Faculty

Andrae Alexander is a Grammy Award-winning (2022 Album of the Year – Jon Batiste, “We Are”) composer, musician and professor who moved to Los Angeles in 2009 from Maryland. He is also a veteran of the United States Marine Corps and the United States Navy Band of Washington, D.C., which is a Presidential Support Unit. He is also an Amazon best-selling author of the book “Build Your Music Career from Scratch,” which is in its second edition, and he has multiple Billboard number-ones. An internationally traveled musician and clinician on the subjects of music business, music for film and television, and music production, Alexander has been to over 40 countries.

As a musician, composer, and consultant, Alexander has worked on projects such as the television show Empire, the feature film Detroit, and The Birth of a Nation motion picture soundtrack. Some of the artists he has worked with include Jon Batiste, NeYo, BlackBear, George Drakoulias, Swae Lee, Mellissa Ethridge, Allee Willis, Meek Mills, Pusha-T, Kanye West, Jesse J., Rodney Jerkins, Lamont Dozier, No I.D. and more. Before teaching at USC, Andrae taught courses on the music business, music production for media, and music composition and programming at the Los Angeles Film School in Hollywood.

Being a proponent of philanthropy, Alexander has worked with non-profits to use music as a tool for social rehabilitation in the unhoused community and to teach underserved grade-school children where music has been removed from their schools’ curriculum. AGC, under the direction of Wendy Raquel Robinson, and Urban Possibilities, under the direction of Eyvette Jones-Johnson, are the two non-profits that he currently serves.

To the academic setting, Andrae Alexander brings real-world experience. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in music, a Master of Arts degree in music industry administration, and a PhD in Leadership with a concentration in business strategy. His research focuses on how social media influencers affect consumer behavior in the music industry. Alexander is currently a voting member of the Recording Academy, a Songwriters Hall of Fame voting member, a Songwriters of North America board member, and a faculty member of the USC Thornton School of Music in the music industry program.