The painful reality of making it as an artist within the electronic dance music world

When you're a big headlining DJ travelling the world, earning $200,000 per gig, flying in private jets, hobnobbing with stars, with millions of adoring fans, life is good. But to many others just a few rungs down the ladder,  there sits artists like OWSLA's Nick Thayer, who are still globetrotting DJs but is finding it hard to make all of the ends meet.

In his latest Tumblr post, he takes readers into an intimate look at how difficult it is to make it as a thriving artist within the electronic dance music world. He reveals how he had actually LOST money in the release of the "Like Boom" EP, released in 2012. What about touring? Nick Thayer gives us a sobering look at the small profit margin after all of the fees and travelling costs of an average three week touring schedule actually looks like. Here's a snippet: 

"You can usually get the club to pay for a hotel on the night of your show, but that’s it. So that leaves maybe ten nights where you are covering it at $100 a night if you can find it. Often they will be much more expensive so you survive by sleeping on couches in friends’ places every second night. That’s $1687 left. Now pay management 15% and we’re at around $1434. Then there is food to pay for cause you can’t live on bar snacks for three weeks. At $30 per day (that’s $10 for b’fast lunch and dinner) for three weeks is around $600 and at that point all you’re left with is around $800 for three weeks’ work, which is not exactly a fortune." (Click here to read the entire post)

What's the takeaway here? SUPPORT your favourite artists! If you like them, BUY their music, BUY their merch, and of course, attend their shows whenever they play near you. Life at the top of the DJ'ing world seems almost too easy, but it's guys like Nick Thayer and even local talents that we need to keep mindful of in order for this entire scene to thrive. Thanks to Nick for reminding us of this important fact. 

To read the entire Tumblr post, click here. Highly recommended.