Forbes has today released a list that’s going to appeal very much to the younger generations. Rather than focusing on Wall St. fat cats and billionaire mining tycoons, Forbes has put together a list of the highest paid EDM artists.
It’s no real surprise who is included in the list, given the current wave of support behind the genre; all you have to do is look at a festival lineup, and that’s basically the list right there. Though what is surprising, is just how much these cats get paid to get on the decks.
Tiesto comes in at #1, earning a cheeky $250,000 a show, putting him at a total of $22 million for the last fiscal year. Skrillex comes in 2nd but not even close, having to deal with a lousy $15 million from his festival appearances, TV syncs, endorsements etc from 2011, though with 3 Grammys under his belt, and the titles of both 100 Greatest Guitarist of All Time and Price of Dubstep, you won’t see the 24-year-old complaining.
Scandinavian trio Swedish House Mafia are a close third, bringing in around $14 million. David Guetta is hot on their heels, pulling a cool $13.5 million through Renault and HP endorsements as well as live shows. Huh, woulda thought it’d be more than that. Anyway. Steve Aoki put in the hard yards last year, smashing through 200 live shows but coming out the other end with $12 million. Though he has denounced EDM, Deadmau5 is still in the list, coming up with a dismal $11 million, $4 million less than his one-time protege Skrillex, and the same amount as rival Pauly D; I bet Deadmau5 is loving that. Poor old Avicci finishes up the list, scraping together a measly $2 million.
Anyway, you can check out the full leftover list at Forbes.
