Steve Aoki — EDM DJ & Label FounderSteve Aoki
Steven Hiroyuki Aoki is an American DJ born in Miami, raised in Newport Beach, California, and later based in Henderson, Nevada. Of Japanese descent, he built Dim Mak Records from 1996 and had established the label by his early twenties, before developing a touring schedule of roughly 250 shows a year. His DJ performances draw on EDM, electro house, big room house, Dutch house and trap, but are especially known for their theatrical crowd interaction: cake-throwing, crowd-surfing and champagne-spraying are part of his live reputation.
Aoki has appeared at Ultra Music Festival in 2013, 2015 and 2017, and performed at Thriller Music Park in Madrid in 2012. After a fatal stampede there killed three people, he cancelled his following show out of respect. In 2014, his touring work was recognised with three Guinness World Records: longest crowd cheer, most glow sticks and most-travelled musician, based on 161 shows across 41 countries.
He was nominated for a Grammy in 2013 for Best Dance/Electronica Album for Wonderland. Dim Mak remains a central outlet for his work, linking his long touring career with a label he founded well before his peak festival years. His DJ persona has made the physical relationship between performer and audience a defining element of the show.