Derek Crownover

Derek Crownover is a trusted adviser to sports and entertainment companies, personalities, global brands, executives and entrepreneurs, helping them protect and maximize the value of their business assets.

Derek counsels top writers, producers, artists, athletes and executives, as well as established independent publishing companies, administration companies, indie record labels and worldwide independent record distributors, on funding, licensing, liability and related litigation matters. Derek’s music clients—including producers, songwriters, artists and labels—have collectively sold more than 1 billion record equivalents. Over the past decade, he has closed over $1 billion in master and publishing catalog sales and is a market leader.

Leading executives, family offices and private equity firms turn to Derek for strategic guidance in business transactions related to protecting, selling, acquiring or growing assets, particularly across the sports, entertainment and IP-related industries. His work with these clients spans across a range of transactions, including leveraged financings; strategic investments; stadium development deals; name, image and likeness (NIL) agreements; and C-suite employment agreements. 

Before practicing law, Derek built a diverse career in sports, music and media. A former academic All-SEC shortstop who played alongside future Major League Baseball (MLB) Hall of Famers, Derek began his professional career as an on-air sports and news personality at a small-market major network TV station before transitioning into a sales executive role at a large sports media company. After being accepted to law school, he launched a small agency representing athletes and artists. By the end of law school, Derek negotiated hundreds of contracts across the sports, branding, events and media industries. At age 27, he was one of the youngest certified agents by the MLB Players Association (MLBPA), representing 27 professional players.

After law school, Derek joined a Nashville boutique entertainment firm, where he handled corporate, transactional and litigation matters for music clients while continuing his sports law practice. During that time, he also published one of the earliest academic pieces on NIL in the Sports Lawyers Journal, titled “Minor League Players’ Right of Publicity are Major League.”

A longtime member of the Nashville community, Derek is a sports law professor at the Nashville School of Law and former national counsel for the T.J. Martell Foundation. He has also taught entertainment law at Belmont University’s Curb Music Business School and is a former chair of the Tennessee Bar Association’s Entertainment and Sports Section.