Charles W. Hamilton is a music industry attorney and executive, and an adjunct lecturer at USC Gould School of Law. His work centers on artist and label representation, as well as diligence, deal structure, and the operational side of turning a catalog or a roster into a business that pays.

With nearly two decades in the music industry, he has worked across law, business, and creative culture —currently as Head of Business and Legal Affairs at Giant Music and TAC Publishing, and before that as 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 Prince, Jason Derulo, and Don Omar, and has developed deep expertise in the business and operations of record labels of every kind, from indie imprints, boutique labels, and startups to majors and their catalogs.

He has spoken at SXSW and the Tulane Entertainment & Sports Law Conference and speaks regularly for BESLA on music law, emerging technology, and the economics of the creative industries.

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 Virgin Islands Daily News, and Yellow Cedar Media. One question animates his work: how the value that culture creates finds its way back to the artists and communities who make it.