Ta-dah! As long as it comes from Forbes, it’s official.
The world’s leading source for business and financial news just announced their list of the world’s highest earning DJs/producers. What? You thought that making/playing electronic music earns you nothing? Think again!
Electronic dance music (EDM) has become so wildly popular that not only is it beginning to take over the world universe, it’s likely that your favourite mainstream or pop artiste has either started “infusing” it into their songs or has plans on working with a DJ in the near future. And when we say near, we mean by the next single or album.
May we also add that EDM icons have become prominent figures in mainstream entertainment? Some have even evolved from being “just a DJ/producer” behind a console into a brand. Case in point, Joel Zimmerman aka deadmau5, who is his own mascot with the help of his “mau5head”s.
deadmau5 also appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone’s Summer Special in June 2012.
And in February this year, dubstep (EDM subgenre) artiste Sonny Moore aka Skrillex bagged not one, not two, but three golden gramophones at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards. That “one swipe, three awards” move earned him the title “dubstep king” and automatically catapulted him to mainstream success.
Skrillex also headlined Coachella (California’s biggest music and arts festival) last year.
Not that we’re defensive of or protective over these DJs/producers but it’s high time to kick the misconception that being a DJ/producer equals drugs or that DJs/producers are bad news. In fact, judging by the sheer (and a little bit obscene) amount that some of them earn, they’re probably laughing all the way to the bank:
Hah! Who’s laughing now, hmm?
