Photo: Dan Reid
The Man Behind the Music
David Guetta
By Sarah Flavell
David Guetta is one of the world’s most critically acclaimed DJs. A global brand and music phenomenon known for pushing boundaries in business and music. I joined him on board one of our Amels 60s to talk about his entrepreneurial mindset and personal journey to success.
SF: David, what were the key decisions that turned your passion into a business empire?
DG: What’s crazy is when I started to DJ, there was no example to follow. Today, all the kids want to be DJs because they see us, with the fame, on social media and making lots of money. But in the time that I started, there was no money to be made. There was no example of a famous DJ. The concept didn’t exist.
Instead, I just focussed on being passionate about my music. At one point some things started to happen, in my case with house music. There was an underground movement, and I wanted to share it with the world. Instead of doing what everyone else in my scene was doing, which was wanting to stay underground, I thought, I love this music and I want to share it with everyone. That turned out to be a key decision.
"Most people want comfort, but they also want to win. And it’s not possible to win in a comfortable way. You need to be able to accept sacrifices that other people don’t accept. You need to be able to accept criticism that other people are not ready to accept. And you need to have the talent."
SF: Do you consider yourself more of an artist or an entrepreneur today?
DG: I didn’t see myself as an entrepreneur at the time, even though I was. I just didn’t realise it. I had made the decision to stop university in my fourth year. I was DJing in the most successful club in Paris and people were coming for me. That’s when I changed the existing industry model whereby DJs would get a set fee. Instead, I said, give me a percentage. Then I started to make real money. Things shifted not only for me, but for many DJs. That’s when passion and business came together. So, I guess I’m an artist and I’m also an entrepreneur.
SF: How do you then look after your yourself as the brand?
DG: I’m a little bit different in my industry because I feel like I’m a very normal person, even though my life is not normal. I really see what I do as my passion and my job. So, my passion is to make music and to DJ. And this fame thing is really like a job. When I’m out on stage, that’s it. I don’t see myself as famous anymore. What lives with me constantly is the music.
How do you stay true to your own artistic vision but also keep your work relevant?
There’s always a balance between what you want and what the market wants. In my case, it’s very interesting because almost every time, what I want is what the market is going to want next year. I perform every week, so I get tired of the trend before other people do. So I need to create music that I want to play.
"You need to anticipate what they are going to want, even if they don’t know they’re going to want it. If you are just going to be a crowd pleaser you’ll always be dated because what people want right now takes you two years to produce. You need to be ahead of the trends."
SF: What would you tell or advise your younger self?
DG: Maybe to have studied more. That’s the only thing. But for the rest, I really think that my journey was perfect, including my failures.
I might say don’t worry so much, but maybe it’s because I worried so much that I worked so hard. I was always ambitious, but not in a crazy way. I would look at what I could do next. I was never thinking I’m going to be the best DJ in the world, I’m going to be the number one or I’m going to be rich. I never thought of this ever. It’s just that I started to play in a small club and I then I thought I wish I could play in the best club in Paris. And then when I played in the best club in Paris, I thought I wish I could tour Europe and so on.
SF: Any final words?
DG: I think it’s great to always envision yourself in a better position and do everything that you can to have a better life and make the sacrifices that are necessary. Work harder than the other people so you can achieve what you want, but not in an unrealistic way. It takes a lot of time, and you need to learn to be the best at what you do to get there.