"This guy became the most famous DJ in the world, and he still has never taken the helmet off," manager Moe Shalizi says of Marshmello.hat that’s become the DJ’s signature style — was the best-selling Halloween costume at Spirit Halloween Stores last year. On Marshmello’s YouTube, 40% of the audience is under the age of 13.
Shalizi’s parents moved to the U.S. from Afghanistan 40 years ago. In their house, Shalizi didn’t listen to music much and he wasn’t allowed to play rap. “I remember being 10 years old and listening to Coolio,” Shalizi says. “There was that one song that went ‘One, two, three, four, get your woman on the floor.’ My dad heard me listening to that and got so mad at me.
His first big break came after he signed Jauz, an electronic artist. A friend of Shalizi’s was listening to Jauz’s SoundCloud tracks at desert festival Burning Man when he caught the attention of hit DJ Diplo, who happened to cruise by in a golf cart. Diplo soon took Jauz under his wing and Shalizi suddenly made enough money to move into a one-bedroom apartment in Los Angeles.
“People would say, ‘The music is too good to be one person,'” Shalizi remembers. “We played into that. We never told them who it was. I went on Craigslist and found a guy that made props, and we paid him like $400 to make a Marshmello helmet, after deciding we couldn’t use pantyhose and ski masks. Two weeks later, he showed up with a yoga mat that he’d made into a helmet with the eyes cut out.
The only brand partnership the team has agreed to so far is for Marshmello-sponsored Stuffed Puffs — chocolate-filled marshmallows — which received orders for one million units before they were even released. Those marshmallows are now the best-selling marshmallow at Walmart. “A lot of people give away their audience to a brand,” Shalizi says. “If a brand pays you a million dollars for a social post or campaign, well, guess what? They just touched your entire audience for that million dollars.
Just glad he’s finally found his audience 🤓
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