Fred Rosen ’69 Gets Down to Business with Entertainment Law Society

To Fred Rosen ’69, the most important thing for an entrepreneur to possess is conviction in their abilities.

“The only thing that prevents you from doing anything is yourself,” said Rosen. “That’s the drama, that’s the game, that’s the joy…. Sometimes people are angry at you, sometimes they are mad at you, sometimes they don’t like you… but so long as you feel you are doing the right thing, you just have to tune out the noise and keep moving forward. You wake up in the morning, and start a new day. I did what I wanted to do—that was my journey.”

Rosen, president and CEO of Ticketmaster Group from 1982 to 1998, imparted this wisdom and more to a captivated audience of law students at a Q&A hosted by Dean Michael T. Cahill and the Brooklyn Entertainment & Sports Law Society (BESLS) October 12. In a free ranging conversation with Cahill, Rosen related how he leveraged his experience in practice to transform a small startup ticketing company into the world’s leading computerized ticketing service.

“There was nothing magic about what we did,” said Rosen. “The dynamic was the underlying economic model that was already there, but no one recognized it. We saw it, took advantage of it, and built upon it.”

In 2021, Rosen created the Seymour and Hannah Rosen Endowed Scholarship. Named after his parents, the scholarship’s unique criteria are meant to target students who possess the skills that Rosen believes were essential to his success.

“I think there’s something that everybody forgets when you become successful: you have an obligation to give back to your community,” said Rosen. “I think [the scholarship is] a way of being respectful to [my parents] because they gave me the opportunity [to study law]. And opportunities come to us in all different ways.”

BESLS, one of the Law School’s largest student-run organizations, provides a network for law students with an interest in fields such as fashion, film & television, music, and sports law. The society sponsors various events and educational initiatives and facilitates partnerships with academic and professional organizations on and off campus.

Watch the event here