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Tonya Butler

Chair
Affiliated Departments
Music Business/Management
Faculty Bio E-Mail
tbutler@berklee.edu
Telephone
617-747-3179
Personal Websites
Tonya Butler's website

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Professor Tonya Butler, J.D., LL.M., is chair of the Music Business/Management Department at Berklee College of Music. She is the first women and the first person of color to lead the department in its 30-year history.

A seasoned veteran of the music business, Butler has more than 14 years of expertise as an entertainment attorney and record label executive, as well as 16 years of undergraduate- and graduate-level teaching experience. She has a Juris Doctorate from California Western School of Law and a Master of Laws in Entertainment and Media from Southwestern University School of Law/Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, England.

Butler is an award-winning motivational speaker, Toastmaster, and author of the self-published career guide The Music Business Is Corrupt, or Maybe You Just Can’t Sing? She also hosts a weekly podcast on the business and legal aspects of the music industry, entitled the B.O.M.B. (Business of Music Bootcamp) Podcast.

Career Highlights
  • Author of the career guide The Music Business Is Corrupt, or Maybe You Just Can't Sing?
Awards
  • Third Place, Toastmasters International Speech Contest, District 6, 2017
  • First Place, Toastmasters Humorous Speech Contest, District 6, 2015
Education
  • J.D., California Western School of Law
  • LL.M., Southwestern Law School
In Their Own Words

"The moment you played your first tune or sang your first song is the day the music industry began to change. Whether it changes for the worse or for the better is entirely up to you."

"My background as an entertainment attorney and record label executive means that I have done what you want to do and been where you want to go. Now it's your turn."

"Berklee's music business/management program has some of the best faculty experts from all over the world. They don't just study the music business, they practice it every single day. Berklee cares about your musicianship as well as your ability to make a living with your music."

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