The meteoric rise of the superstar DJ has been a divisive chapter in the history of electronic music.
You can’t argue with the figures. In 2015 Forbes posted a list of the highest paid DJs, with Calvin Harris taking a the number one spot with $66 Million of earnings. For those at the top, DJs can stand on equal footing with pop contemporaries when it comes to opulent lifestyles and multi-figure booking fees.
But it seems, at least for a handful of influential Las Vegan club runners, the newest generation of celebrity DJs are quickly falling out of favor. Talking to a number of local industry figures, news website Page Six reports that locals were far from happy with the EDM scene which they have helped create.
Discussing soon to be opened club Intrigue at luxury Casino Wynn Las Vegas, chief operating officer Sean Christie revealed that her venue would be taking an anti-DJ stance. “The DJ is no longer the most important part of the recipe,” Keplan shared. A reaction to the six figure DJs the city has entertained in recent years, the club will stated to be “the opposite of a big DJ-driven club.”
Another club owner, Victor Drai, also weighed in. “People are sick of the DJs in Vegas,” he stated. “It’s ridiculous to have the same five or six guys, pay them a fortune and lose money. It will reach a point where DJs are totally irrelevant.”
Jesse Waits, former runner of the Wynn’s EDM hostpot XS, also took a negative view. “We created a monster,” he said. “People who just want to see DJs don’t dress up, they don’t have style, they don’t even want to be in a nightclub — they want to see a concert,” he leveled. “They’re not cool. Nightclubs are cool-people clubs.”
One anonymous figure confided that most Vegas DJs are currently on multi-year contracts with their respective hotels. “When they renew, offers are expected to go down, some by as much as 50 percent,” the source revealed.
The comments run contrary to a more optimistic article published by culture website Inverse which notes that EDM event The Electric Daisy Carnival alone racked up $500 million in takings for the city in 2015.
Vegas has never been known for its avant-garde musical leanings, but big name EDM artists falling out of fashion could have some serious implications for the city’s rave culture. This said whether these sentiments will be echoed more broadly within the dance community remains to be seen.
Image: Mixing.DJ