About Musicologize

About Musicologize

Brian McBrearty — Forensic Musicologist

Brian McBrearty, Forensic Musicologist

Brian McBrearty

Forensic Musicologist

Brian McBrearty is a forensic musicologist and the founder of Musicologize, an independent practice focused on song similarity analysis, protectability assessment, and music copyright matters. He is retained as an expert by artists, attorneys, labels, agencies, and production companies for clearances, pre-litigation analysis, and litigation support. His written work appears in public federal court filings, U.S. law reviews, and Musicologize.com, where his published case analyses represent the largest body of forensic musicology writing available.

Practice

Engagements include pre-release clearance review, comparative analysis in infringement disputes, rebuttal review of opposing expert reports, and preparation of demonstrative exhibits. Work product typically includes structured comparison tables, protectability mapping, recurrence and placement analysis, transcription where appropriate, and written explanation aligned to the question presented. The majority of matters resolve on the strength of the analysis without proceeding to trial.

Published Work & Academic Citations

Musicologize hosts over 225 published analyses of music copyright cases and issues — the largest body of forensic musicology commentary published by a single practitioner. It has been cited in the following U.S. law review publications:

  1. Peter S. Menell, Reflections on Music Copyright Justice, 49 Pepp. L. Rev. 533, 600 n.334 (2022) — article · cites the August 2016 analysis of Thinking Out Loud v. Let’s Get It On on the I–iii–IV–V progression
  2. Christina R. Dimeo, Comment, Rethinking Music Copyright Infringement in the Digital World: Proposing a Streamlined Test After the Demise of the Inverse Ratio Rule, 55 U. Rich. L. Rev. 1077, 1079 n.20 (2021) — article · cites Stairway to Heaven, Blurred Lines, and the Silly Inverse Ratio Rule
  3. Ellen Komlos, Note, “Stairway to Heaven” or Stairway to the Public Domain: Copyright Infringement of Musical Works Under the 1909 Copyright Act, 65 Wash. U. J.L. & Pol’y 185, 186 n.15, 189 n.33 (2021) — article · cites Stairway to Heaven, Blurred Lines, and the Silly Inverse Ratio Rule and Highlights of Jimmy Page Testimony: Stairway v. Taurus
  4. Edward M. Christian, Note, Copyright Infringement Analysis in Music: Katy Perry a “Dark Horse” Candidate to Spark Change?, 73 Rutgers U. L. Rev. 265, 293–94 nn.168, 173 (2020) — article (PDF) · cites Gimme 3 Minutes to Tell You Why Dark Horse Is Not Joyful Noise
  5. Edward Lee & Andrew Moshirnia, Does Fair Use Matter? An Empirical Study of Music Cases, 94 S. Cal. L. Rev. 471, 498 n.156 (2021) — article · cites Katy Perry’s Dark Horse Case Appears to Be Going to Court
  6. Jacob B. Hopkins, Note, A Broken Record: A Statutory Solution to Fixing Music Copyright Infringement’s Biggest Problem, 41 Ga. St. U. L. Rev. 731, 760 n.155 (2025) — article · cites Give Me 3 Minutes to Explain Why Mariah Carey Didn’t Steal “All I Want for Christmas Is You”

Media

Brian has been quoted or interviewed on music copyright and similarity analysis in:

Selected Clients & Engagements

Clearance and consulting work for Universal Music Group artists, HBO, The Washington Post, and creative agencies. The practice serves attorneys, publishers, advertising agencies, music supervisors, producers, and composers.

Alongside the forensic practice, Brian has composed and produced music and sound design for interactive media for more than two decades. He wrote the theme for Pencil Pilot (飞机大战), the game built into WeChat 5.0 in 2013, which Tencent Senior Executive Vice President SY Lau described as “tremendously successful for us,” crediting it with driving Android downloads of WeChat and helping establish Tencent as the biggest gaming company in China. He was also principal composer and sound designer for the Sago Mini children’s app catalog. Clients have included Google, Facebook, Tencent, and Lego.

Litigation & Public Record

Written analysis appears in the public record of the following federal matters. Each entry states who retained the analysis and how the court treated it.

  • Saunders & EBA Executives, Inc. v. Brown et al., No. 2:21-cv-09237-DSF-GJS (C.D. Cal.) — Chris Brown, “Pills & Automobiles.” Retained by plaintiffs. The court’s order denying the motion to dismiss (Nov. 21, 2022) quoted the preliminary analysis in finding that plaintiffs “have plausibly alleged that the two songs are objectively similar.” Defendants’ motion for judgment on the pleadings was also denied (Apr. 2023). Case dismissed June 2023 following court-ordered mediation.
  • Frisby v. Sony Music Entertainment et al., No. 2:19-cv-01712-GW-AGR (C.D. Cal.) — Bryson Tiller, “Exchange.” Retained and deposed as plaintiff’s expert; the only plaintiff expert whose testimony was admitted. Defendants moved to disregard the declaration as inconsistent with deposition testimony; the court found “there is not really a contradiction,” overruled the objection, and considered the analysis in full. Summary judgment was granted to the remaining defendants on the ground that plaintiff’s work was built on an unlicensed sample (Mar. 2021), aff’d (9th Cir.), cert. denied (2022). Claims against the other defendants had resolved earlier by stipulation.
  • Bouchet p/k/a Rawyal v. Woods et al., No. 6:25-cv-06588-MAV (W.D.N.Y.) — Lil Uzi Vert, “Just Wanna Rock.” Pre-suit comparative analysis (Oct. 1, 2025) attached to the complaint as Exhibit C. Pending.

Additional consulting analysis in matters not reflected in public filings, including pre-litigation and confidential engagements.

Education

B.A., Music (Theory & Composition; Jazz Studies double major), Summa Cum Laude — State University of New York at New Paltz.
B.S., Economics (Music Business minor) — State University of New York at Potsdam, and Crane School of Music.

Professional Memberships

American Musicological Society — ASCAP

Contact

(212) 217-9512 brianmcbrearty@gmail.com

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