At Pier 94 in New York City, a few lucky fans of electronic dance music (EDM) are about to get ... caked.

Thousands of revelers are gyrating to music spun by superstar DJ Steve Aoki, who will soon perform a ritual his followers eagerly anticipate at each show: smashing 10 sheet cakes onto the faces of audience members. Choosing which “lucky” concertgoer to cake will be tough: “Cake me the hardest” signs are spotted throughout the crowd. Aoki plays 250 shows a year and brings eight to 10 cakes with him per show, so around 2,500 fans will go home sticky with butter cream in 2013.

The 35-year-old Grammy-nominated DJ and California native has become famous for his stage antics, which also include showering the crowd with champagne. But the fun-loving DJ and music producer has a serious side, too: He oversees an empire that includes the indie record label Dim Mak, four restaurants, a fashion line and a charitable fund. Forbes estimates Aoki will earn $14 million in 2013, $2 million more than last year.

That makes Aoki one of the highest-paid DJs in the world (No. 11 to be exact). Calvin Harris, the Scottish DJ and music producer best known for his collaborations with Rihanna, Ellie Goulding and Ne-Yo, tops the 2013 list with $46 million, edging out DJ heavyweights such as Tiesto ($32 million, No. 2), David Guetta ($30 million, No. 3) and Deadmau5 ($21 million, No. 4).

Aoki says becoming a DJ was never a lifelong goal – he graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara with degrees in sociology and women's studies and turned down a PhD program to focus on his fledgling record label. The lithe DJ with long black hair and arm tattoos seems genuinely shocked that producing and spinning beats has made him a multimillionaire.

“I work hard at what I do,” he says. “I’m really lucky and fortunate to make money at this.”

Aoki grew up around money – his late father Rocky started the popular Japanese steakhouse chain Benihana and accumulated a net worth of $30 million to $40 million in 2000, according to The New York Times. The elder Aoki (who passed away in 2008) lived a lavish lifestyle that included racing boats, exotic cars and Andy Warhol paintings. Aoki’s parents split the cost of his college tuition but that was the extent of his father’s generosity; Aoki and two friends each chipped in $300 to start Dim Mak. Mr. Aoki even refused to pay for printing and mailing expenses at Kinkos.

“He was never invested in Dim Mak, he never gave me a cent,” says Aoki. “He worked from nothing so he wanted to give that to his kids – that concept. So we all worked. My first job was working at Benihana as kitchen help. In college I was a telemarketer for a company at the same time I was a bike messenger for this greasy fast-food place.”

Aoki says his father’s stingy ways were actually a blessing.

“He taught me the value of money,” Aoki says. “I learned to be humble. I wasn’t sheltered or spoiled. All the money I made, I made myself.”

Aoki, who is currently in the middle of his Aokify America Tour and finishing up his second studio album “Neon Future,” acknowledges that very few DJs reach the heights he has, even though the EDM scene has exploded in popularity in America.

“There’s only a few that make it out there in the entire spectrum of what EMD or dance music is,” he says. “You only get Calvin Harris, Avicii, David Guetta. There’s this whole gray area of growing producers that, if they don’t crack through that ceiling to be part of a bigger culture … a lot of them won’t be able to get gigs even though they’re producing and doing music that’s influencing culture. Those DJs will be affected by a bubble.”

A piece of the market

It may be harder for aspiring DJs to make it to the big leagues but that hasn’t stopped thousands from trying. DJ schools are popping up across the country as more and more people want a piece of the estimated $4.5 billion EDM market. Las Vegas has become the No. 1 destination for EDM lovers and DJs are treated like royalty there: Huge billboards compete for space on the Vegas Strip, each one advertising a different DJ on a different night.

The city also hosts the three-day Electric Daisy Carnival every June, bringing more than 300,000 dance fans to the desert. Casino owners are building new clubs such as Hakkasan, the 80,000 square-foot dance mecca at the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino that cost a reported $100 million to construct, to attract not only customers but DJs as well.

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