General Business
James Collins
Legal Consultant
James qualified as a barrister in 1988 and spent three years practicing in the area of intellectual property and contract. In 1990 James joined Lee & Thompson Solicitors, in due course relinquishing his position as a barrister and re-qualifying as a solicitor. In May 2000 he joined forces with Simon Long as joint senior partner of Collins Long and together they have built on their initial vision of providing a ‘one-stop shop’ for clients involved in the entertainment industry.
In his dual role as both litigation and commercial lawyer, James has represented clients across the industry spectrum.
James is a member of the BRIT Awards Voting Academy, a much sought after music industry seminar speaker and a regular industry panelist: most recently chairing the ‘Future of the Recording Contracts’ panel at Manchester’s ‘In The City’ conference. He is also listed in the ‘Legal Business Report: Legal Experts’.
Simon Long
Legal Consultant
Simon Long qualified as a solicitor in 1981 and has been working continuously in the music industry since that time. He set up leading Music Law firm Collins Long with James Collins in May 2000.
Simon’s interests lie in working with talent and emerging artists and producers. His client list includes A list producers, Oscar winners and Grammy nominees – as well as industry veterans.
Simon also manages an upcoming artist and runs a small label which gives him insight into the challenges faced by managers and independent labels.
Thomas St. John
Business Consultant
Thomas began his career as an accountant with the entrepreneur Peter Jones before joining MacCorkindale International to work with some of the biggest names in film, television and music. In 2004 he was appointed managing partner of their London and Los Angeles offices while consulting to their offices in Nice, Cape Town and Sydney. It was during this time that Thomas realised the need to adapt the US business management model to the UK entertainment industry. Thomas St John LLP was formed in 2007 and quickly established itself as a leader in the sector.
Thomas caters exclusively to creative talent and his firm has seen exponential growth as a result. He represents a broad range of clients from established artists, songwriters and producers through to new and unsigned acts. His clients include Deadmau5, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Sacha Skarbek and Hurts but to name a few.
Paul Kernick
Business Affairs Consultant
Paul has deep experience in Business Affairs, having served as Senior Legal Director
at Virgin Records, Business Affairs Director at Sanctuary, in the last two years as a
Consultant to various labels and music companies (including Warner Music UK, Vibrant
Records, Sound Advice Legal LLP, Infectious Music, MBOP Digital, and Pendulum).
Paul has negotiated artist deals for The Verve/ Richard Ashcroft, Spice Girls, Massive
Attack, Chemical Brothers, Sex Pistols, Meat Loaf, Madness, Michael Nyman, Embrace,
Daft Punk, Skunk Anansie, Real World Records/ Peter Gabriel, Robert Plant, Iron Maiden,
The Blue Nile, The Charlatans, Simple Minds, Status Quo, Steve Winwood, Dolores
O’Riordan (Cranberries), Idlewild, Happy Mondays, Fun Lovin’ Criminals, Marc Almond,
The Libertines/ Pete Doherty, and Futureheads.
Paul’s spectrum of expertise includes artist signings/renegotiations, company and catalogue
acquisitions and disposals, distribution, licensing- inward and outward, joint venture labels,
litigation/anti-piracy and audits.
