As one of the most acts in electronic music, deadmau5 knows a thing or two about the music business. He has gone through the major label machine on his way to dance music dominance, but it appears as though that is coming to an end. After signing with Universal Records' American imprint Capitol Records / Astralwerks for his 2014 album while(1<2), deadmau5 became dissatisfied with the way the label handled his music. That pushed him to break off the contract and go indie with music publishing and distribution company Kobalt that represents the likes of Dave Grohl, Lionel Richie, Beck, Skrillex, Paul McCartney and others.
Deadmau5 has his own label, mau5trap, which is where he will focus his efforts for releasing music and developing artists. Acts like Madeon, Skrillex, Feed Me and Excision are among those who have gotten their major breaks in the label, with others like Eekkoo and ATTLAS among those who currently being developed by the growing team at the label.
One of the main reasons deadmau5 split from Capitol was their lack of transparency over what they were going to do with his music. The Canadian act is very particular about who he associates himself with and Zimmerman was unhappy to see his music on a compilation Now That's What I Call EDM.
"I am very strict on what products I want to associate myself with, and I felt that some things were just to make a buck," says Deadmau5 to Billboard. "Then, we'd only get a little trickle, and I'd be like, 'Wait, I look this stupid for only that much? Why am I looking stupid in the first place?' "
Part of the decision is to remain independent no matter the cost, even if there are higher risks, but also higher rewards monetarily, which could net Zimmerman 20-30 percent more revenue from music sales than the majors.
"I'm not saying I'm never going to get f*cked again," says Zimmerman. "But I do like the freedom that, if I do f- up, it's my fault rather than the fault of someone who bought that responsibility from me."
Mau5 will have to wait until 2027 and 2029 to get his licenses back from Ultra Records, where his music until 2013 was signed and Universal, which has while(1<2).
However he is not waiting around for the next decade to push things forward with a big cash reserve and plans to move his career into new fields.
"I've got $130 million in the bank and a whiteboard full of cool ideas for emerging markets and technologies where we're going to test the waters and see what happens," he says. "And that's how you become the first - not by using the old traditional broken-ass model."
