It\’s no secret that DJ\’s get paid a lot. They\’re celebrities just like Kanye West or Leonardo Dicaprio, and they\’re paid based on the amount of money they will make for the production companies that hire them.
However on an illuminated desert street known to most as the Las Vegas strip, an artists per-show salary is a weapon they use in the battleground that is the business of Vegas nightlife.
By nature Vegas is about having the most and being the best. It\’s a place where one spin on a slot machine can literally sky rocket you into Forbes magazine. However, every hotel and resort wants you to have that experience in one of their casinos or nightclubs, and in recent years these resorts have realized that DJ\’s and producers are vital to making that happen.
Even if a person doesn\’t have the spare $80 to spend on a ticket to see Calvin Harris at Hakkasan, his image becomes synonymous with that resort. Every Vegas nightclub has billboards of their resident DJ\’s staring at you ominously all over country. Suddenly people begin booking rooms at resorts simply because their favorite DJ chose to spin there instead of somewhere else. It\’s like the DJ giving the place a stamp of approval.
In the case of Calvin Harris, he has a residency at the MGM Grand, meaning he can only spin there for an entire year. Diplo has the same deal with Wynn. If you check the Wynn Social website, you\’ll see Diplo has already been booked through June 2015, and he\’ll only be at clubs operated by Wynn. (XS, Surrendur, Encore, etc.)
For massive touring artists like Diplo and Calvin Harris, being forced to play a certain number shows in one city throughout an entire year is a serious commitment. Every night Calvin is spinning in Vegas, he could just as easily be in Japan or Jamaica or anywhere else in the world. Or he could be working in the studio on his next huge record. Setting show dates so far in advance forces artists to work around them, which could very easily conflict with releases, tours, and even time off.
There obviously is only one way to compensate these electronic giants for their talent, their image, and their schedule restrictions: money. Big piles of money. How big you ask? Well Calvin Harris will be making $400,000 for each date his of Las Vegas residency, a number second only to Avicii, and equal to the amount the President of the United States makes in a full year.
Keep in mind these are resorts that world renowned. People from all over the globe come to Vegas to stay at the MGM Grand and the Wynn, and a relatively small percent of those people give any weight as to what DJ is spinning at their hotel. Yet, almost every big name in EDM has a residency and these resorts are spending millions upon millions of dollars to lock them down.
Electronic musicians have become more than just DJs and producers. They are now status symbols that receive brand name recognition, as well as some of the best weapons resorts have in the battle for the strip.
What do you think of Calvin\’s salary? Let us know in the comments
