Electronic dance music’s increased presence is easily seen in larger music festivals, greater radio play, and even advertising. But rather than simply being the producers to pop stars who rack in the bucks, Tiesto and Skrillex showed that, in 2012, the man behind the mixing deck is finally getting some credit by making Forbes annual Celebrity 100 list.
In picking the World’s Most Powerful Celebrities, Forbes judges more than yearly income. Over the years, media exposure – both standard print and online – is incorporated into the ranks. As a result, performers with greater social media presence, such as Lady Gaga making it to No. 1 in 2011, often rank high.
Tiesto, ranking No. 84 on average, had a disparate range of placement: No. 73 for money, No. 98 for TV/radio exposure, No. 89 for press, No. 62 for web exposure, and No. 24 for social media. As Forbes reported, the Dutch trance DJ made $23 million last year, but Tiesto is a prolific performer, doing more than 100 shows in a year. He takes in $250,000 per gig on average and keeps most of the amount, as his DJ performances do not require significant production.
Earlier in 2012, Forbes listed Tiesto as one of the World’s Greatest DJs, and the “Adagio for Strings” producer addressed some of the points that ranked him highly on the Celebrity 100 list. As far as performing is concerned, he said: “It almost always involves a lot of travel; I’m almost never in the same place for more than 24 or 48 hours. I try to get as much sleep as I can during my flights, keep a healthy diet, and work out when I can so that I don’t get burnt out physically and mentally. My team does a great job helping me keep my days in order too.”
About social media, he told the magazine: “I have some of the best fans and I’m always on Twitter and Facebook whenever I can be seeing what my fans are saying and reaching out to them. I like to give as much as possible to my fans, whether it is competitions for clothes, tickets etc, giving them amazing content like for the video from my LA show last year, or by streaming gigs as I did via Twitter from Las Vegas in January which was amazing.”
Skrillex ranked No. 92, with specific placement for the following: No. 85 for money, No. 98 for TV/radio exposure, No. 85 for press, No. 33 for web exposure, and No. 35 for social media. Much like Tiesto, Skrillex performs frequently – he did 150 concerts in a 12-month period – and, over the past year, won three Grammys and is attributed with increasing the stateside popularity of dubstep.
