This week, he is releasing a 10-part video series, called “In the Booth,” that is intended to turn him into something of a reality-show star; cameras will trail him as he jets around the world giving concerts, pulling back the curtain on the off-stage life of a D.J. who reportedly earns millions of dollars a year.
The five-minute-long videos, produced by Dan Goodman and William H. Masterson III of Believe Entertainment Group, focus on the backstage dramas and the onstage spectacle as Tiësto and his team put on shows in places like Ibiza, Spain; Bucharest, Romania; Marrakesh, Morocco; and Paris. They will premiere on Jan. 19 on Tiësto’s YouTube channel. Read the interview after the jump.
Tiësto may be one of the older D.J.’s on the booming dance-music circuit these days, but the Dutch dance music master was one of the first musicians to prove a D.J. could compete with pop and rock acts in filling arenas. He is one of the biggest-drawing electronic acts in the world.
One reason for that is Tiësto, 43, has proven himself a durable and savvy marketer, adept at using social media, satellite radio and the Internet to complement his relentless touring. Last month, he announced he would establish a satellite radio channel on Sirius XM devoted to electronic music. He mounted a tour of American college towns last fall to find new converts to that genre. Earlier this month, he used Twitter to stream a concert from the Las Vegas nightclub XS, where he has a residency.
Tiësto – who was born Tijs Verwest in the Netherlands — was in New York on Tuesday to celebrate his birthday with a show at Lavo and spoke to The Times’s James C. McKinley Jr. about the new video series, the boom in dance music in America and his admiration for innovative artists like Skrillex. Here are edited excerpts from that conversation.
Q.
What is the philosophy behind these short films you are going to put online?
A.
It’s to give people an idea of what’s going on in the life of a D.J. Everyone knows about pop stars and artists and such, but not many people know about D.J.’s. So I thought it’s nice to give my view of what’s going on backstage.
Q.
Do you feel a lot of music fans don’t understand what D.J.’s do?
A.
If you had asked me that question two years ago I would have said barely anyone. But now I think D.J.’s are more accepted as real artists. It’s getting a lot better, but I still think there are a lot of people out there who have no idea.
Q.
There is a lot of talk these days about dance music finally catching on in the United States. There is a lot of buzz around artists like Skrillex and Deadmau5. What do you think of the state of dance music here in America?
“Suddenly out of nowhere everybody wants to hear dance music. All the kids going crazy.”
— Tiësto
A.
It’s amazing. It’s a surprise invasion. Even when I signed my first residency in Las Vegas a little more than a year ago it wasn’t that big yet. Suddenly out of nowhere everybody wants to hear dance music. All the kids going crazy. All the colleges playing dance music. It definitely came out of nowhere really fast.
Q.
Are you playing bigger and bigger arenas here in the United States?
A.
Well, I’ve always been pretty big in the U.S. But I did see it change a lot for other artists. The way Skrillex came through is phenomenal, I think: so fast and so big. And it’s the same for other D.J.’s like Avicii. For myself, I went from playing the Los Angeles Sports Memorial Arena, which is 15,000, to the L.A. Galaxy Stadium, [The Home Depot Center] which is 27,000.
Q.
What do you see as the next wave in dance music? What’s happening in your genre?
A.
What’s happening is it’s a lot easier to produce dance music now than it was five or 10 years ago with the new techniques. You can buy a program for $250 and you have a laptop and you’re good to go. So what you will see is a lot more young new talent coming through. And a lot more tracks getting released. It’s an interesting time. It doesn’t matter where you come from anymore, either. You can be from Indonesia in the middle of nowhere making three hits and you’ll be a star in the U.S. It’s a really an open world.
“D.J.’s are the new rock stars. We’ve been saying it for years, but now you can really see it.”
— Tiësto
Q.
Do you see D.J.’s as becoming more like rock stars in terms of the number of people they can draw?
A.
Yeah, totally. I think Skrillex is the best example of it. He’s definitely a rock star, and he fills big arenas as well. D.J.’s are the new rock stars. We’ve been saying it for years, but now you can really see it.
Q.
You’re one of the elder statesmen in dance music today. How does it feel?
A.
It’s nice to be still a part of it. A lot of D.J.’s who started the same time as me, they are not to be seen anymore. And I get so much love and respect from the young D.J.’s and some of them look up to me or ask me for advice. I am almost like the mentor. They make me feel such a part of the new fresh scene I feel like I’ve been in a rebirth in my sound and the way I play.
