Join the compelling discussion moderated by Billboard’s Senior Dance Correspondent Katie Bain. Inside the Rise of John Summit, featuring the chart-topping DJ and his manager Holt Harmon. Discover the secrets behind his explosive success and the future of the dance music scene.
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00:00Tell me how you guys met.
00:02Well, I was releasing music on SoundCloud,
00:07just like a kid in their college dorm room.
00:11I did a collab with an artist that they were managing at the time,
00:15and it went really well,
00:18and then they offered,
00:19so Holt and Parker,
00:21the two managers, offered to do a Zoom call with me,
00:25and yeah, you can take it away.
00:26Yeah, it was one of those moments too,
00:29where early on, we're all very early in our careers,
00:32like the earliest in our careers,
00:33and we had to work with people that,
00:35one, understood that, hey,
00:37we're all going to make mistakes,
00:38we're all going to try things,
00:39but we're all going for it in the end,
00:41and ultimately, we all want to make the most out of every situation.
00:45So, I think it was one of those situations when we jumped on,
00:48where it's like, oh shit, you actually found people that match
00:50your energy and match your outlook on what we're trying to achieve.
00:53Yeah, I remember you asked me what my six-month,
00:55my 12-month, my five-year goal is war,
00:57and at the time, I never thought more than a month.
01:00I was just trying to pay my bills and get through my accounting job during the day,
01:05but I did have very lofty goals and so did he,
01:08and since then, we've been figuring it out,
01:10and now, we're here.
01:12So, you guys, obviously,
01:15you trusted each other from the beginning.
01:17You got a sense that you could trust each other,
01:18you could build something together.
01:20So, you agree to work together,
01:22where does it go from there,
01:23and then how do you start building momentum?
01:27Yeah, I mean, when we first started working together,
01:30it really was like,
01:31if you want to say ground zero,
01:32and the beauty of that is that it's really exciting,
01:35because nobody's attached a label to you.
01:39Part of the beauty of working with young people and being young ourselves,
01:43is nobody had put a title on what we were already.
01:46So, honestly, it was like the beauty of the unknown,
01:52and beauty being able to tackle anything,
01:54and not living by rules that we didn't know about, if that makes sense.
01:58So, whether it was being aggressive with touring,
02:01or being aggressive with the way that he released music,
02:04it was always just like, well, why not?
02:07Why not go out there and try to do the biggest thing,
02:10or work with the ideal dream label,
02:12or shoot for the stars when it comes to what we're doing on the touring side.
02:16Yeah, it's one of those things, if you don't know the rules,
02:19you can't break them.
02:20So, we literally have just been doing whatever we thought was best.
02:25I mean, we had no agents when we started,
02:27it was just whole blind emailing every club we wanted a DJ at,
02:30and just like trying to convince them that the music is good,
02:34and then I was constantly putting music online,
02:35mixes like every single week, and proving.
02:38And then, obviously, once we threw a party,
02:40we threw the best fucking party possible.
02:43What did those blind emails say,
02:45that you were convincing people to let you in the door,
02:47and then at the same time, blow them away?
02:49It was great. So, we used to put up maps of the United States,
02:53of the world, everything,
02:54and I used to just put different color pins in these maps,
02:57and it would be based on priority, based on places that we knew,
03:01more or less, we needed to be big in order for this to work.
03:06And so, we would look into different territories,
03:08we would speak both back and forth about,
03:11hey, what are the different clubs that different artists like you are playing?
03:14Who are the people that we want to be like,
03:17and what clubs are they playing,
03:18and what promoters they're aligning with,
03:19and where are they growing in those markets,
03:22or are they just simply like flatlining?
03:24Because at the end of the day, you want to be working with people that,
03:26ultimately, you're playing like your fourth,
03:28fifth, sixth show with them down the road,
03:30and these are the same people betting on you to make it to those places.
03:32So, it was finding the right people to align with and work with,
03:35but like you said, it was really just cold emails,
03:37because at the end of the day, we only had what we had,
03:40and we were building every day,
03:42but so much of it was self-built.
03:44We've always talked about building standalone value,
03:46and having value that he can take and might go out there with.
03:49Because at the end of the day, if you're just giving your value to other people,
03:52you're never building anything by yourself.
03:53But long story short, everything was cold,
03:56because same way with releasing music,
03:58like sending music out to people,
03:59it was like, we want to be playing that club, cool.
04:02We can't wait for them to find us.
04:04We have to get in touch with them right now,
04:06let them know what we're doing,
04:07and let them know what the plan is.
04:08We made our own little one sheet and everything too, right?
04:11Our basic graphic design skills really came to use.
04:16There's not a single thing that we have in grassroots,
04:17is probably the way to put it.
04:19So John, musically at that time, what were you doing?
04:21What were you pulling from,
04:22and how are you creating the foundation with the music to build this thing?
04:26I was very involved in the house and techno underground scene,
04:30and tech house was really popping up at the time.
04:32This was before Fisher,
04:33this is 2015, 2016,
04:36when the Dirty Bird sound was really popping off.
04:38I was just really inspired by all different facets of it.
04:41But Chicago has its roots in house music,
04:44that's where house music is invented,
04:45and I really was inspired by Green Velvet, Relief Records,
04:49and that kind of sound too,
04:51and then it's crazy that I'm working with these guys and stuff nowadays.
04:54But yeah, just being part of an underground house movement,
04:58and just building and building upon it,
05:00and just never giving up.
05:02We never thought we were ever able to really capitalize off of it,
05:06like it wasn't making music for streams or anything,
05:09that was never the purpose.
05:11Touring has always been our number one priority,
05:14and yeah, it's been crazy how it's gotten here.
05:16I mean, the first parties I was doing was like,
05:18I would just go to festivals and throw our own pre-party for it,
05:22and just post about it online,
05:24or go to Dirty Bird Camp,
05:26it was a festival and I'd play all the after-party Renegade sets.
05:29I did that at Electric Forest every year,
05:31and I still do those Renegade sets.
05:33There's no money or anything, it's just for the love of the game.
05:36When did you know that you had
05:38something going that people wanted to be a part of?
05:40When did agents start reaching out?
05:42What were the shows you were like,
05:43okay, this is working?
05:45I'd say, funny enough,
05:47it was in the middle of when we were booking.
05:49I booked his first tour,
05:51like 30 dates ourselves.
05:52It was right around the time that he was exiting his job,
05:55and I remember we had that moment where we're like,
05:58okay, you're leaving work.
06:00Now, this is what you depend on for money.
06:02We've got to be everywhere.
06:04We've got to put a legit tour together,
06:05and we've got to show that you're a legit artist.
06:08So, we had like 30 different stops that were out there,
06:11and I remember thinking to myself like,
06:15I feel like once people see it catch on
06:17is when people are going to start coming in.
06:19And so, right about halfway through that tour
06:21is when we started getting
06:23the original agent conversations.
06:24But this was not like big agents were coming to us.
06:28The first agency we ever worked with was Bullet,
06:31and Ravi Durga over there.
06:34Honestly, it was other grassroots people
06:37that had had success,
06:38but John was very much an underground act.
06:41In terms of the agencies that were reaching out initially,
06:43it was some great people,
06:45but it wasn't like big time agencies or anything like that.
06:47But it was the first time where we were like,
06:50this is serious, and people are taking us seriously.
06:53Yeah, and you have to put yourself out there online
06:55because we booked like 20 dates, let's say,
06:58and then we did a 20 date flyer online.
07:00I posted it on Instagram, Twitter, everything,
07:01and then I think everyone in the industry
07:04is following every move of every artist.
07:05I mean, I am.
07:06I have my own record label,
07:08and I'm just constantly trying to find the new song,
07:10the new talent,
07:11but by us putting that flyer online,
07:14I think agents saw that.
07:15They're like, oh, these guys are booking dates.
07:17Of course, they want to be a part of it.
07:18They want to be part of the business and help grow it.
07:21But yeah, if we weren't very loud,
07:23I'm a very loud and expressive person online,
07:26and it's been more of a blessing than a curse, I would say.
07:29So yeah.
07:30Say more about that because, yeah,
07:32when I think of you,
07:33I think of someone with a very strong social presence
07:36and let's say strategy,
07:37but it wasn't a strategy to begin with.
07:39It was just something you were good at doing.
07:40No, no.
07:41I was just like a loud idiot on Twitter since like 2011,
07:44and I just love sharing my thoughts, opinions,
07:49and I'm very introverted and stay at home,
07:51and otherwise you go crazy in your head
07:53if you can't share whether it's art, thoughts,
07:56and then I'm just very, very passionate
08:00about the scene and the culture of the scene,
08:02and I think that helped grow the scene,
08:05and then that's why we have Experts Only
08:07is to help put on new artists
08:10and make it even bigger and better.
08:13Holt, I'm wondering for you,
08:14like you saw that John is just naturally a person
08:16that's loud on social media and good at it,
08:19you know, just like engaging.
08:20Was that something for you that you thought,
08:22okay, we can use this,
08:24or did you just kind of let him go?
08:26So honestly, I love that he's loud and brash.
08:30Like I, you know, within reason,
08:33like we talk things through a lot more
08:36than everybody probably thinks,
08:37but like it's, but like,
08:40we were inspired by artists that are loud,
08:42like that are brash, that like spoke their minds
08:44and like told us what they were about,
08:46and so at the end of the day,
08:47like why would I ever wanna take that away from somebody?
08:49Like part of why, you know,
08:52I've come from my basketball,
08:53and part of what I loved about certain athletes
08:55was like the way that they approached things.
08:57It wasn't just like the way they could shoot.
08:58It was like their approach, their mindset,
09:01and so for me, it's like, you know,
09:02you fall in love with artists
09:03not just because like the music they make,
09:05but it's like because of the art of like their personality
09:07and like what they bring,
09:08and so I've never wanted to be somebody
09:11that like halted that for him.
09:12Like I wanna have conversations
09:14and obviously get better at like, you know,
09:16hey, what, why are we doing that?
09:17What's the intent here?
09:18But at the end of the day,
09:19like if somebody can't speak their mind
09:20and you take that away from them,
09:22that's not true art.
09:23And he's an incredible, not just business manager,
09:25but people manager too,
09:27where if I'm very like emotional about something
09:29and we have long conversations and stuff
09:32and you can, you know, talk me off the edge on things,
09:35but you know, we're always talking about the business
09:37and what we think,
09:38and then when I have an epiphany,
09:40I'll be like, I'm gonna tweet this, you fine with that?
09:41The final filter is Holt.
09:46Okay, so this is building, building, building,
09:48and you know, by 2019, you know,
09:52I was hearing your name a lot,
09:54and then the pandemic.
09:56How did you pivot?
09:58Was there a particular strategy
10:00of how we're gonna keep the momentum going?
10:02Or, you know, what did those conversations look like?
10:04The strategy was that,
10:06I guess I'll tell my strategy
10:08and then how you went about it,
10:10is that I just knew that the whole world was online
10:13because everyone was stuck at home.
10:14So I was just doing streams every single day,
10:17posting every single day,
10:18sharing my music, sharing the process of how music was made,
10:21doing YouTube tutorials,
10:22just being involved in every asset of this business possible
10:26where I think a lot of artists and stuff took it as a time
10:29to, you know, relax and see their families for once.
10:33But like, cause you know, I mean,
10:35I was living in my mom's basement at the time.
10:38Shout out Tamron, the crowd.
10:42So, you know, she kept me fed while I cooked the beets, so.
10:52That's good.
10:53I mean, like we always talk about like the,
10:55like Cobo was kind of like the great reset.
10:57It's like anybody who was leaning,
11:00or I hate to put it like this,
11:02but like anybody who was being lazy and leaning on touring
11:05and that was their entire career,
11:06like not putting out great music,
11:08not putting out great art,
11:09but like just leaning on the fact that they could tour,
11:12didn't have that to lean on anymore,
11:13didn't have that crutch.
11:14So it more or less reset the industry.
11:15And like John said, everybody was chronically online.
11:17But I remember Parker and myself,
11:19we hopped on like the first day it was,
11:22we were about to go to Miami music week.
11:23And that was like, we were all very hopeful.
11:25Oh, that was like the week, the things.
11:27We were still hopeful it would happen.
11:28And Parker and I were probably talking like every day,
11:30like, are we going to go?
11:31Are we going to like continue?
11:32And it officially hit where they canceled that.
11:35And I think when they canceled that,
11:36it was a moment where it was like, oh, this is real.
11:37Like, and this isn't going anywhere.
11:38And so we, like him and I were talking like all day.
11:42I remember John called me and we had this like moment
11:46where, and I looked at Parker and he had,
11:47we had this moment where like, we can't fucking give up.
11:50Like we can't, like, we can't just like back,
11:53like what else are we going to do?
11:54Like, are we just going to like fall away?
11:56We don't, we don't, we had not made it.
11:58We had not like, we didn't have a big touring career.
12:01We didn't have all these things.
12:02So it was like, are we just going to fall off?
12:03Are we going to like let this defeat us?
12:05Or are we going to come at it with like everything we have?
12:07And John's a perfect example of like,
12:09he did everything he could during that time
12:12to make sure that he was going to be successful.
12:14And a lot of artists sat back and they like, you know,
12:17they kind of let things play out
12:18and they hope things were going to like reset.
12:20And some artists, I mean, how many times did people say like,
12:22oh yeah, I'm not going to put that song out
12:23because I don't really know if it's like worth me
12:25putting out my biggest hit right now.
12:27John put three and four records out.
12:29They were the biggest records he had ever put out
12:31in the middle of it.
12:32And it was just because it was like,
12:33we don't have anything else to lean on
12:34and we got to make this happen.
12:35So just, it was a lot of conversations where it was like,
12:38we had to look ourselves in the mirror and be like,
12:40okay, we haven't done it yet.
12:42Why are we going to stop now?
12:43So all or nothing mentality and we went all out.
12:46And then also we had the big record in,
12:49it was like June and with Deep End.
12:51That was like what really, really put me on the map,
12:52especially internationally.
12:54And that's when we had a conversation with Ben Spritz here
12:56with Wasserman Paradigm at the time
12:58and started working with them.
13:00And then, so while I'm just cooking every single day,
13:02they're masterminding this game plan.
13:04I remember the first Zoom call we took in June, 2020.
13:06I still have never played a festival in my life.
13:08I've never played in front of more than I think 200 people.
13:11And we kind of came up with this four year game plan
13:14of how to get to headlining Coachella.
13:17Oh yeah.
13:18Ben was like, honestly,
13:19it was the first time I was ever like hyper impressed
13:21by somebody in a meeting where I was like,
13:24oh shit, I really don't know anything.
13:25LA.
13:27I thought I really knew my shit,
13:29but it was a moment of being like,
13:30okay, there are levels to this game.
13:31And in terms of like, we want to align ourselves
13:33with people who like understand those things.
13:35And Ben always spoke about like, you got to work backwards.
13:38Like, okay, you want to be here at Coachella,
13:40like doing this?
13:40Like, how are you going to get there?
13:42Like, what are the three steps that take you to get there?
13:44And that's always fall in line
13:45with like how we thought anyways.
13:46I mean, he talked about it,
13:47like first thing I ever asked him was like,
13:49hey, what are your three, six, 12 and five year plan?
13:51Like, I want to know, how do you look at this?
13:54So it was beautiful to like work with somebody
13:56who understood that concept from day one,
13:58but it was the first time I think from a touring perspective
14:00we'd ever been like, oh, wow,
14:03somebody thinks we could go do like
14:04that big of a thing at Coachella.
14:06Like, okay, maybe we got to like think about this,
14:08like this different way and like work backwards
14:10and like, okay, how do we play
14:11that hard ticket game in the market?
14:12Okay, like, what are the times to go in and do a soft play?
14:15It's like working with somebody
14:16who had true strategy was really nice.
14:17It felt like it was the first time
14:18we met someone as crazy as us.
14:20Yeah.
14:21Absolutely.
14:23Well, you guys came super hot at the gates
14:24after the pandemic and I hope the last time we spoke,
14:27you said the strategy was to be everywhere, omnipresent,
14:30and that was the vibe.
14:32How were you guys pulling it off?
14:34And what did, you know, you achieve
14:36through being everywhere all the time in the US?
14:42Well, being everywhere all at once is very tough.
14:47It's a lot of work,
14:49but it's all just a tour strategy, right?
14:51And we like identify our strengths, our weaknesses.
14:53I mean, like, you know, like Miami is like a huge marker
14:56for me, but I can't be playing there every single weekend,
14:58Chicago the same way.
14:59And so we think of big, impactful moves,
15:01I think is the move.
15:03Because if you're playing a show somewhere
15:06and no one knows about it, no one sees it,
15:07it's like it never happened.
15:09So, you know, even like doing like pop-ups
15:11at like a hotdog restaurant in Chicago,
15:15we did like four pop-ups before Madison Square Garden.
15:19The curse is that everyone thinks I'm gonna be popping up
15:21everywhere in LA this week.
15:22So, yeah.
15:24No, it is.
15:25Are you?
15:28TBD.
15:28No spoilers.
15:29TBD.
15:31But no, I mean, like, honestly it's,
15:32it allowed him to feel like he was taking things over.
15:35And it's like, like the New York Spur, for example,
15:37it's like taking over that city for the weekend.
15:39Like we always talk about like winning the weekend
15:41instead of just like,
15:43and that's how you really feel omnipresent.
15:44It's because touring has broken down worldwide
15:47into like a couple like key moments across the board
15:50where like everybody wants to be.
15:52Like money goes there,
15:54like people who have excess spending cash
15:56go to these places
15:57because they want to be in those areas.
15:58And the touring kind of follows.
15:59And so that's more or less like how omnipresence comes,
16:04is like being at those key places in those key moments
16:07and having one of the biggest moments there.
16:09It's like, okay, the whole world's staring at Coachella.
16:12How can you take over Coachella?
16:14Okay, the whole world's staring at your
16:15Madison Square Garden show.
16:16How can we take over New York?
16:18And so it's like, I think a lot of like the omnipresence
16:20comes from like how people feel him
16:22as opposed to like how often he's actually there.
16:24Like he might've played five times,
16:26but if you see 5,000 videos about it,
16:29then you're like, this man was everywhere.
16:31Like where was he not in New York?
16:32And so I think it's like early stage was like,
16:35how can we feel like we're everywhere?
16:38And I think a lot of times, you know,
16:39there's the amount of people who hit me up
16:41and they're like, I feel like my entire TikTok
16:42is John Summitt or like, like whatever.
16:44It was like, so it's like, it worked,
16:47but it was very about like intention.
16:49It wasn't like actually you can't split John
16:51into five people and make him go everywhere,
16:52but like he can feel like he's everywhere
16:54if he's at all the biggest moments
16:55that everybody's talking about.
16:56And I do think it's a good thing though,
16:58because it pushes me to like have
17:01the most impactful art possible
17:02and always make the show bigger and better
17:04and adding new elements.
17:05Like, you know, I started with just me DJing,
17:06then we added lights and then video
17:09and then, you know, lasers and all of that.
17:10And now this, I'm like debuting an orchestra this weekend.
17:14Which is nuts.
17:17But yeah, I just love doing these big, impactful things.
17:19I'm inspired by so many other artists
17:20that have kind of done it in different ways.
17:23So yeah, putting this pressure on ourself
17:25has resulted in great art, I think.
17:28And you guys have an incredible structure
17:30because you have three separate approaches essentially,
17:33because you have the experts only clip shows.
17:36You have these arena shows
17:39and then you have everything always with Dom.
17:42And so tell me about like how that allows you to be agile.
17:47It allows me to be creative in all aspects
17:52because he knows this about me
17:54that if I just do one thing for too long,
17:56I get uninspired, I get unmotivated.
17:58And then I just like, I don't wanna do this.
18:01But then like, so like me and Dom,
18:02like, you know, like we like,
18:04hate like, you know, playing different sets at the festival
18:07and we're good buddies and like we talk all the time.
18:10So we're just like, let's just do our own thing.
18:12And like, it just allows us to work creatively together
18:15and actually collaborate on things, you know,
18:17so different than Hollywood or anything
18:20when they, you know, have multiple good actors
18:21in a film or something,
18:22where I just love collaborating with other artists.
18:25And yeah, experts only is just amazing too,
18:27because we can have so many people on it,
18:31help promote other people's records that aren't mine.
18:34So it makes me feel less selfish.
18:35I don't know.
18:36Yeah, no, I mean, honestly,
18:37it gives John like three different offerings too,
18:39that he gets to like bring experience wise.
18:42Cause like his, he loves experience.
18:44Like I don't know another person that cares more
18:47about how everybody else felt about the show.
18:49Like, he's like, I want everybody
18:51to have the best fucking time of their lives,
18:52like leave and it changed the way
18:54that they think about this music.
18:56And so he's extremely experience driven,
18:58but the coolest thing about like having three things
19:00for him is he can like,
19:02he can come play a show as John Summit,
19:04nine months later, come bring an experts only experience
19:07that's very different to the same place.
19:10And then maybe time goes by and he's like,
19:11oh, haven't been there in a while.
19:13Could have come back as everything always
19:14and do the biggest thing and like pull
19:16from three different States.
19:17You know, it's like, it allows him to be like,
19:20you never feel like you're getting the same thing
19:22with them over and over again.
19:23Like he's always bringing something new.
19:25And like, by the way, those projects are always expanding.
19:27So it's not like they're just in a stasis.
19:29It's not like, oh, I left John Summit.
19:31It's going to look the exact same when I come back.
19:32It's like, he's always evolving those things.
19:34So it's not, it's like having all those different offerings
19:38keeps him feeling fresh to everybody all the time.
19:40Cause you're getting him in different ways.
19:42And he approaches these things differently too.
19:44Like you come to a John Summit show,
19:46like expect the unexpected.
19:48He's going to play whatever like he wants stylistically.
19:50He might throw dubstep in,
19:52he's going to throw a drum and bass
19:53and he's going to do his thing.
19:54If he's playing as everything always,
19:55it's probably going to be a little bit more true
19:57into the core of like how the two of their sounds overlap.
19:59And if it's experts only, like he's getting gritty with it.
20:01And he's going back to like his core days.
20:03And like, it allows him to have that like tap
20:06into the scene that like he loves so much.
20:09So for me, it's so cool to watch him be able to be,
20:12I don't want to say like chameleon,
20:13but it's like, it allows him to do different things
20:16and not get pigeonholed.
20:17Right.
20:18Well, I think an incredible example of that
20:20is Coachella last year where you did the outdoor stages,
20:23everything always, and then you headlined Sahara.
20:25Yeah, we kind of rigged the system a little bit.
20:27I mean, but there are like two other artists in history
20:30that have ever done that.
20:31Like, I mean, that's.
20:33I don't know how he pulled that off to be honest.
20:35Yeah, I was like second to close at outdoor.
20:37And then I closed Sahara two days later
20:39as two different acts, which is amazing though,
20:43because and then Dom did the same thing as well too.
20:46And so we did get the best of both worlds
20:48and gave two very different offerings too.
20:51And played over two weekends.
20:53And knowing you, you switched half your setup
20:56the second weekend.
20:57Most people play the same thing twice.
20:59He's out here like switching half the set around.
21:00Nope, and yeah, the team kind of hates me for that.
21:03Okay, so I mean, that brings us to a good point
21:06because all of this is also leading to your album.
21:09Yes.
21:10Which came out this year.
21:11So how do you pull that off when you're touring
21:13as you have been, and then you're also putting together
21:15this collection of tracks that are incredible
21:18and I imagine took a lot of time to make.
21:19Oh yeah, so the whole album was written last November
21:23when I took time off, but in reality did like 25 sessions,
21:2825 days in London, and it was very nonstop.
21:31But once the music is written and all the vocals recorded
21:35and all of that, for me it's just producing
21:37and that's what I do 24 seven on the road.
21:38That's what I was doing two hours ago in my hotel room
21:41and then everything's in the box.
21:43So yeah, it was not easy and I'm gonna try
21:48to take a little more time off this next year.
21:50But yeah, I've always wanted to write an album
21:55and make an album and it's been incredibly rewarding.
21:57And then this weekend is the last three shows for it.
22:00So it's exciting.
22:02So if you guys aren't coming, just come
22:03because it's gonna be awesome.
22:06Okay, so that brings us to, we've talked a lot
22:08about North America, international,
22:11because I know there are some big plans there.
22:13How do you take this show on the road
22:15and how do you take all three parts of it?
22:18Say from like our international approaches,
22:22it's an unusual thing that happened to John,
22:24which is a good thing is that things grew so quickly
22:28in North America that you couldn't like not keep building.
22:32But in certain respects, but like in the years to come,
22:34especially next year, like people are gonna see,
22:3650% of our business moved to like international touring.
22:39And a lot of that's just
22:40because we've always had goals internationally,
22:42whether that was like different things like Ibiza
22:44or like playing the right festivals in Europe
22:45or like even having the right headline moments
22:48in those like key cities overseas,
22:50whether that's Amsterdam, London or those different places.
22:52And so long-term, it's like, we wanna be able
22:56to bring the same level that he's bringing over here.
22:58Like he's already shown that he can do that.
23:00Musically, it all translates.
23:02So for us, a lot of it is just like putting the priority in.
23:06I don't think there's a person that I've been around
23:08that when they put more effort into something,
23:10they see more result.
23:11So it's like, if he puts effort into like a city
23:14and says like, hey, I'm here,
23:16I'm like in all these different places,
23:17like you get to experience me, it pays off.
23:20So for him, I think a lot of the strategy is just like,
23:22now that he has that availability in his schedule,
23:25we're playing those big like tentpole moments,
23:27but he has availability.
23:29His presence is gonna bring a lot with it too.
23:31So just like naturally being there in these places,
23:33meeting these people and like being around,
23:36they get to feel that like magnetic personality
23:39and like then that's when people really get drawn to him.
23:42And international is just very tough in electronic music
23:44where it's like Germany might be very tech,
23:47UK is very garage and D&B and then Ibiza is very,
23:51kind of Ibiza kind of style tech house
23:53where just every city and country has its own scene
23:57where artistically it's very challenging.
24:00Well, that's super interesting.
24:01Like how do you, do you feel like you have to change
24:04what you're doing based on where you are
24:06or do you just bring what you do to each place?
24:08So that's where I think songwriting really comes into play
24:12that I can change the productions for the song,
24:14but the song, it's like having a,
24:16like I have this record, Palm of My Hands,
24:17it's like this rainy day liquid D&B track,
24:20but we kind of, then Odd Mom,
24:22this is a very talented producer who lives in LA,
24:25made like a very festival banger version of it.
24:27So then, cause I wasn't ever able to play at festivals,
24:30then I played at EDC this past weekend
24:31and it absolutely went off.
24:33So I think kind of changing around the production
24:35for songs and adapting,
24:37but then also staying true to yourself.
24:39I don't want to, I'm not like an open format DJ.
24:42So it's like, it feels like it at times
24:44by how many different records I play.
24:46But yeah, it's just all about building relationships
24:50with promoters out there.
24:51It's a very relationship driven business
24:54and showing how much you care
24:55and how much you want to put in your efforts,
24:58I guess, to it.
24:58Yeah.
24:59Well, you said something interesting
25:01the last time we spoke with,
25:02John's music is an entry point
25:05for people getting into dance.
25:06And obviously you play many different styles,
25:08but like, what do you have to say about
25:10it being kind of a door in for people?
25:13So the beauty of like John's project is that like,
25:16because he's so known,
25:18but he's like, he makes an authentic sound.
25:20Like that's why like, you know,
25:21the underground resonates so much with what he does too,
25:24is it's because like, he does have an authentic core self
25:27and like an authentic sound.
25:28And so I guess for me, it's like,
25:35like people, the entry point part is that like,
25:38he's an easy person to say yes to going to a concert of.
25:41Like he, like I could easily convince my friends,
25:43my five friends to go to a John Summit concert.
25:46But like the beauty of that is that like,
25:48that's how people learn about all these other people.
25:51Like, how do I find out about the person who's maybe
25:53doesn't have as good of an online persona as John
25:56and like, hasn't made as many big records as John
25:58and is just getting started?
25:59Well, I find out about it by going to John
26:02because it's like, I'm shazamming.
26:03I'm like, I'm picking up all these like different records.
26:05I'm like experiencing the different people
26:07that John brings out.
26:08Like, you know, just looking at like his lineup
26:10for like the three nights at the Forum.
26:12I mean like, that's a great representation
26:14of like the different parts of the scene
26:15that he has influence on and people that he jives with
26:18and loves and wants to support.
26:19So when I say entry points, like it's a good thing
26:22because it's like, it's how people find out
26:24about what we all love.
26:25Like, and he's bringing it to more people than ever.
26:29So.
26:30Definitely great point.
26:30And I mean, you're doing the same thing with the label,
26:32right?
26:33Yeah, so that's, I mean, kind of the whole point is that,
26:35you know, we have like Mac Steyer on the label,
26:37for example, where, you know,
26:38I'm not really playing the 300 person clubs anymore.
26:40I'm not really hitting too many small markets,
26:42but like, you know, like he'll come by
26:44and play a sick club in El Paso.
26:47And if you're like, yo, if you're a fan of John,
26:49you're like, check out this guy, Mac Steyer.
26:50This guy's fucking sick and he is sick.
26:53And so that's why I want to have him on the label
26:54and be part of this thing we're growing.
26:57And yeah, so it's like, it's really a situation
27:00where everyone's winning at the end of the day,
27:01which I think is awesome.
27:02Yeah, definitely in a big way.
27:05Let's go back internationally a little bit.
27:06What are the priority markets for 2025?
27:11Well, Europe, like we mentioned, Ibiza is big for us.
27:14I don't know how much we can say here, but.
27:15Yeah.
27:17Yeah.
27:19Like, we're really looking at everything
27:20because he's got big shows coming in Australia,
27:23big shows in South America, like, you know,
27:25big shows, festivals, even like residency stuff
27:28we're looking at in Europe.
27:29It's, you know, I'm talking about Asia with this agent,
27:33probably like right after this.
27:34So like, we're looking at the entire world,
27:37but when it comes to priority,
27:38it's like for the sound of music he does,
27:40you know, having a really strong presence in Europe
27:42is extremely important to us.
27:43So like, that is definitely a priority.
27:45Like, we're doing India for the first time.
27:47Yeah, we're doing India for the first time.
27:48So like, when I say international,
27:50it really is everywhere, like every tip of the world, so.
27:53Yeah, it sounds like that you can't go
27:55and that you won't go.
27:56That's the goal.
27:58It's exciting.
27:59Tell me about, I mean, I know we probably can't say much,
28:02but residency generally,
28:05what purpose do they serve creatively
28:07and for, you know, the structure of the business?
28:13Well, residencies are just, it's very nice.
28:16So like in Vegas, what makes Vegas so nice
28:18is that like I do 20 dates a year
28:20and then it's a different crowd every single weekend.
28:22So you can't do like 20 weekends in Chicago
28:25because it'd just be the same, you know,
28:27it's like where,
28:28cause it's like a tourist destination,
28:30much like Ibiza,
28:31that's what keeps it really fun and entertaining,
28:34that it keeps things fresh.
28:36And it's the hospitality, everything's so great there
28:39that I feel like it's like a true second home for me.
28:43And yeah, so it's like fun and easy and I can get creative.
28:47Yeah. And with everything else that he has,
28:48that's like big priorities in his touring schedule,
28:50you know, you're not going to be able to catch John
28:51at 20 different clubs around the country anymore,
28:53but like you can, that gives them a place to come to know,
28:56like, Hey, I've got 20 opportunities to come see this person
28:59at the club in that environment.
29:00I know what they're bringing.
29:02So, you know, whether that's Ibiza or Las Vegas,
29:04it kind of holds that same place.
29:06But it would be my hell if like all I did was a residency
29:09and it's the same thing every weekend.
29:10And I lived there like that does like freak me out.
29:13But then, cause I'm just going for a night play, leave,
29:16it's no secret that Vegas is kind of a 24 hour city.
29:19And then from the touring strategy standpoint,
29:20it's like, you know, the consistency.
29:22And then obviously like residencies built
29:24in a good deal of revenue too.
29:26So it's like, that's obviously a portion of it as well.
29:29But like, it really is like at the end of the day,
29:31it's like, he doesn't have the time in his schedule
29:33to go play 20 different cities, 20 different clubs,
29:35but like you can come experience them.
29:37Yeah. A destination event.
29:39Cool. And with that, we are out of time.
29:41So give these guys a huge round of applause.
29:44Seriously.
29:4840,000 tickets over the next three nights.
29:52So that's a really big deal.
29:53So congrats guys.
29:55I'm nervous.
29:56Yeah.