Shane Nix, a partner in the Firm's Tax Department and the Entertainment Transactions Practice, counsels companies and individuals on various business transactions, with an emphasis on transactional tax matters relating to the acquisition, disposition, and restructuring of businesses, corporations, and partnerships. Shane’s practice primarily focuses on the entertainment industry and is comprised of a wide array of clients including songwriters, recording artists, record labels, actors, actresses, producers, directors, athletes, public personalities, influencers, novelists, comic book creators, and other celebrities. A trusted advisor to the entertainment industry, Shane was named among Billboard's Top Music Lawyers and Variety’s Dealmakers Impact Report in 2022.
Shane's prior experience as the Vice Chair of the Entertainment Tax Group at an Am Law 100 law firm and as an attorney at a global law firm in Silicon Valley enables him to serve as a bridge for clients between entertainment and technology as the two industries converge. He also brings experience from a global accounting firm where he structured domestic and cross-border M&A transactions for public companies and private equity firms.
Shane often acts as general outside tax counsel to business management firms and entertainment law firms, and is an adjunct professor at the University of California Irvine teaching entertainment industry taxation.
Experience
- Legal 500 U.S., Tax - US Taxes: Non-Contentious, 2023
- Best Lawyers in America, Tax, 2023-2024
- Billboard, Top Music Lawyers 2022-2023
- Variety, Dealmakers Impact Report, 2022
- Los Angeles Business Journal, 40 Thriving in Their 40's, 2020
- Member, Editorial Board, Los Angeles Lawyer Magazine
- Member, American Bar Association
- Member, Los Angeles County Bar Association
- Member, Motion Picture and TV Tax Institute
- Member, Executive Committee, USC Tax Institute; chairman, Individual Taxation Subcommittee
- Member, Planning Committee, CalCPA Entertainment Industry Conference
- Former member, Executive Committee, Beverly Hills Bar Association as the chair of the Entertainment-Tax Subcommittee
- Frequent author for the Los Angeles Lawyer covering topics including copyright termination rights and taxation (“Taxing the Terminator” cover feature article for May 2021 Entertainment Law Edition), qualified business income deduction for entertainers and production timing issues arising under the TCJA (“Entertaining Taxes” feature article for May 2019 Entertainment Law Education), and structuring social influencer and endorsement deals (2018).
- Author of "A Guide to Structuring and Taxation in the Entertainment Industry" in The Essential Guide to Entertainment Law: Deal Making, and other scholarly publications
- Frequent speaker on matters pertaining to entertainment and media
- Contributor to the Journal of Taxation covering bad debt deductions and worthless stock losses
PUBLICATIONS:
- How and When to Make Use of the IRC Section 83(b) Election, The LA Lawyer (Tax Tips, September 2022).
- Don't Sing the Tax Man's Blues, The LA Lawyer (ENTERTAINMENT EDITION, Feature Article, May 2022).
- Taxing the Terminator, The LA Lawyer (ENTERTAINMENT EDITION, Cover Feature Article, May 2022).
- Entertaining Taxation of Soft Intellectual Property, USC School of Law Seventy-Fourth Institute on Federal Taxation, Major Tax Planning 2022.
- Entertaining Taxes, The LA Lawyer (ENTERTAINMENT EDITION, Feature Article, May 2019).
- The Essential Guide to Entertainment Law: Dealmaking, Ch. 12 (Juris Publishing 2018).
- How the New Tax Law Impacts Hollywood: Lights, Camera, Immediate Deduction!, American Bar Association Tax Quarterly (April 2022).
- Tips and Traps in Structuring Equity Deals for Social Media Influencers, The LA Lawyer (Tax Tips, September 2018).
- Compensation Considerations for Small Businesses Under the New Tax Legislation, USC School of Law Seventieth Institute on Federal Taxation, Major Tax Planning 2018.
SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS:
- 2023 USC Tax Institute (Entertainment Industry Tax Update – Film/TV cost recovery and tax considerations for music catalog sales).
- 2022: "What a New Investor in Music Catalogs Should Know" podcast.
- 2014-Present: 50+ private presentations to business management and accounting firms.
- 2022 CalCPA Entertainment Industry Conference (Music Industry Taxation).
- 2022 USC Tax Institute (Capital Gains).
- 2022 USC Tax Institute (Copyright Termination Rights).
- 2021 CalCPA Entertainment Industry Conference (Monetizing Music Assets).
- 2020 CalCPA Entertainment Industry Conference (CARES Act and Entertainment Tax Issues).
- 2019 CalCPA Entertainment Industry Conference (Qualified Opportunity Zones).
- 2018 CalCPA Entertainment Industry Conference (Entertainment Tax Update – TCJA).
- 2018 USC Tax Institute (Taxation of Small Businesses)
- 2018 USC Tax Institute (Entertainment Industry Tax Update – TCJA).
- 2018 Entertainment Industry Tax Update (Venable Los Angeles).
- 2018 Entertainment Industry Tax Update (Venable New York).
- 2017 CalCPA Entertainment Industry Conference (Navigating Entertainment Tax Issues).
- 2016 CalCPA Entertainment Industry Conference (Structuring Considerations in Entertainment).
- 2015 CalCPA Entertainment Industry Conference (Film & Television Tax Issues)
Shane has represented*:
- A prominent actor in connection with his acquisition of an ownership interest in an artisanal vodka company
- Iconic musicians on music catalog sales with aggregate value in excess of $1 billion, including sale of master recording and publishing catalog valued at over $550 million
- A variety of prominent music artists in connection with catalogue sales, including structuring a $300 million hip hop catalogue sale and a $150 million classic progressive rock band catalogue, as well as structuring a $200 million record deal with a prominent hip hop artist
- A production company with respect to tax planning in connection with a $500 million movie deal, including the allocation of S-corporation distribution and compensation
- A prominent rock band in connection with structuring copyright ownership and tax opinion related thereto
- A talent management company in connection with structuring a $165 million sale of controlling interest in the company
- Production companies in planning for timing differences arising from copyright ownership, including new issues in connection with new tax legislation
- Talent in connection with loan out company tax matters, including drafting employment agreements
- Talent in film, television, and music in connection with residency planning and service/royalty sourcing
- A prominent production company in connection with structuring the sale of video game rights, production tax planning, and overall corporate structure
- Celebrities, brand ambassadors, musicians, actors, and other talent in connection with structuring endorsement deals
- Clients regarding taxation of exercising copyright termination rights
*Shane advised on some of these matters prior to joining Willkie.
Credentials
Education
New York University School of Law, LLM, 2008 DePaul University College of Law, J.D. (cum laude), 2006 University of Michigan, B.A., 2002