Derek C. Crownover

Derek C. Crownover is a Nashville entertainment lawyer who advises sports and entertainment companies, creative professionals, global brands, executives, and entrepreneurs. He helps clients protect, sell, acquire, and grow valuable business assets. His practice covers music, sports and esports, corporate transactions, intellectual property, funding, licensing, liability, and related litigation. He also counsels songwriters, producers, artists, athletes, independent publishers, record labels, and distributors on complex commercial matters.

Derek earned a B.A. from Auburn University before receiving a J.D. from the University of Tennessee College of Law. Before entering legal practice, he worked in television and sports media, launched an agency representing athletes and artists, and negotiated hundreds of contracts involving sports, branding, events, and media. This combination of legal education and industry experience supports his practical approach to entertainment and sports transactions.

Derek has closed more than $1 billion in master and publishing catalog sales over the past decade. His broader transactional experience includes leveraged financings, strategic investments, stadium development projects, name, image, and likeness agreements, and C-suite employment agreements. Representative work includes advising Dolly Parton and Dolly’s Cup of Ambition on product development and distribution, assisting Rocketship with its public beta launch, and handling music publishing and master-rights acquisitions.

Derek C. Crownover teaches sports law at the Nashville School of Law and previously taught entertainment law at Belmont University. He formerly chaired the Tennessee Bar Association’s Entertainment and Sports Section and served as national counsel for the T.J. Martell Foundation. His professional recognition includes selections by Billboard, Chambers USA, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and The Legal 500 US for his work in music, media, entertainment, transactions, and intellectual property.

Law Office Affiliations

• Vice Chair, Loeb & Loeb LLP
• Member, Tennessee Bar Association
• Member, New York State Bar Association
• Member, Copyright Society of the South
• Voting Member, Country Music Association
• Member, Corporate Section, Nashville Bar Association
• Member, Entertainment and Sports Law Section, Nashville Bar Association
• Member, Entertainment and Sports Law Section, Tennessee Bar Association

Licensed State

• Tennessee
• New York

Education

• University of Tennessee College of Law
  Juris Doctor (JD)
• Auburn University
  Bachelor of Arts

Awards & Badges