The Secret Costs and Profits DJs Aren't Talking About

Think twice before you send that tweet whining about how expensive festival tickets are this summer. That bloated number that appears on your credit card may become a small portion of your favorite DJs monthly rent. Or their plane ticket. Perhaps some groceries. Or maybe an ice cold pint to sooth the pain from listening to you all blow whistles during their 60 minute set.

When Australian DJ, producer and then OWSLA artist Nick Thayer posted a comprehensive breakdown on his Tumblr showcasing his earnings through releases, touring and general expenditures, he thrust the stereotypical DJ lifestyle into a brand new perspective. Even after his Like Boom EP sales, ten shows over three weeks and a number two overall release on Beatport, Nick's profits in 2012 could barely foot the average bill to Tomorrowland. So here's a look at some of the tasks, costs and profits that Nick shed light on and how they're tackled by budding producers. A DJs gotta eat, right?

Sales Platforms (I.e. Beatport, Soundcloud, iTunes, etc.)

Assuming that a DJ is good enough to be signed to a label, there's a natural immersion into song sales. As king of dance music retailers, Beatport sells a song for an average $1.50 to $2. While they hold the widest repertoire of downloadable dance music, Beatport is far from being on board with PLUR and all that warm electronic dance music fuzziness and camaraderie. Instead, the earnings of aspiring producers are often split in a vicious 50/50 between artist and retailer. This explains how Nick only saw half of his earnings off the Like Boom EP track sales. According to his calculations, the number jumped from what could have been $7347 to $3673.50.

Although with much less of an underground music selection, iTunes does much of the same financing. SoundCloud on the other hand is somewhat a mystery. For a pint-sized $145 a year, you can run an unlimited upload account that tracks your plays, the location of your song hits and some neat statistic collections. The downfall? You don't see a penny for a single song play and ripping tracks off SoundCloud is as easy as it was on Limewire. SoundCloud, in principle, is a way to build a following, interact with fans and garner feedback. Thus the crucial goal is not necessarily to lure fans to buy the music, but rather lure the fans to listen to the music and buy show tickets.

Shows, Tours and Festival Slots

Tour incomes alone aren't the pot of gold at the end of the proverbial EDM rainbow. Once "Do You Wanna Know Just How Much I Make?" was posted, the Reddit community categorized Nick Thayer as a "mid-tier DJ," following a review of his online sales and plays. Although he took it a bit to heart in his response, if you were to compare Nick's $1500 earning per show to, let's say, Calvin Harris's $300,000 in Vegas—mid-tier seems pretty damn generous. What's key in his breakdown is that once travel and general life expenses are factored in, a tour pay check is a hand-to-mouth profit. The world travelling DJ Cinderella stories you see on Instagram seem a little bleaker when you consider that the flights, accommodation and a majority of meals are coming straight from their own pocket. Nick does acknowledge that often the venue will pay for one night's stay in their respective city, but that's about it. Once down to the final calculations, even a major tour didn't save his bank statement. Nick claims that his 2012 tour left him with a meager $800. Maybe Couchsurfing.com should include a section for travelling DJs.

Management and Agents

This portion of Nick's case study is a bit muddled. Management and agents are often the buffer between artist and the administrative work that helps make it rain. Whether booking gigs, managing contracts, fees, payments, flights or promotional things—for someone who wants to make money DJing, this hired help can become your ball and chain. Nick attributed a 15 percent cut to his management from the already sliced $3673.50 income, and an additional $300 to $500 cut given to their work creating a decent publicity campaign. This put him at an approximate $2625 for all of 2012, pre-travel expenditures. To put things into perspective, that could front maybe two months' rent in downtown Toronto. Or perhaps a couple weekends living large at Cabana, depending on your style.

Some readers declared that his post was merely a sob story from a confused businessman and that his finances could have been allocated better. That may be true, but these sleazy business skills don't come hand in hand with your Ableton package. You can't blame the guy for needing the extra support.

Dutch DJ Benny Rodrigues, who like many electronic artists, operates without any management sums it up best: "If you wanna get things done properly, do it yourself."

Performance Rights, Royalties and Copyright Agreement

Let's just say that as an electronic music artist, the profits from this will still leave you rummaging for bus change. We can't all sell copyright branded muscle tee's at H&M, right Nirvana?

Artwork and Branding

Suppose that the electronic dance music industry is a life-sized Where's Waldo? Book— the goal then is to be recognizable, memorable and the one picked out of a crowd. With such a saturated market, artists are putting precedence on different outlets of artwork to help brand themselves. Nick Thayer attributed a whopping $1000 for digitally versatile artwork for his 2012 EP. Claiming he "believes in paying people properly for their work." But other artists are honing the simpler route with equal effectiveness. Deadmau5 struck obvious gold with his identifiable mau5head. But Ryan Hemsworth for example, promoted his January tour Dogs Get in For Free with a no-fuss video of him roaming Toronto with an English bulldog. Fifty-five seconds frugal, successful and squeal-worthy tour promotion, I'd say.

Although crying about not making enough money won't prompt people to buy your EPs, Nick's transparency was meant to urge fans to take the leap and buy the music they love if you want to hear more.  All things considered, you can't argue with that.

Read All of Nick Thayer's Tumblr Post here.

You can follow Rachael on Twitter: @rachaeldamore

Related Stories:
Beatport's New President Hints At Changes To Come
Why Local DJs Need Self-Awareness
Watch Ryan Hemsworth DJ In An Animal Shelter
Graphic Grooves: Dance Music and Design Since 1983