DJ's Make Millions? Calvin Harris Tops the List

This weekend my high school held prom at a cool venue in Denver, and the DJ for the  evening was a sophomore at our school. It was impressive, as he had hundreds of kids on the dance for hours, and they all had a blast. Over the years, we've hired DJs for our dances, and I've never given much thought to people who do this for a living. But I've taken notice recently after learning that the world's top DJs can make tens of millions of dollars a year. Who knew?

It’s been a year to remember for Calvin Harris. Over the past twelve months, the Scottish DJ earned $66 million, dropped an album that rocketed to the top of the U.S. dance charts and started dating Taylor Swift, in the process dethroning Jay Z and Beyoncé as music’s top-earning couple. The fact that he’s the world’s top-earning EDM act—tying the record for annual earnings by a DJ, which he set last year—is almost a footnote. Harris HRS -0.01% is once again the top name on our Electronic Cash Kings list, nearly doubling the total of second-rankedDavid Guetta, who pulled in $37 million. Not bad for a guy who’s roughly a decade removed from being a supermarket stockboy in a remote town in Scotland.“The rise of dance music has been astronomical … I happened to be in the right place at the right time,” he told FORBES.

That sort of money simply baffles me - though I am just beginning to understand how the world of EDM - Electronic Dance Music - can be so lucrative. Entertainment has come a long way since the days of traveling minstrel shows, and there is no doubting the revenue involved in EDM. So, the next time a student is talking about his interest in DJ-ing, I will look more favorably. Though I am not entirely sure of when the DJ is writing and composing (or creating music) and when he is simply mixing and playing the music. This is a world that I'd like to learn more about. I'm thinking I might learn something from a new drama about the EDM world - We Are Your Friends. I'm not sure how authentic it is, but the film looks intriguing.

Cole Carter (Zac Efron) is a former track star and struggling 23-year-old DJ in the electronic dance music (EDM) scene, dreams of becoming a major record producer. He constantly reminds himself of his plan to rise to the top consists of three things: a laptop, some talent, and one track. Cole lives with his friend, Mason (Jonny Weston), and they would usually hang out along with their friends, Ollie (Shiloh Fernandez) and Squirrel (Alex Shaffer), around their native San Fernando Valley. With Mason's help and his friends heavily promoting at college campuses, Cole finally books a gig to DJ at a local nightclub, where he meets the headliner, a once-innovative DJ, James Reed