Alyssa McCraw

My career has always lived at the intersection of music, entertainment, media, and the stories behind the people who create them.

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For more than 15 years, I’ve worked across the entertainment industry in artist and talent management, artist development, record-label creative services, music marketing, booking, digital media, publishing, and live entertainment. My experience has taken me from behind the scenes at a major Nashville record label to working directly with developing and established talent, managing artist relationships, coordinating creative projects, and helping performers navigate an industry that is equal parts art and business.

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I earned my B.S. in Entertainment Business from Full Sail University, graduating as Salutatorian and receiving the university’s Advanced Achievement Award, along with multiple Course Director’s Awards in areas including Artist Management, Business Law, Entertainment Media Distribution, and Professional Communication & Presentation.

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Early in my career, I worked with Big Machine Label Group’s Creative Services team, supporting projects connected to artists including Taylor Swift, Reba McEntire, and Rascal Flatts. I later expanded into artist development and talent management, working with performers connected to programs such as The Voice, American Idol, The X Factor, Dancing with the Stars, and So You Think You Can Dance. More recently, my work in global entertainment booking and talent management has included artist representation, international placement, professional vetting, client relationships, and career development.

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My entertainment background also led naturally into journalism. I spent years covering music, celebrity culture, entertainment, and digital media, producing hundreds of published stories while developing a reputation for looking beyond the obvious headline and connecting the pieces underneath it.

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In 2019, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram published my column “#IStandWithTaylor: Swift’s battle with label is for fans and other artists, too,” in which I drew on my own experience at Big Machine to examine Taylor Swift’s fight over her master recordings and the broader questions surrounding artist ownership, royalties, contracts, and creative control. Advocacy for artists—and curiosity about the systems operating behind the spotlight—has remained a consistent thread throughout my career.

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That curiosity eventually developed into another professional discipline: investigation. As a licensed private investigator, my experience includes social-media intelligence, open-source research, surveillance, investigative reporting and documentation, evidence analysis, and security operations. I’ve also worked within major sports and entertainment environments including AT&T Stadium and Dickies Arena, supporting high-profile events through assignments including backstage escorts, stage-intrusion teams, crowd and threat awareness, and other security-sensitive operations.

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It may look like an unusual combination on paper. In practice, it makes perfect sense.

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Whether I’m evaluating an artist opportunity, researching a story, protecting an entertainment environment, investigating digital information, or helping someone navigate the business behind a creative career, I’m doing what I’ve always done best: looking closer, asking better questions, connecting the dots—and understanding both the talent in front of the curtain and the machinery behind it.

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