The University of Memphis Rudi E. Scheidt welcomes Pamela G. Browne as visiting assistant professor of practice for music business. Browne is an entertainment and sports attorney who attended Syracuse University as an undergraduate and Vanderbilt University Law School.
Her two loves are music and sports. Browne pioneered as one of the first female agents in the NFL. During her career in the music industry, Browne has been an artist manager and owned a music publishing and production company.
“We are thrilled to welcome Pamela G. Browne to our music business faculty this fall. She has forged an impressive and wide-ranging career in the music industry as an entertainment lawyer, academic, and administrator rooted in real-world experience. Her insights and expertise will be an extraordinary asset for our students and community,” said Dr. Kevin Sanders, director of the University of Memphis Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music.
After graduating from law school, she worked at a Nashville bank in their legal department and assisted with opening their branches dedicated to music and entertainment clients. One of the bank’s clients, a well-known entertainment law firm representing major country and CCM artists, offered her a position. While at the law firm, Browne’s responsibilities included intellectual property issues (copyrights and trademarks) and contract negotiations for multiplatinum artists, independent labels and music publishing companies. After leaving the firm, Browne started her own entertainment company and entered a co-publishing and co-production deal with Mike Curb and Curb Records.
Browne’s first artist management client was the group Tag Team. She managed them during the release of their multiplatinum hit “Whoomp There It Is.” When Tag Team took a hiatus from touring, she returned to Nashville, where she accepted a position as a full-time associate professor in the Mike Curb Music Business Program at Belmont University and eventually was appointed the head of the program. While at Belmont, Browne was recognized for her fundraising activities, significant scholarship funds, recruitment efforts which included increasing student enrollment by 75%, and her innovative leadership in starting three off-campus music business semester programs in Los Angeles, New York and Melbourne, Australia.
Browne’s next career move was an interesting journey. While visiting Florida, she was contacted by a colleague who had recommended her for the in-house counsel position at Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach. Upon meeting the university’s president, who was looking to hire their first in-house counsel, Browne was offered the position because of her experience as an attorney and with academia. Within a year, the president consolidated several areas and appointed Browne as general counsel and human resources management vice president. While at B-CU, Browne formed the Mike Curb Music Business, Entertainment + Sports Institute, funded by the Mike Curb Family Foundation, to provide internship and networking opportunities for B-CU students interested in those areas. Additionally, at B-CU, Browne was a faculty member in the University’s College of Business & Entrepreneurship, where she was a full professor.
Browne recently moved to Memphis, Tennessee, where she is a visiting professor in the music business program at the University of Memphis Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music. She continues to consult with music, entertainment and sports clients concerning their contracts and mentoring young professionals pursuing entertainment and sports as a career.
Q & A with Pamela G. Browne:
Name the biggest issue facing the music industry today? Artists and other music industry professionals demand more control, ownership and profit-sharing of the works they create (songs, tracks, videos, etc.).
Give one piece of advice to musicians entering the industry? Always treat everyone you encounter with respect because the intern or assistant engineer you work with maybe, one day, the head of a record label or artist manager you need to further your career.
What’s your elevator pitch for studying at Memphis? If you’re searching for a job in the music industry, U of M provides an in-depth knowledge base that gives employers the confidence to hire you. Suppose you want to be a musician, recording artist, or producer. In that case, UofM prepares you to work with artist managers, music publishers, record labels, etc., so that you understand music industry contracts and identify the best deals.
What song is on repeat in your playlist? “Never Enough” by American Loren Allred, singing on “Britain’s Got Talent.” Loren sang the song in the movie “The Greatest Showman” (actress Rebecca Ferguson lip-synched to Loren’s track).