Martijn Garritsen, better known by his stage name Martin Garrix, has revolutionized the music industry in recent years, specifically the ways in which artists market themselves. In a period of three short years, Garrix went from an unknown DJ and producer to the #1 DJ in the world and a global icon.
Garrix’ career took off in 2013 when he released the club hit “Animals,” a single that jumped to the top of many dance and pop charts in Europe and America. Receiving over one billion views on YouTube to date, this track opened many doors in Garrix’ career, enabling him to work with major artists such as Ed Sheeran, Usher, Avicii, Khalid, and others. Propelling himself into the spotlight at the young age of seventeen allowed Garrix to market himself based on his youth in addition to the strength of his new collaborations. Furthermore, working with mainstream artists created more exposure than Garrix would have gotten from solely doing his live shows.
As he became more popular, Garrix began changing his style to incorporate more elements from pop music, broadening his audience in the process. He started his own record label – STMPD Records – just last year, the mission of the label being to help up and coming artists get their music heard. With a new record label, promised collaborations with more global artists, and his position secure at the top of DJ rankings across the world, Garrix shows no signs of slowing down. In bringing about change in the ways record labels market their younger artists and get them exposure, Martin Garrix transformed the music industry while simultaneously bringing dance music into the mainstream. These effects can be seen in recent years as younger artists are commonly receiving opportunities to collaborate with bigger artists because of the ways in which their management chooses to market their talents. Garrix’ raw talent and business savvy created the perfect storm as he experienced one of the quickest surges in popularity that the music world has ever seen.
Martin Garrix is one of many entrepreneurs in the music industry, but in my opinion his success is magnified by how old he was when he reached it. My dream is to become successful eventually, and if a teenager can do it, why can’t I? Martin’s story, among many others, have no doubt inspired hundreds and hundreds of people to reach for their goals, no matter how small.