Credit: Timothy Norris

Broadly speaking, if you're an electronic music fan over 40, you probably dig Danny Tenaglia more than Skrillex. And chances are, if you're a Skrillex fan under the age of 30, you're like, "Who the hell is Danny Tenaglia?"

Coachella 2013 exemplified the generation gap in the world of dance music. On one side of the field, the modern-EDM-focused Sahara tent was a thrill ride tricked out with lasers, lights and LEDs designed to blow kids' minds, with acts like Knife Party, Dog Blood and Wolfgang Gartner playing hyper-aggressive sets full of drops. Your parents would hate it.

See also: Diplo-Approved Flume Hates the Roided-Out Bros and Orange Chicks of EDM Culture

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Christopher Victorio

DJs are the new rock stars? Maybe. (Although chefs are already the new rock stars.) Still, the big name DJs do seem to be living pretty large, what with the constant travel to exotic locations, goofily-clad fans, eager women, drugs and parties. Just swap MacBooks for guitars and it doesn't look so different from the way Zeppelin rolled in 1973.

See also: Why Is Everyone So Pissed About the EDM Reality Show?

What's missing, however, are album sales. Despite the genre's re-emergence in recent years to gargantuan crowds, you won't find most electronic artists on the mainstream charts, at least outside of the marquee names like Skrillex, Deadmau5, and Swedish House Mafia. Albums and singles are rarely certified at the gold and platinum levels. (Skrillex's "Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites," which introduced a whole generation to dubstep, just recently passed a million in sales -- more than two years after its release!) And while streaming services like Spotify and Rdio are earning artists a few dimes here and there, much electronic music is given away for free online.

And yet, many EDM DJs are richer than God. From SF Weekly's Ian Port in his (excellent) story on Bassnectar:

Local promoters estimate the act earns around $75,000 to $100,000 per show, and Bassnectar plays about 150 shows a year. "I'm in the 1 percent, for sure," [he] says. "I pay a fucking sickening amount of taxes - sickening."

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Timothy Norris

Deadmau5: "Eat a dick"

By Andy Hermann

As the Hollywood-based casting guru behind Jersey Shore and A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila, Doron Ofir knows how the lowbrow culture game is played. But even the man who gave the world Snooki might have been caught off-guard by the outrage over one of his latest projects: a competitive EDM reality show.

See also: Five EDM Tracks We'll Be Raging to In 2013

Within hours of announcing auditions for the as-yet-untitled show last week -- via a flashy online application at EDMCasting.com -- Ofir and his casting company found themselves beset by angry blogs and tweets, accusing them of attempting to ruin EDM culture with a would-be "Jersey Shore for DJs." A "Stop edm casting" Facebook page sprang up and was quickly peppered with comments like "this is honestly the most disgusting thing ive heard" and "Whoever came up with this needs to get shitkicked in the face." All this for a show with no title, no premiere date and no guarantee of even going into production. (Most of Ofir's projects are "cast contingent," meaning they only get picked up if he can find enough, er, talent).

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By Cory Garcia

Like any other genre, EDM has its canon classics, songs that always get a dance floor moving. Benny Benassi's "Satisfaction," for example, turns 10 in 2013, and DJs still throw it on because people still love it a decade later. There was a lot to love in EDM in 2012, but it would be foolish to say in the heat of the moment which tracks are destined to become long term classics. So instead let's keep it simple: What songs from the previous 12 months will make the leap in to 2013?

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Eats Everything

By Nate Jackson

Sure, talk shit on his weight if you want. But in an EDM landscape filled with stoic, overly-polished, stereotypical Euro types, Bristol-born DJ Eats Everything is a big man who knows how to move. Should you be one of the fortunate revelers to watch him spin his pulsing, percussive mish-mash of house, hardcore jungle, U.K. bass and Detroit techno, you'd probably do best to learn a few steps from the rotund selector (born Daniel Pearce) who manages to jump around like a fool while keeping his attention to his decks like a pro. With over 20 years of DJing under his belt, his biggest cannonball splash into the modern house circuit came recently with his aptly-titled banger "Entrance Song," released to massive praise last year on EDM duo Catz n Dogz label Petz Recordings. He's also set a record by being the first dance music producer to have two different tracks featured on two different shows on Radio One for thirteen consecutive weeks.

See Also:
- Q&A With Rusko: "I Don't Think I've Ever Made A Deep Or Serious Track In My Life."

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