Dear Friends and Contributors,
As a first-time author, I’m getting the full PhD in “writing a book is really fucking hard” all at once and I totally get why being an author is a 24/7 obsession disguised as a job.
Also, everything that felt locked in four weeks ago is still changing daily. Well, up until a week or so ago.
Welcome to publishing.
“A wizard is never late, nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to.”
That said… I am SO much happier with how the book is turning out now than I was even a couple of months ago. This will be the final big update of 2025, and I’m genuinely excited to share it with you, because I’m really proud of myself.
Sometimes progress feels like walking through mud, and then at the most random moment, the whole thing suddenly starts moving so fast...
That’s exactly where we are right now.
My brilliant book coach Sarah Jenkins has asked me the same question over the past few weeks: “What is the point of this book and why are you doing it?”
My answer has never changed:
To get Bing Bong into as many universities as possible.
When I was a student, the only decent book on the music business was Ann Harrison’s Music: The Business (legendary, but now very 2011). There was nothing that combined ultra-current 2025 case studies with a genuine playbook for building a music strategy from scratch. That’s what I’m writing.
We’re now at 60+ interviews (goal = 100), the content is flowing beautifully, and the structure finally feels unbeatable to anything else out there.
New Structure >
PART 1: THE HUMAN ORIGIN OF BING BONG
PART 2: MUSIC – THE FOUNDATION
PART 3: BRAND – BUILDING IDENTITY
PART 4: MARKETING & ADVERTISING – MUSIC MEETS STRATEGY
PART 5: SONIC EXPERIENCE – THE CORE DISCIPLINE
PART 6: FUTURE – AI, VOICE-FIRST, AND BEYOND
25 chapters across the 6 parts. Every single chapter features a world-class expert bringing their real-world experience directly to the topic.
Example:
PART 2 – Chapter 3
What is Music? Tempo, Keys, Emotion, and the Science of Sound
– with the absolutely world-renowned composer Samuel Karl Bohn
Covering tempo, melody, harmony, timbre, dynamics; how frequency & rhythm physically hit the body; major vs minor emotional triggers; cross-cultural universals… and more.
I’ll share the full chapter lineup + featured experts soon. But, for now, I’m going to share some of the following legends that have contributed with the most amazing interviews and some of whom are writing the chapters;
CEO, Record Makers
CEO, Spitfire Audio
Professor, Berklee College of Music
Founder, EmotiSphere Insights
Managing Director, Talent & Brands
Founder, Sonic Boom
Head of Music, RASCAL
Co-Founder, DixonBaxi
Executive Creative Director, Interbrand
Founder, Uncommon Studio
Agency & Marketing Partnerships Director, Bayer Consumer Health Brand
Partnerships Director, Highsnobiety
Managing Director - Google Advertising
Creative Director, Wolff Olins
Head of Music and Sound, Yoto
SVP Global Sync, WMG
And a special mention to all the sonic branding and music agencies that have very kindly shared their insights. Whats’ really special is how competitors can get together and collaborate for the better. I’m going to dedicate a special section for those Founders and CEO’s so that we can all ensure that the rising tide of this book, lifts all boats.
Book Status
We have a tight shortlist of publishers that have shown interest, and will be sending the full proposal to them all by the end of the year.
Building Communities
I’ve been getting involved in some incredible creative circles. Most recently had a great time recording a podcast with ex-Interbrand global strategist Nadine Hohfeld, check it out HERE
Also I was honoured to be invited onto The One Club for Creativity jury for the Miami Awards this year → https://miamiawards.oneclub.org/jury/ and the student work completely smoked most of the professional entries!
Finally, not sure what’s going on with Linkedin, but I’ve hit 17k Followers now and I hope that’s going to be a good foundation to promote the book (when we’re ready!).
A Massive Thank You
Your support, time, stories, and energy are literally making it real.
Thank you for being part of something properly groundbreaking.
Bing Bong.
Charles