When Hardwell spoke about how it felt to place #1 the DJ Mag Top 100 DJs last year, he mentioned that it's kind of like the Olympic games for DJs. Being an angry android, I made a snarky remark about how he must be talking about, ahem, "scams and spams for votes being akin to Olympic athletes doping in preparation for their sport," and while that was purely in jest, it's what a lot of people were thinking. Last July, I asked if the DJ Mag Top 100 DJs list even mattered; many readers responded with a quick "no," and while they definitely see the social media pleas from DJs asking their fans to nominate them for placement on this year's list, they don't get inundated with EDM press releases on the regular like we do. Press releases that either mention voting for a particular DJ or hyping that DJ's place on the list in previous years. I'd say it's ultimately not that important to the fans, but the business side of EDM seems to place a lot of stock in a DJ's current rank on that list. I had no idea that that placement could end up making someone millions of dollars.
When the numbers for this year's Forbes "Electronic Cash Kings" list came out, I can't say I was surprised to see Hardwell on the list. On this very site we've spoken about the year he had; he truly went ham on the decks, including dropping a massive mix at 2013's Ultra Music Festival, well before the 2013 DJ Mag Top 100 DJs placement. But you have to wonder: Would he have been in the running to net $13 million in the June 2013-June 2014 year without that win in October? Even if Hardwell's saying "without my management I would DJ non-stop because I have so much fun playing at all the festivals,” we're talking about 150 gigs worldwide, many of which that pack huge arenas. Hardwell's dope, but you can't front like his "#1 status" isn't making it easier for him to get gigs–if anything, it's to be expected. What makes this interesting is the fact that this was Hardwell's first time on top of the mountain, and there was a direct benefit from that distinction. It would appear that this is the first time a DJ hit the #1 position on that poll and ended up on the Forbes list the subsequent year. Going back through previous DJ Mag #1 DJs, one would have to assume that previous DJ Mag #1s were, at the time, already pulling in millions.
You should already know that votes for the 2014 DJ Mag Top 100 DJs list are being collected. And while "this shit doesn't matter," think about the system as a whole. Since DAD began, we've made it a point to keep tabs on the movements of EDM within the mainstream, be it from SFX Entertainment buying up everything that isn't nailed down to the numerous EDM imprints being started by major labels. There is a resonating white noise that causes certain producers and DJs to remain at the top, and one of the effects is that those same producers and DJs end up reaping the (monetary) rewards from this scene, which can spell danger for the little guy when corporations try to strong arm their way into the scene.
The recording industry in America consists of three big labels. Let's say one of those labels has an EDM artist that they're trying to transform into a star. Just like in politics, people are more than likely to remember a name that's been advertised heavily. How do you think someone like Al Walser ended up getting nominated for a Grammy? It wasn't because people knew his name—he just knew how to game the system. Spamming his track through the Grammy360 website, he made his name stick out, and regardless of how his (terrible) track sounded, those voters—particularly ones with no knowledge of EDM—ended up placing his name on a ballot because they recognized it. If a DJ ends up purchasing ads on a number of the Internet's biggest websites, or buys targeted ads on Facebook and Twitter, EDM fans who check them out might be more inclined to vote for them on the DJ Mag list. Mind you, this is totally removed from the very real scams some DJs have employed to get recognized on this list.
One result of the 2013 DJ Mag Top 100 DJs list: DJ Mag had to defend themselves against the backlash. If there are any kind of odd choices on their list, they just point the finger back at us, saying it's the fault of the EDM fans who voted for these DJs. They also annually print their "top DJ" staff picks in DJ Mag. So, truthfully, should this even be considered a "Top" list of DJs, or just "The Most Popular DJs in (insert year) List, Presented by DJ Mag?" I'm still surprised that a DJ like A-Trak, who can mix circles around the majority of the 2013 list, wasn't included on that list. I hate to bring this down to "skills," but it's hard to even take the list seriously when technically sound DJs that happen to also be proficient producers and have their own taste-making labels aren't included in a list of 100 "Top" DJs. DJ Mag editors have admitted that the list is a "popularity" contest, but when the "most popular" DJs are ones who possibly target the population that's voting, things get hairy.
What's even more interesting in all of this is that Americans really don't know who Hardwell is. Think about that for a second: He's the #1 DJ in the world, according to DJ Mag, via fan polling. He's made $13 million over the last year, and yet the one market that he's going to be touring this fall wouldn't know him if he showed up at the dinner table. Could it be because he doesn't throw cakes or have a weird haircut? Probably. For a DJ that's being heralded as "the electronic scene's newest superstar DJ," it's interesting to note that in a time when a lot of the scene's biggest singles aren't just topping the Beatport charts, but are making their way onto the Billboard charts in America, Hardwell's latest singles don't seem to be duplicating that pattern. In no way am I saying that "you need to be big in America to really be big," but it's interesting. Maybe his debut album, whenever (and wherever) it lands, will change all of that, especially here in America.
Hell, maybe I'm just a paranoid cynic. Maybe I'm reading too much into this. It could really be that EDM fans around the world really do love Hardwell, and 2013 was his year. I wouldn't disagree. One can't deny that it's intriguing that he really started making major coin (to the point that he's now making Forbes lists) after that DJ Mag win, though. Especially when he'd placed #6 on the 2012 DJ Mag poll, yet didn't make the Forbes list the following year. It could all be a coincidence, but as we're seeing the reins of the EDM scene being yanked by corporations and CEOs who want to make some money out of EDM before it loses its cool, this grand design could end up being an easy way to build the next EDM star...and that's a troubling sight.
