-winning literary authors; and Top 20 podcast producers. In particular, Ari specializes on copyright-driven cases, which has included representation of music catalogs; digital therapeutic use of music; scripted, unscripted, and documentary television and motion picture development and production; literary rights acquisitions; and cutting edge issues in comedy recording rights. Of particular note, Ari is sought out for his work with today’s leading composers, concert artists, and ensembles, including BIPOC and LGBTQ+ artists and their estates. Through his practice, Ari regularly champions issues of equity, inclusion, and representation on stage, online, and on radio airwaves.A deeply committed educator, Ari has served as an adjunct professor at the University of Michigan, Indiana University, the Eastman School of Music, and at the University of Maine School of Law, where he has taught courses on Entertainment Law, Music Law, and Legal Issues in the Arts. Ari has been recognized as Maine’s “Artful Lawyer” for his role in helping “composers, songwriters, filmmakers and other creative people avoid the legal pitfalls of the music and entertainment businesses” (Maine Sunday Telegram). He has been consistently identified by his peers for outstanding professional excellence in private practice, including as one of entertainment law’s “Rising Stars” (SuperLawyers) and “Ones to Watch” (Best Lawyers in America) – Ari is the only entertainment lawyer in New England to hold these distinctions.Prior to joining Drummond Woodsum, Ari was the Managing Attorney and founder of Solotoff Law, a boutique firm he founded in 2020 with a specialized focus on representing clients at the intersection of copyright, entertainment, media, and the arts. Ari was also a transactional associate attorney at a Portland law firm, where he concentrated on copyright, entertainment, and corporate cases. Before entering private law practice, Ari emerged as “one of the top young administrators in the orchestra world” (Portland Press Herald) after a decade of arts leadership in classical music, including service as Executive Vice President of The Philadelphia Orchestra, where he played a pivotal role in helping guide the legendary and world-renowned ensemble through a complex strategic planning and Chapter 11 bankruptcy process. He also completed highly successful tenures as Executive Director for the Portland and Pensacola Symphonies.An active member of the entertainment and copyright bars, Ari also serves as Chair of the Theatre & Performing Arts Division of the American Bar Association’s Forum on Entertainment and Sports Industries, and also as a member and frequent panelist for the Copyright Committee of the American Association of Literary Agents.Ari is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Maine School of Law; served as Managing Editor of the Maine Law Review; and completed judicial internships with the Maine Supreme Judicial Court and the First Circuit Court of Appeals. He earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Classical Languages from the University of California, Berkeley. Ari is also an alumnus of the AMEX Aspen Institute Fellowship for Emerging Nonprofit Leaders and the Orchestra Management Fellowship Program of the League of American Orchestras.Ari lives in Portland, Maine with his spouse and their two children.
Ari Solotoff is an entertainment lawyer with extensive experience counseling clients across all aspects of the entertainment, music, and arts industries. As Leader of the firm’s Entertainment, Media, & the Arts practice group, he represents clients who are consistently recognized for their work in music, film and television, literary publishing, podcasting, and the visual and performing arts. Drawing on his professional background as an arts executive, Ari delivers clear and practical advice to help clients navigate the complexities of the marketplace and the law.Ari’s practice uniquely blends representation of a diverse range of clients, who are known for defining and defying contemporary culture, including Rock & Roll Hall of Fame producers; Billboard-charting catalogs; Pulitzer Prize-winning literary authors; and Top 20 podcast producers. In particular, Ari specializes on copyright-driven cases, which has included representation of music catalogs; digital therapeutic use of music; scripted, unscripted, and documentary television and motion picture development and production; literary rights acquisitions; and cutting edge issues in comedy recording rights. Of particular note, Ari is sought out for his work with today’s leading composers, concert artists, and ensembles, including BIPOC and LGBTQ+ artists and their estates. Through his practice, Ari regularly champions issues of equity, inclusion, and representation on stage, online, and on radio airwaves.A deeply committed educator, Ari has served as an adjunct professor at the University of Michigan, Indiana University, the Eastman School of Music, and at the University of Maine School of Law, where he has taught courses on Entertainment Law, Music Law, and Legal Issues in the Arts. Ari has been recognized as Maine’s “Artful Lawyer” for his role in helping “composers, songwriters, filmmakers and other creative people avoid the legal pitfalls of the music and entertainment businesses” (Maine Sunday Telegram). He has been consistently identified by his peers for outstanding professional excellence in private practice, including as one of entertainment law’s “Rising Stars” (SuperLawyers) and “Ones to Watch” (Best Lawyers in America) – Ari is the only entertainment lawyer in New England to hold these distinctions.Prior to joining Drummond Woodsum, Ari was the Managing Attorney and founder of Solotoff Law, a boutique firm he founded in 2020 with a specialized focus on representing clients at the intersection of copyright, entertainment, media, and the arts. Ari was also a transactional associate attorney at a Portland law firm, where he concentrated on copyright, entertainment, and corporate cases. Before entering private law practice, Ari emerged as “one of the top young administrators in the orchestra world” (Portland Press Herald) after a decade of arts leadership in classical music, including service as Executive Vice President of The Philadelphia Orchestra, where he played a pivotal role in helping guide the legendary and world-renowned ensemble through a complex strategic planning and Chapter 11 bankruptcy process. He also completed highly successful tenures as Executive Director for the Portland and Pensacola Symphonies.An active member of the entertainment and copyright bars, Ari also serves as Chair of the Theatre & Performing Arts Division of the American Bar Association’s Forum on Entertainment and Sports Industries, and also as a member and frequent panelist for the Copyright Committee of the American Association of Literary Agents.Ari is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Maine School of Law; served as Managing Editor of the Maine Law Review; and completed judicial internships with the Maine Supreme Judicial Court and the First Circuit Court of Appeals. He earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Classical Languages from the University of California, Berkeley. Ari is also an alumnus of the AMEX Aspen Institute Fellowship for Emerging Nonprofit Leaders and the Orchestra Management Fellowship Program of the League of American Orchestras.Ari lives in Portland, Maine with his spouse and their two children.
Ari Solotoff is an entertainment lawyer with extensive experience counseling clients across all aspects of the entertainment, music, and arts industries. As Leader of the firm’s Entertainment, Media, & the Arts practice group, he represents clients who are consistently recognized for their work in music, film and television, literary publishing, podcasting, and the visual and performing arts. Drawing on his professional background as an arts executive, Ari delivers clear and practical advice to help clients navigate the complexities of the marketplace and the law.
Ari’s practice uniquely blends representation of a diverse range of clients, who are known for defining and defying contemporary culture, including Rock & Roll Hall of Fame producers; Billboard-charting catalogs; Pulitzer Prize-winning literary authors; and Top 20 podcast producers. In particular, Ari specializes on copyright-driven cases, which has included representation of music catalogs; digital therapeutic use of music; scripted, unscripted, and documentary television and motion picture development and production; literary rights acquisitions; and cutting edge issues in comedy recording rights. Of particular note, Ari is sought out for his work with today’s leading composers, concert artists, and ensembles, including BIPOC and LGBTQ+ artists and their estates. Through his practice, Ari regularly champions issues of equity, inclusion, and representation on stage, online, and on radio airwaves.
A deeply committed educator, Ari has served as an adjunct professor at the University of Michigan, Indiana University, the Eastman School of Music, and at the University of Maine School of Law, where he has taught courses on Entertainment Law, Music Law, and Legal Issues in the Arts.
Ari has been recognized as Maine’s “Artful Lawyer” for his role in helping “composers, songwriters, filmmakers and other creative people avoid the legal pitfalls of the music and entertainment businesses” (Maine Sunday Telegram). He has been consistently identified by his peers for outstanding professional excellence in private practice, including as one of entertainment law’s “Rising Stars” (SuperLawyers) and “Ones to Watch” (Best Lawyers in America) – Ari is the only entertainment lawyer in New England to hold these distinctions.
Prior to joining Drummond Woodsum, Ari was the Managing Attorney and founder of Solotoff Law, a boutique firm he founded in 2020 with a specialized focus on representing clients at the intersection of copyright, entertainment, media, and the arts. Ari was also a transactional associate attorney at a Portland law firm, where he concentrated on copyright, entertainment, and corporate cases. Before entering private law practice, Ari emerged as “one of the top young administrators in the orchestra world” (Portland Press Herald) after a decade of arts leadership in classical music, including service as Executive Vice President of The Philadelphia Orchestra, where he played a pivotal role in helping guide the legendary and world-renowned ensemble through a complex strategic planning and Chapter 11 bankruptcy process. He also completed highly successful tenures as Executive Director for the Portland and Pensacola Symphonies.
An active member of the entertainment and copyright bars, Ari also serves as Chair of the Theatre & Performing Arts Division of the American Bar Association’s Forum on Entertainment and Sports Industries, and also as a member and frequent panelist for the Copyright Committee of the American Association of Literary Agents.
Ari is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Maine School of Law; served as Managing Editor of the Maine Law Review; and completed judicial internships with the Maine Supreme Judicial Court and the First Circuit Court of Appeals. He earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Classical Languages from the University of California, Berkeley. Ari is also an alumnus of the AMEX Aspen Institute Fellowship for Emerging Nonprofit Leaders and the Orchestra Management Fellowship Program of the League of American Orchestras.
Ari lives in Portland, Maine with his spouse and their two children.
