Charles W. Hamilton is a music industry attorney and executive, and an adjunct lecturer at USC Gould School of Law. Through AudioVascular, his consultancy for music startups and investors, he advises on diligence, deal structure, and the operational work of turning a catalog or a roster into a business that pays; through the Law Office of Charles W. Hamilton, he handles high-stakes strategic representation for referred clients. He is admitted to practice in California, Michigan, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Across 20 years in music, he has worked at the intersection of law, business, and creative culture — as Head of Business and Legal Affairs at Giant Music and TAC Publishing, Partner at King, Holmes, Paterno & Soriano, LLP, Head of Business and Legal Affairs at Saban Music Group, Senior Vice President at Warner Records, and as a television executive producer and talent manager. He has negotiated artist signings, joint ventures, and catalog acquisitions on deals involving artists including Prince, Jason Derulo, and Don Omar, and has helped companies navigate the industry's shift from physical distribution to streaming and direct-to-fan platforms.

He has spoken at SXSW and the Tulane Entertainment & Sports Law Conference and is a recurring speaker for BESLA on music law, emerging technology, and the economics of the creative industries. He serves on the board of directors of Village Music Group.

A native of the U.S. Virgin Islands, Hamilton holds a BA in Literature from Yale College and a JD from Tulane University School of Law. He writes on cultural capital and economic development in the Eastern Caribbean for The Guardian, Billboard, the Virgin Islands Daily News, and YellowCedarMedia.com. One question organizes his work: how culture's inherent value becomes a cultivated return for the artists and communities who create it.