Is dance music coming back to the mainstream? On this week’s episode of Billboard On The Record, John Summit — DJ, producer and founder of Experts Only — discusses what makes the dance music industry unique, how DJs went from underground clubs to arena shows and festival headliner slots and why he decided to launch his own label. With his own discography evolving from singles to full album releases, Summit walks through how he laid the foundation for his upcoming arena tour while losing $1 million in the process — and yes, what led to him lighting a Rimowa suitcase on fire.

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Billboard On The Record is a podcast in partnership with SickBird Productions. 

Host: 

Kristin Robinson

Executive Producers: 

Diona DaCosta

Jade Watson

Produced By: 

Kayla Forman

Mateo Vergara

Edited By:

Rachel Derbyshire

John Summit:

You still see the comments of all the pop fans being like, “Who the fuck is John Summit? Blah, blah, blah. ” And I’m like, “Damn. Like, I thought I was, like, doing pretty well, but I still have a lot of heads to turn still.”

Kristin Robinson:

The dance music industry, it’s, like, very singles-driven, and also people kind of hop around to different places. So, can you talk to me about how you came up and, like, what was your strategy in aligning with these different labels?

I always had aspirations to make these bigger records.

Do you think that the visuals in dance music these days are almost kind of like an arms race? 

Yes, which is why I kind of want to do the antithesis of visuals. Everyone’s just one-upping each other. Experts Only has its own community now. We have a festival that’s, like, 60, 000 people in New York this year, and we’re gonna start going international with it. I can’t say anything yet, but there’s a lot more to come.

John Summit is one of the biggest stars in dance music today, and not only that, he’s also the founder of one of the hottest dance labels today as well. His company, Experts Only, regularly ranks at number one on Beatport’s Global Label Chart, and it releases music from artists like Devault, Layton Giordani, Max Steiler, among many others. Between the release of his new album, ‘Ctrl+Esc,’ hosting multiple skiing-based music festivals in Whistler and Vail, playing Coachella, and gearing up for the second year of his New York-based festival, also called Experts Only, he’s one of the busiest producers in the genre today, and one of the few that’s bridged the divide between dance and popular music.So, today, I’m here with John to ask him about his career journey from accountant to EDM superstar, how he made Experts Only such a success, and what makes the dance music industry so unique to any other genre.

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