The Hands That Make The Music Happen
In my last post you got an overview look into what the world of EDM is all about, now I’m going to turn the focus to the people that make this all possible, the DJ’s. I am going to touch on 4 DJ’s that have a world wide presence, 3 of which are of international origin and 1 home grown right here in the United States.
I have personally seen all these DJ’s perform multiple times at Lollapalooza Music Festival, Spring Awakening Music Festival,Ultra Music Festival, and some other smaller venues. Each of these DJ’s has made a name for themselves in the music industry for different reasons, but have all turned out wildly successful.
- Calvin Harris
- 32 years old
- From Scotland
- Focus area: Electro House
- Years active: 2002-present
- 2014 salary: $66 million
Starting with 2014’s most popular DJ: Calvin Harris. Being 32 years old, he is on the older end for DJ’s and that comes with a vast amount of experience from being active in the industry for the last 14 years. His massive financial success had a lot to do with his top 3 hits: Summer, I Need Your Love, and How Deep Is Your Love. Just those 3 songs have a combined 1.5 billion views on YouTube, so it’s no wonder he is making the kind of money he is. Calvin Harris is a good DJ, but in recent years has began to focus on creating music that will be accepted among very broad audience in the hopes of increasing his music sales. This lack of musical identity along with the fact that almost every song he has came out with in recent years features another artist in it as well makes him seem unoriginal. He doesn’t handle being called a sell out very well as you can see in this video of him performing at a Miami nightclub.
In my opinion, he is the biggest sell out in the industry.
- Avicii
- 26 years old
- From Sweden
- Focus area: Progressive House
- Years active: 2006-present
- 2014 salary: $28 million
The next DJ many people consider to be the father of the modern EDM movement, and that’s Avicii. He comes in right behind Calvin Harris as the second highest paid DJ in 2014 with $28 million. His top 3 songs: Wake Me Up, Levels, and I Could Be The One were also wildly successful acquiring 1.3 billion views on YouTube. According to DJ Magazine’s top 100 rankings, Avicii has cracked the top 7 every year since 2011. Avicii may not be the stand alone leader in the industry anymore, but he still retains a strong following in the EDM community due to his contributes to making the genre what it is today. By emerging on the DJ scene at the young age of 16, now 10 years later he has accomplished much more than expected for a 26 year old.
- Kygo
- 24 years old
- From Norway
- Focus area: Tropical House
- Years active: 2007-present
- 2015 salary: $5 million
The next DJ is my personal favorite and has quickly become one of the most up in coming DJ’s in the world. All though he has been active since 2007, Kygo did not emerge into popularity until 2012. He has slowly developed his own style of music and takes pride in the fact that he creates all his own music and beats. He learned to play the piano when he was six and became a “bedroom producer” by learning how to create electronic music by watching hundreds of YouTube tutorials. He was inspired by Avicii’s “Seek Bromance” in 2010. A few short years later in 2014, Kygo replaced Avicii on the main stage of TomorrowWorld, after Avicii had to drop out due to health issues. His top 3 songs: Firestone, Stole The Show, and Sexual Healing have a combined 300 million views on YouTube. His 2015 salary of $5 million I expect to drastically increase due to his growing popularity as well as him dropping his first ever album in the next coming weeks.
- Chainsmokers
- 30 years old
- From: New York City
- Focus area: All EDM
- Years active: 2012-present
- 2015 salary: $2.5 million
And last but certainly not least we have the home grown duo that call themselves Chainsmokers. Chainsmokers is the only duo on this list, as well as the only DJ’s from the United States. They are two guys who splash in many different sub genres of EDM. They were inspired by many of the DJ’s taking over Europe and in 2012 thought they would bring that same excitement to New York City. The song that put them on the map was #SELFIE that was dropped during the peak of selfie craze. #SELFIE brought in over 400 million views and made Chainsmokers an over night sensation. Since then they have taken that momentum and run with it coming out with songs cracking the top 10 charts such as: Roses and Kanye. In 2015 the duo made $2.5 million which is expected to grow in the coming years as they begin touring throughout Europe and Asia.
Let me tell you, each time I saw these DJ’s perform was an experience that I will never forget. Except maybe Calvin Harris.
