Best DJ on Forbes' Highest-Paid DJs of 2013 List

#teampaulyd

Read on to see the rest of the 12 top earners of the booming Electronic Dance Music genre.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcrZ459-A14

Are those numbers supposed to be total worth or 2013 earnings? It's not clear from the Forbes list to me. Have to be the former, right?

y u troll me so

I can't believe Tiesto is still pulling in bank

And either way, if Swedish House Mafia are making $25M between the three of them while Deadmau5 is making $21M for himself, none of the SHM members should make a highest-paid DJs list, right?

xposts

you have to factor in how expensive those mouse heads are

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9sQ6S330qU

Are those numbers supposed to be total worth or 2013 earnings? It's not clear from the Forbes list to me. Have to be the former, right?

― EveningStar (Sund4r), Friday, 16 August 2013 22:09 (3 minutes ago)

no, just earnings

The mouse-helmeted DJ has been collecting vast amounts of cheese despite performing half as many shows as some of his peers, thanks to nightly fees in excess of $200,000 at Hakkasan

now that might not sound a lot, but it all adds up

DJs

brb emailing everyone on this list to ask for 1000 dollars.

the idea that diplo clears $13m a year is sort of terrifying, even though he is the lowest earner here and possibly the only one ever to contribute to any music of any value

I clearly really don't understand how the pop music industry works if i) I'd never heard of Calvin Harris before this and ii) even after reading the Forbes thing and his Wikipedia entry, I still don't understand how he could have made $46M in 2013. (Are they using fiscal years? Because obv 2013 isn't over.)

id heard of calvin harris but i thought he was more of an 'indie' type of person than a house dj and i havent heard of three of the others

soon i will be like the apocryphal high court judges who don't know what the beatles or football are

Calvin Harris is a cunt who made some horrible novelty pop-house records then somehow chanced his way into a career making backing tracks for actual proper pop stars even tho his tracks are still shite

he said something sniffy about Carl Cox and "proper music" once iirc

i have no personal experience of the man but feel qualified to describe him as a used tossrag

Earnings totals were calculated over a 12-month period from June 1, 2012 to June 1, 2013.

Like, if you told me that Taylor Swift made $50M last year, I wouldn't bat an eye but this guy has only had hit singles and albums in the UK. I never hear him on the radio. I doubt that most people at the office own anything by him and am willing to bet that many don't know who he is. It seems surprising that DJing nightclubs and producing pop records could make him richer than the pop stars themselves.

alternate name for this poll: How Bad Does The World Suck?

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ryanmac/2013/08/15/hakkasan-evolution-growing-from-las-vegas-megaclub-to-global-lifestyle-brand/

have (knowingly) heard: Calvin Harris, Guetta, Avicii, Skrillex, Diplo
am aware of, have probably heard: Tiesto, Swedish House Mafia, Martin van Buren
am aware of, don't think i've heard: Deadmau5, Afrojack, maybe Steve Aoki
not a fucking scooby: Kaskade, DJ Pauly D

this EDM thing always makes me chuckle, it's like dance music for people who don't like dance music

this crap seems to be very popular in the american upscale bro coke & cristal continuum and those cunts pay veblen

No, I saw the Hakkasan article too but I'm surprised that spinning at a Las Vegas nightclub could net more than a stadium tour.

I guess it's what you're saying about the clientele/veblen though.

I guess they do a lot of commercial gigs as well as play to the public, those things pay ridiculous money iirc.

it's a very good point, to some extent most of these people's's public personae is based on a tawdry unimaginative blinginess that goes with a certain "throwing money around like a fat white parasitic clown scion of the upper classes" ethos

assume Swedish House Mafia just play a minimum of 300 Eastern European raves a year

Even as I was trying not to buy into all the hype around the "hottest new club" in Vegas, I am an official Hakkasan fan.

I came with a group of 17 - got in pretty easy at 10pm through a guest list. Girls were free, guys had to pay $40 on a Saturday night.

I definitely didn't have $3k to blow on table service, but from the looks of it, they didn't have much room either.

The EDM floor up top was even more impressive. The lights, the DJ, Ughh! If you ever want to feel like you're on drugs without actually taking them, then there ya go. Stand 5 minutes just watching the scene, the badass DJ and then just let the music sink in.

Drinks were $16. Annoyingly pricey because I still bought more than 6 of them regardless. Anywhoo... good times :)

i wd probably go to bat for the old school Trance guys, i feel like they've earned their position in some way that shitsmears like Harris or that cunt with the mouse costume haven't

Oh yeah, if they do advertising and/or film work, this becomes much more understandable.

xposts ok lol + wow

they were there in 1998 listening to brandon block's sordid comedown diatribes in a vomitstrewn toilet cubicle in ibiza, they've done the hard graft and now it's time to make the rewards

if you told me that Taylor Swift made $50M last year

($55M fwiw. Considering she does product endorsements too, Harris guy is doing pretty well!)

btw does anybody remember Forbes doing this same article last year and there being an ILX thread about how terrible it was or is it just me?

i get quite giddy at the idea of this lot on the same dreamliner.

there was an excellent forbes thinkpiece a couple years about how edm was taking over the world yeah

i'm not surprised about what Calvin Harris is making -- his last album had 8 top 10 hits in the UK, and half of those songs were major hits in the US as well

OK, so apparently he did score top 20 hits in the US and his album went top 10 in Canada. I am just rockist and out of touch.

No, you're just lucky.

as a not rockist i'd say it's probly good to be out of touch with Calvin Harris

and living in Saskatchewan.

2xpost

"Sweet Nothing" was the biggest one in the US and i love that but otherwise yeah i don't think you're missing anything

out of these, how many are DJs first and foremost? Pauly D? Steve Aoki? that's it, right?

how are you defining djs? i feel like skrillex, deadmau5 at least are v definitely people whose careers as recorded musicians are ancillary to their existence as people who play recorded music to crowds of other people, even though the former might be very profitable to them

also i had no idea who steve aoki was and i have no idea how to process the clip of him above

thank god for some dud3.

I like sweet n8th8ng too tho I always think 'er indoors from florence + the machine is singing something about a sexy avenue

Steve Aoki being a terrible laptop DJ was a running joke on Gawker for years. It's completely bizarre to see him on the list. Ppl like Tiesto earning more than most pop stars makes total sense, though. They can do arena shows twice a week.

I don’t know what to so excrpt the obvious. Feeling blessed I’ve never been to a “rave” where any of these “DJs” are playing. It just does not look like my idea of a party and is not my idea of good music.

calvin harris talk upthread making me lol

i've heard of all of these mavericks, welcome to my world of gays young people and mdma

oh sorry, Tiesto is totally a DJ first and foremost as well. so just three, really.

i feel like skrillex, deadmau5 at least are v definitely people whose careers as recorded musicians are ancillary to their existence as people who play recorded music to crowds of other people

They make more money from DJing for sure but they rose to fame as producers.

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/fury-dj-avicii-gig-bellahouston-2184194

THE concert, the second performance of Glasgow's Summer Sessions, was attended by tens of thousands of fans but locals described "horrendous" scenes as drunken louts fought and turned their area into a scene of chaos.

AN open-air gig headlined by Swedish DJ Avicii turned into an orgy of drink and drug-fuelled violence, witnesses claimed.

Police arrested 29 yobs – one for serious assault – at Bellahouston Park, Glasgow, on Saturday night as the second Summer Sessions descended into bedlam.

Many escaped from the “horrendous” scenes early in the show, while those living beside the park were terrified as drunken louts stumbled in and out of their gardens.

Clyde One DJ Diane “Knoxy” Knox-Campbell witnessed the violence from inside the 35,000 capacity outdoor arena.

She tweeted: “Yep, lasted 5 mins of Avicii - the most disgusting display of people I’ve ever seen. Neddy little gimps, never felt more uncomfortable!!”

Another twitter user said: “Did you see the violence?? Honestly, feel embarrassed I invited my friends to that. Horrendous!”

DJ Avicii and rap sensation Tinie Tempah shared the stage, with doors opening to the outdoor gig at 4pm. But families living in Mosspark Boulevard, which runs parallel to the park’s side entrances, claim their street descended into drunken chaos from early afternoon.

One man said: “The police failed, the licensing authorities failed, DF Concerts failed and it wasn’t stewarded well. It was a disaster.

“Young people – many under 18 – were drinking outside our house from 2pm. There were so many people being sick and passing out on the pavements. It was chaos.”

Gig organisers DF Concerts did not respond to our inquiries.

US superstar Eminem will appear on the Bellahouston stage tomorrow night.

Police said 22 people were arrested for public order offences at his Saturday night concert at Slane, Ireland.

Oasis @Loch Lomond in 96 was almost as bad as this. Are americans better behaved at large gigs than us?

http://www.sfgate.com/style/article/Woodstock-99-The-day-the-music-died-3073934.php

lol url

hah

Considering going with van Buuren. I've got three of his mix CDs, which remain as guilty pleasures, passed from his agent I believe, via an ex work colleague.

Afrojack played the infield at the Preakness with Macklemore and Pitbull. I caught some of it and didn't hate it. Diplo probably gets the vote for "best." (Sorry to answer the poll seriously, carry on ...)

Pauly D has this in the bag I think

SHM

I clearly really don't understand how the pop music industry works if i) I'd never heard of Calvin Harris before this and ii) even after reading the Forbes thing and his Wikipedia entry, I still don't understand how he could have made $46M in 2013. (Are they using fiscal years? Because obv 2013 isn't over.)

isn't harris coining it majorly cos he writes songs for so many people? unless they've gone with solely dj earnings i'd imagine that explains it. he's had hits everywhere as a writer.

Yeah, I think so.. still there is that Las Vegas residency..

How many of these have put the time in, building a reputation? Or how many have been incredibly lucky, right time, right place?

if six seasons of jersey shore isn't putting in time, i don't know what is

How many of these have put the time in, building a reputation?

All of them. If success is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration then with these guys, who are in general so very uninspired and uninspiring, the proportion is more like 0%-100%.

voted pauly d. at least his success is surreal.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

i have no doubt calvin harris makes significantly more money than any of us do, but it's worth noting these figures, which forbes labels "estimated," are wild guesses at best. the calvin harris article has exactly one financial figure in it, and it's vague -- he makes "up to" $300,000 at some dj gigs in some cities. (and this is according to whom, by the way? there's no evidence they asked their subject about any of this.) everything else appears to be a guess based on chart figures and presumably sales certifications, though they're vague on that too. for whatever that's worth.

pvmic

I don't understand how a promoter could pay a dj 300k and still make money

that must be a festival gig

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

lol

I'm actually surprised Skrillex got zero votes! I'd wager he's probably better than at least 50% of this list. I've never actually heard DJ sets by any of these people though.

I used to live in the Netherlands in 94-97 and have seen Tiesto and Armin multiple times working small clubs, college parties and the like, they definitely spent their years in the wilderness. This was when trance was deeply underground, after the minor hype around Eye-Q/Harthouse in Germany died down. When hardcore and handbag house ruled supreme.

i voted Tiesto in the end, feel good about it

i think most of the people listed have put out at least one good-great song

even pauly d

not really

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y153/struggin/Untitled-1-1.jpg

I saw that posted, but in the dickheads defence this is more likely to be an error by the journalists.

*googles techno*