From Paris Jackson To Paris Hilton, Meet Tom Hamilton, Hollywood’s Unsung Prince of Showbiz
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Music manager Thomas Hamilton has just had a whirlwind week, celebrating Halloween in Los Angeles with a stunning transformation into Britney Spears and having just attended the wedding of his friend Paris Hilton. It’s a far cry from growing up in Calabasas, where he spent a lot of time consuming pop music, rocking in high school bands, and cooking up all kinds of sonic concoctions.
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The Huffington Post said of Hamilton in 2018, “A chance encounter in the studio led to Hamilton’s breakthrough winning MTVu song and video of the year, quickly adding his Music Video for ‘Sun’ (produced by the Cataracts) into rotation on MTV2. After a brief stint as a solo artist, Hamilton realized that he really loved being behind the scenes and started collaborating with his best friend and fellow middle-school student, Hollywood It girl DJ Caroline D’Amore. Their teaming turned out to be a match made in heaven.”
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So too was Hilton’s wedding he says. “It was the most flawless, gorgeous wedding. The whole event you understood how much Paris and Carter are madly in love with each other — how perfect they are for each other. That was my takeaway. Mindy Weiss did the wedding, and it was incredible. It was like what you would expect the most gorgeous, beautifully done, curated wedding. But the essence you got was their love story. You got a sense of that through and through. Carter gave the most beautiful speeches where he would just elaborate on the day they first met and their first kiss.”
Hamilton has known Hilton for years via their mutual best friend, previously mentioned it girl, D’Amore.
Hamilton’s friendship with her introduced him to whole new world with fantasy get togethers in Vegas or Hollywood, and Malibu in the summertime. “Paris would always do her big Malibu parties that she’d always rent a house on the beach and throw big fun summer parties, so many great memories.”
In the age of social media, what does it mean to be a celebrity today in your estimation? What’s different? What’s the same? What do you think you have to have? Do you have to have the same things you used to have in the past? “It’s totally different. I think there’s a whole new template for what it is to be a famous person and to be an active celebrity in this day and age. I mean, I think that even in the last three years — what was normal 36 months ago has completely been flipped on its head — think of Emma Chamberlain and Addison Rae— the emergence of the creators on TikTok.”
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Hamilton truly believes it’s the people’s platform. “Instagram is no longer that. Instagram is an algorithm. They only give you a certain amount of likes. It’s so heavily just become like Facebook’s stepsister [Ed. note. Instagram is owned by Facebook]. It was what Instagram once was.”
He continues, “But TikTok is still the Wild, Wild West. “If you’re funny, or if you’ve got a little story to tell or you can dance or whatever talent you have, you can take it to TikTok and have fun and be a part of it and grow. People can see you and hear your stories. TikTok is the platform, period.”
Hamilton thinks that unlike other social media apps, TikTok has made the world more fabulous. “You just download this app. If you’re interested in cinema, you can make edits, you can do a transition. If you’re interested in comedy, you can do comedy bits. Do you want to sing? You can sing. It’s like everyone has a little stage now with the platform. Anyone can do anything. You could get into politics. You can start telling stories about what’s happening in your city or your state. It’s the coolest platform.”
He notes that 7 out of the top 10 hit singles in the last 36 months ban on TikTok. “It’s more powerful than radio.”
As a music manager, he says his job hasn’t changed a whole lot, “but you have to constantly keep your artists involved in Tiktok campaigns. It’s extremely important. TikTok is a huge element to success in the music world at this moment in time, as much as a major record company.”
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“It’s the access that you have to people,” he says, “You can reach people. You can direct message people. It’s just the communication element of it alone is like a game-changer.”
He says frequently that the platform is the only conversation in music. “You’ll be on a Zoom call with the heads of Universal Music Group, and they’re all talking about TikTok. They’re like, ‘Oh, this one’s doing TikTok. Can we get your artist on TikTok?’ That’s the conversation with major record companies right now, from my experience. It’s so powerful.”
He says his favorite musician right now — of the moment — is Adele because the new album and “that performance at the Griffith Park Observatory were just so incredibly beautiful. She’s number one this week, that’s for sure.”
Hamilton has been a performing artist, and it’s informed how he understands the marketplace. “That that’s always been my ace in my pocket — my history of being an artist. I remember sitting in that seat and knowing what I wanted out of management and what I wanted my manager to hear— just wanting them to know— to hear from them that they knew how I was feeling.”
Hamilton says slyly, with a wonderful mischievous sense of humor that he’s got a little bit of a an “artist whisperer thing. Because of my own experiences as an artist. I understand the insecurities. I understand how hard it is to answer questions or do interviews because I remember how hard that was for me. Sometimes, managers and publicists, and agents don’t understand how hard it is to have the spotlight on you at all times. Even if you’re super confident, and even if you’re good at it, it can wear it on you.”
Those little flourishes of understanding and empathy are what mean everything to an up-and-coming artist.
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Reflecting on the current state of the industry, I wonder if he would have done anything differently when he was coming up. “If I could go back in time —I was chasing A&R people at that moment when I was coming up as an artist. I was chasing the record company game. I wish I hadn’t done that. I wish I just flipped open my laptop and started singing into my YouTube channel. I wish that I had just gone that direction because you can spend years going back and forth with A&R reps. Wondering what they’re thinking. But the truth is, even though A&R people are talented, nobody knows anything except for the public. If you just share your music, I tell that to artists today when they’re like, ‘Oh, what can I do to get my stuff out there?’ It’s like don’t listen to anyone. You don’t need a record company. You don’t need anything. All you need is yourself, and your talent, and an internet connection, and you can get your music out there. You can do it. That’s my advice.”
So his first piece of advice, “At this moment in time, I would say you go study TikTok. Study the videos. Find the ones that you respond to. Find the ones that you can creatively connect with or relate to. Start your TikTok platform. Share your music through TikTok. Immediately, that’s the first step to creating a real fan base for you. That’s the first step.”
And the second step? “It would be the follow-up platforms. Social media is your key to it all. If you can crack, if you can carve out a little niche for yourself on social media — you can reach anyone. You could reach a little boy in India who stumbles upon your song. All of a sudden, you’ve got a fan in India. You can go global with a click of a button. So, there are no excuses these days for these up-and-coming artists. It’s all there at your fingertips. If you’re good, people will listen. If you’re good, people will share. If you’re good, people will follow you.”
There’s no blueprint for success.
Lil Nas X, is perfect example. Him talking about learning to play the guitar was one of the coolest things ever. I mean, he’s an exception for everything. He was like one of those Tumblr meme kids. It’s like before he’s doing a musical, that’s how he masters all of these platforms. He watched a lot of videos and listened, and he has just imitated it until he got it. That’s the thing, you want to learn how to play an instrument, open up YouTube; you can learn how to play guitar in three weeks. You can play chords. They’ll teach you how to play songs. It’s all out there for people that want to do it. Anybody can do it nowadays. I truly believe that.
Hamilton did have something else that few get to experience today and that was and is the continued mentorship of Arnold Steifel, the chairman of his company. A multi-hyphenate impresario, Steifel is a self made superstar producer, composer and talent manager. Steifel has famously worked with rock legend Rod Stewart since 1983 as well as mega stars like Bette Midler and Toni Braxton. “Arnold has been the biggest teacher for me and my mentor. He’s just brilliant. He makes deals. He’s was brilliant in all front.”
Steifel and Hamilton connected when he was an artist. “I was working with management companies. I was out there chasing A&R people. He had connected me with and A&R friends. I had a song. I had the closing credits on [the MTV show] Laguna Beach. I would always invite him down to showcases. And We connected”
“I was so blessed to have met him, to have been able to work beneath him daily when he’s putting out albums, conducting world tours. I learned it all. I could do anything because of my experiences. I could manage Madonna tomorrow and be like, ‘Oh, cool. Let’s call Live Nation. Let’s do this. How to do the tour, the merch, everything.’ Nothing is a question. Everything I know how to implement from day on and hit the ground running with an artists is because of that experience with putting Rod Stewart who sold out arenas all around the world. I watched and learned and was able to learn stuff that you can’t learn anywhere else. There’s no UCLA extension course that can teach you that. [laughs].”
The same day we spoke, Hamilton learned that his current client Paula Abdul just hit a million TikTok followers.
He recalls first meeting and connecting with Abdul. He thought, ‘What can we do with Paula?’ The Billboard Music Awards are right around the corner. Hamilton just picked up the phone and called Dick Clark Productions. And he said, ”Hey, just for the hell of it. Paula just showed us some footage of her dancing. She’s still an incredible dancer. Let’s do something. And they said, ‘Why doesn’t she close the show?”
And she did.
Abdul closed the 2019 show — giving the most dazzling performance which culminated in her diving off the stage into the crowd and it went viral.
Building on the momentum and with June of that year coming up, he thought ‘Gay pride.’ Next thing you know, she’s headlining gay pride— killing it with a full fucking set that drove everyone into a frenzy.
Then Las Vegas called. Caesars Entertainment called, and he booked her right into a sold-out residency. “That was a huge moment for me, my life, my career.”
There’s so much power in just picking up the phone and calling someone. You seem like a boss when you do it. “Especially today, everyone hides behind emails. It’s emails, emails, emails. If I hadn’t just taken the phone and called Dick Clark Production, we wouldn’t have it.”
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Hamilton has been lucky too, to have another Paris in his life.
Paris Jackson.
His close relationship with former King of Pop’s eldest framed and shaped their collaboration and built her career — her Calvin Klein campaign, everything. “It was all very methodical and planned out.”
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