The headline was at the top of an article in Forbes magazine. Music fans might have wondered about how much money the duo The Chainsmokers were making. No more wondering necessary. DJ Calvin Harris was replaced after six years as top earning DJ. The Chainsmokers — Drew Taggart and Alex Pall — are now the world’s top earners in the category, raking in some $46 million in pretax income over the past year.
When choosing The Chainsmokers as the subject of this week’s post, I realized that many are familiar with the music of the duo. However, the intriguing storyline is how DJ’s gained prominence at the top of the music industry food chain. In the past I have featured Calvin Harris, the late Avicii, Daft Punk and a few more from the world of EDM music. In modern music the DJ is more than significant. Now they are featured artists.
The EDM-pop duo achieved a breakthrough with their 2014 song “#Selfie”, which became a top twenty single in several countries. They have won a Grammy award two American Music Awards, seven Billboard Music Awards and nine iHeartRadio Music Awards. Many of you still might be wondering how we got to this point where The Chainsmokers, and other DJ’s, gained popularity and money.
Electronic dance music (EDM), also known as dance music, club music, or simply dance, is a broad range of percussive electronic music genres made largely for nightclubs, raves and festivals. It is generally produced for playback by disc jockeys who create seamless selections of tracks, called a mix by segueing from one recording to another. EDM producers also perform their music live in a concert or festival setting in what is sometimes called a live PA. In Europe, EDM is more commonly called ‘dance music’, or simply ‘dance’.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, following the emergence of raving, pirate radios and an upsurge of interest in club culture, EDM achieved widespread mainstream popularity in Europe. In the United States at that time, acceptance of dance culture was not universal; although both electro and Chicago house music were influential both in Europe and the United States, mainstream media outlets and the record industry remained openly hostile to it.
The timing of the rise of EDM aligns with my time as an active music producer and label exec. Although I was creating danceable R&B infused music many contemporaries were actively producing dance and house music. Though they tried to get me involved, I never quite caught on. Nevertheless, EDM was growing in popularity and importance. With the increasing popularity of electronic dance music, promoters and venues realized that DJs could generate larger profits than traditional musicians; Diplo explained that “a band plays [for] 45 minutes; DJs can play for four hours. Rock bands—there’s a few headliner dudes that can play 3,000–4,000-capacity venues, but DJs play the same venues, they turn the crowd over two times, people buy drinks all night long at higher prices—it’s a win-win.”
In 2011, Spin declared a “new rave generation” led by acts like David Guetta, Deadmau5, and Skrillex. In January 2013, Billboard introduced a new EDM-focused Dance/Electronic Songs chart, tracking the top 50 electronic songs based on sales, radio airplay, club play, and online streaming. According to Eventbrite, EDM fans are more likely to use social media to discover and share events or gigs. They also discovered that 78% of fans say they are more likely to attend an event if their peers do, compared to 43% of fans in general. EDM has many young and social fans.
Now in 2019, EDM has grown and provided us with new artists and music producers. EDM fits perfectly with the new music fan and their consumer habits, providing us with popular artists like The Chainsmokers.
Originally, the duo of The Chainsmokers included Alexander Pall and Rhett Bixler. There was a need for a replacement when Bixler decided to leave the group. Events started working to bring Andrew Taggart closer to the group. He had taken an interest in being a DJ and released some original songs on the website SoundCloud. Taggart was informed by someone working for Adam Alpert that a duo, which was being managed by Alpert, had an open spot after Bixler left, which prompted Taggart to leave Maine in order to go to New York City. Pall, who had grown up as a DJ and had been working at an art gallery in Chelsea, Manhattan at the time, was introduced to Taggart by Alpert. Thus, The Chainsmokers as we know them today were born.
It didn’t take long before The Chainsmokers began to hit their musical mark. The duo started out by making remixes of indie bands. In 2012, they collaborated with Indian actress and recording artist Priyanka Chopra on the single “Erase” which was followed by “The Rookie” in early 2013. In April 2013, The Chainsmokers released a remix of “Medicine” by Daughter and it reached number 1 on HypeMachine.
Of course, like most musical acts, The Chainsmokers really took off after their live performances. The duo’s first live performance was opening for Timeflies at Terminal 5 in September 2014. The duo achieved breakthrough success as the single charted internationally and peaked on the Dance/Electronic Songs chart. Pall has described the song as “life-changing” for the pair.
On August 5, 2014, the Chainsmokers released “Kanye”, featuring sirenXX, the follow-up to “#Selfie”. Seven months later, they released “Let You Go”, featuring the American synthpop group Great Good Fine Ok. They signed with Disruptor Records, a joint venture label with Sony Music Entertainment by their manager Adam Alpert, in April 2015.
The Chainsmokers were now on their way to new heights. During the next year the duo would score some big hits. On February 5, 2016, the duo released a new single, “Don’t Let Me Down”, featuring vocals from American singer Daya, which won a Grammy award. It was at this point that I took notice of the duo and really started to follow what they were doing. It seemed like an endless amount of hit music with many high-profile featured artists. I understand why an artist would want to work with The Chainsmokers. The duo was like a musical hit factory that has not slowed down.
On December 14, 2018, the duo released their second studio album titled Sick Boy. The album consists of singles that were released each month in the year 2018, except May and June, with “Sick Boy”, “You Owe Me”, “Everybody Hates Me” and “Somebody” being released in the first four months, from January to April. These songs were collectively released on the ‘Sick Boy EP’ on April 20th. The next three songs, “Side Effects”, “Save Yourself” and “This Feeling” were released July to September and appeared collectively alongside the first four singles on the EP ‘Sick Boy…This Feeling’ on September 21. “Siren”, “Beach House” and “Hope” were released October to December, then collected on the final album.
AllMusic’s Neil Z. Young positively said of the album, “Compared to their 2017 official debut, the Chainsmokers’ sophomore album, Sick Boy, is more introspective, thoughtful and emotional. It’s also a vast improvement on the often precious (and, frankly, boring) EDM-pop of Memories…Do Not Open.” He went on to state that, “At the heart of it all, this set is dark, sometimes exciting, and a step in the right direction for the immensely popular but critically maligned duo. World-weariness and a troubled heart suit them well and managed to do some good on Sick Boy.”
I listened to Sick Boy entirely a few times and really enjoyed it. It might find a way into my personal collection, I have not made a final decision yet. However, the album sounds like music that would hook me. Time will tell.
Taggart has described the duo’s music as “blurring the lines between indie, pop music, dance music, and hip-hop.The pair have cited Pharrell Williams, Linkin Park and deadmau5 as musical influences. When I listen to The Chainsmokers, I hear all of those mentioned influences. I understand why they are so popular. I also understand why they have made so much money. Please give Sick Boy, and the duo’s other music a listen. You most likely will understand too.