The music industry continues to evolve on the fly with technological innovations that change the way we consume the latest hits. Portable CD-players of yesteryear have been replaced by streaming on demand, however the element of virality is encouraging yet another change in the way we appreciate music. TikTok can be credited for this change as it has the potential to turn seemingly random 15 second clips into viral sensations.
Early in 2019 the Rolling Stone reported that a manager for an aspiring rapper, Flo Milli, approached a TikTok user and offered him $200 to bring more attention to a dance for “Beef Flomix.” The resulting clip gathered more than 100,000 likes at the time. Soon after Flo Milli signed to RCA. Since then the cost of promoting music on TikTok has skyrocketed as the user base grew.
Watch Noam Sela In His Latest Song:
Past, Present and Future
After his army service, Noam started a band and performed across Israel. The band’s performances became popular very soon. “So it was 20 years ago and it was a rock band. A simple rock band. We would perform 3 times a week and all around Israel. We used to make good music and it was authentic, without the electronic feeds.”
These tours would do more than just give the band exposure, “I actually met my wife in one of these performances. She came to see the band. According to what she says, she fell in love immediately.” Noam shared and added, “I owe my marriage to my music.” The music turned into a hobby as he started his degree in Computer Science and founded a business.
Always having had an ear for impressions, Mr. Sela can imitate almost anyone and has a fondness for mimicking accents. With lockdown measures harshly impacting lives in Israel and around the world, Noam decided to give his gift of humor to the world. “My daughter encouraged me to open a TikTok channel to show my skills. I was super skeptical about it, but soon enough followers came.” Several viral videos later fans are still delighted with humorous skits. This passionate entertainer holds a dream to appear on national television and radio with his impressions which may soon be realized. In the meantime current and future fans can look forward to September 2021 with anticipation as the band is expecting to drop their studio album that will feature exciting collaborations.
An Associative Process
The songs are written by Idan Belinsky and Noam Sela together. He describes the process as simple. “He (Idan) has an associative thinking. He says, ‘Okay, what do you want to talk about? What do you want to say for the audience?’” It is from this premise that songs are crafted and personalized to suit each individual singer. Speaking about a single that has not been released yet, Noam elaborates on the process. “We have a single that is called ‘Rock isn’t Dead’. He (Idan) asked me: ‘What do you want to talk about? What hurts you? What makes you move?’ That’s it. So I told him that I miss rock music, because everything is electronic pop and hip hop. Today, at least in the mainstream, there’s nothing like rock music.”
His passion for rock and alternative rock is partially inspired by The Beatles. “I don’t think there’s a song today that is not originally inspired by these four amazing people.” Drawing most of his inspiration from Sting and the Police as well as Pink Floyd, who is currently a controversial band in Israel, Noam spoke frankly and openly that music and politics should be separated.
“So people in Israel don’t like Pink Floyd now, and especially Roger Waters, but I think that these things should be separated completely. He is a genius and this rock band is a genius band. They’re marvelous.”
The Takeaway
Music discovery is at the core of what TikTok does. Musicians, both undiscovered and established, use it to promote their music and build a global fan base through uploading their original songs to the platform. Users can access a great variety of tracks in the apps that includes new releases, greatest hits and tendings songs.
