John Beiter's practice focuses on intellectual property and related contractual matters in the music and broader entertainment industries.

Mr. Beiter graduated from Indiana University in 1975 with an A.B. degree in journalism and English. After a brief stint as a newspaper reporter, he moved to Tennessee and wrote songs for a Nashville music publisher for several years.

Mr. Beiter attended Vanderbilt Law School, where he served as Managing Editor of the Vanderbilt Law Review. His student article, “Copyright Infringement and the Eleventh Amendment: A Doctrine of Unfair Use,” won the Nathan Burkan Copyright Competition at Vanderbilt and was cited by the Register of Copyrights in its Report to Congress on that subject. He received the West Book Award for the highest grade in Corporations and Professional Responsibility.

After law school, Mr. Beiter served as law clerk to Honorable John T. Nixon, District Judge in the United State District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee. He is admitted to practice law in the State of Tennessee and the District of Columbia (inactive status), the United States District Courts for the Middle and Eastern Districts of Tennessee and the District of Columbia, and United States Courts of Appeals for the Sixth and Ninth Circuits.

Mr. Beiter has represented recording artists and producers, songwriters, record companies, music publishers, and various other parties involved in the music industry. His clients include SESAC, Inc., one of the domestic musical performing rights organizations, the Americana Music Association, and Performing Songwriter Magazine.

Mr. Beiter is a former Chairman of the Nashville Bar Association Entertainment Law Committee; a member of the National Association of Recording Arts and Sciences; the Country Music Association; the Gospel Music Association; the American Bar Association (Forum on the Entertainment and Sports Industries); the Tennessee Bar Association; the Nashville Bar Association; and an alumni of Leadership Music. He has spoken extensively on copyright and entertainment law matters at various music conferences, including South By Southwest and the International Folk Alliance Conference.

He is the father of two sons, one attending the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the other in middle school. His hobbies include music, travel, and soccer parenting.