We’re often told that EDM producers and DJs are doing well in the “new boss” economy because they embrace digital distribution especially streaming, sample rather than hire live musicians, use hard drive recording rather than studios, and so on.  How many times have you heard how healthy “DJ culture” because “every night 500,000 people go out dancing”?  (Pick your number for the anecdote.)

DJ/Producer Nick Thayer came forward with an explainer on Digital Music News that is a must read and comes to this conclusion (post is from 2014 but we missed the first time around):

People often think there’s a huge amount of money in this [EDM] scene. There is, but it is very concentrated and in the hands of a very, VERY few people. The vast majority are on similar numbers to me, running on fumes most of the time to make this thing work….(I’m not going to include Spotify or YouTube here as they total less than the price of a beer overall).

This is not a sob story. This is me saying to you please, PLEASE support artists you like in any way you can think of.

 Buy the whole EP when they release it instead of just one song. You would not believe the difference this can make. Even buying two songs instead of one helps chart positions which creates exposure which means more people listen and the cycle repeats itself.