Earlier this summer Skrillex, Diplo and a handful of other acts embarked upon an eight-city excursion that had all the trappings of a typical EDM tour—screaming fans, thumping beats and stops at major festivals—except for one major difference: it was structured as a cross-country Canadian train ride.
The Full Flex
“One of the groups was talking about doing aromatherapy,” says Ian Simon, who does visual effects for Zeds Dead, an act on the tour (Simon is also Kendrick Lamar’s VJ). “Having giant fans with different liquids that they drop in front of the fans, they could have different smells for different songs. [DJs] are really, really looking for stuff that will set them apart.”
Indeed they are. The EDM landscape has changed drastically over the past couple of years as scores of new fans—and millions upon millions of dollars—have poured into the genre. In 2012, the top ten acts earned a combined $116 million; that number more than doubled the following year as clubs from Las Vegas to Ibiza and festivals around the world threw increasingly larger piles of money at the best DJs.
Full Coverage: The World's Highest-Paid DJs 2015
In 2014, the top ten acts earned $267.5 million by our math, but that was only 11% more than they did in 2013. Over the past year, the total is $274 million, up just 2.5%. It seems that fees are approaching a plateau as the market matures—and as top DJs shell out larger percentages of their performances fees for live show effects that can differentiate themselves from increasing numbers of rivals, an arms race is pulling in some of the biggest names in EDM.
A few years ago, it was common for DJs to spend just 20% of their performance fee on effects. Now, many acts are spending closer to 30% or even 40%, numbers more in line with the pop world.
“The cost that comes with taking responsibility for your appearance, and for your shows, and for your company … it’s a whole different level,” says Afrojack, who ranks No. 10 on this year’s list with $16 million in earnings over the past year.
Lighting directors are now often paid $2,000 per week—on the low end—for plying their trade at EDM shows. The going rate for onscreen VJ visuals is roughly $1,000 per minute of content. Simon estimates that pay for both lighting directors and VJs has increased by 25-50% over the past two years or so.
“The premium on that has definitely gone up,” he says. “And then people will often sink a ton of money into building live stage pieces.”
Those can stretch from something as small as Deadmau5’s mouse ears to the giant head upon which Avicii has been known to perform. From there, it’s not such a leap to something like temporarily rebranding an entire luxury resort, which Avicii did with SLS Hotel in Miami during the Ultra festival.
“There’s so much noise … when they tour, that’s the opportunity to create something to add to that experience,” says Avicii’s manager, Ash Pournouri, founder of At Night Management. “It’s not enough just showing up with CDJs and some crappy visuals.”
Hence ideas like the Full Flex Express. Though they can be more expensive to pull off than the typical EDM setup, these are precisely the sort of endeavors that can help a DJ to stand out in a crowded field. As Skrillex said: “We base our careers around knowing what’s going to be effective."
Skrillex and friends can only hope they prove equally prescient about what will be cost-effective, too. After all, a fundamental reality of the electronic genre begs for visual distraction.
"I think in EDM, particularly because it's a lot of skinny white dudes behind laptops, the need for production is more obvious than almost any other setting," says Simon. "There's not a lot to look at."
For more about the business of entertainment, check out my Jay Z biography, Empire State of Mind, and my other book, Michael Jackson, Inc. You can also follow me on Twitter and Facebook.
