Biography
Jeffrey Izzo is Associate Professor and Mike Curb Endowed Chair of Music Industry Studies. Prior to joining the CSUN Music Department he was a member of the music business faculties at Middle Tennessee State University, Minnesota State University Moorhead, the University of Memphis, as well as Adjunct Professor at New England School of Law, where he taught Entertainment Law. Jeff has been an entertainment attorney for almost 30 years, representing songwriters, performers, independent record companies, authors, and filmmakers, as well as working as general counsel for a Seattle multi-media organization. He earned his Juris Doctor at Seattle University School of Law, and is admitted to the bar in the states of New York, Massachusetts, and Washington.
Jeff contributed a chapter on the recorded music sector to the book Music Entrepreneurship, co-wrote Introduction To the Music Industry: West Coast Edition, and is the author of Rough Seas, Unchartered Waters: A Musicians Guide to Navigating US Copyright Law. He also regularly presents at academic conferences both in the U.S. and abroad.
In addition to being an entertainment lawyer, Jeff is an accomplished composer, lyricist, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist. He holds a Bachelor of Music in Composition from Berklee School of Music and a Master of Music in Composition from the University of Edinburgh, and has composed everything from pop songs and jingles to symphonic, choral, and musical theater works. Jeff is a proud ASCAP affiliate and a member of numerous entertainment and academic organizations, including The California Copyright Conference, the Association for Popular Music Education, the International Association for the Study of Popular Music, The Recording Academy, the Society of Composers and Lyricists, Songwriters of North America, and the College Music Society.