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Contemporary DJs earn a hell of a lot more money than Oakenfold did in the '90s. Back then he revealed that he earned £750,000 a year from DJing, which was considered excessive. These days, Tiesto has admitted to earning eight figures a year from his job.
Your problem is that you're ridiculously fucking naive. You even believe Oakenfold did everything for the love of music and just happened to get rich, even though there are interviews where he lays out his carefully planned marketing strategies in detail.
The problem with their being no money in record sales is that it forces DJs and musicians who want to make it to be even more ruthless and manipulative. It's not like everyone's suddenly doing it for the love because sales have dropped. Label and track whoring has always existed, but it's gone into overdrive in recent years. Everyone knows producers turn to DJing to make their money, and everyone knows that you can't be a big DJ without having productions to your name. I don't think there's a single name on the DJ Mag Top 100 who doesn't produce. The tracks themselves don't sell copies, but they are marketing tools that get you your DJ gigs that make you your money. They aren't marketed on MTV or Clear Channel or daytime radio or any of that other irrelevant fucking shit, you cretin. They're marketed through the fucking Internet. And trust me, there is still a hell of a lot of money to be made in scoring DJ gigs. People still turn out to see well-known DJs, and promoters still pay big money to bring them to town. There may be less club nights, but it's only no-name wankers like you who are getting muscled out of gigs. Local DJs suffer, the big ones profit. It's become a cut-throat industry.
And it goes further. If you want to book someone like Armin, you'll have to sign an agreement where you also book other DJs on his roster, even if you have no interest in putting them on. Funnily enough, these DJs are the same guys who are having their tracks whored out by Armin in his sets and on his radio shows. Which go out to millions of worldwide listeners, every week, on the Internet. Starting to make sense now?
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Mixes:
> Maximum Elevation [Progressive House]
> DI.FM 26th Anniversary Guest Mix [Progressive House]
> Live @ Dance:Love:Hub London, 11.10.2025
> Higher Peaks [Progressive House]
> Dance:Love:Hub Afterparty (The Return) 23.11.24
Like these sets? Come see me play live at Kibosh in Manchester: https://www.instagram.com/kibosh.mcr/
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