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Esteemed artist manager Nick Royaards chatted with Digital Journal about his career managing electronic superstars Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike and Yves V, among other acts. Royaards continued, «Every artist is different and has very different needs. The superstar status doesn’t really change anything about that. For me, the most important aspect is to listen to my acts and help bring their visions to life. You know these types of amazingly creative and passionate artists really know where they want to go so my job is to layout the framework and get it all done. I have to guide them all the way to the top and at the same time bring peace into their lives. It’s all about balancing. Many people underestimate the lives these guys lead. They think it’s all sunshine and rainbows but that’s a big misconception. Artists on this level are continuously travelling, from one time-zone to the other, airports, planes, hotels, clubs, festivals, lack of sleep. If they don’t have the right guidance, things can go south pretty fast. » He further added, «Managing major league artists is everything but easy, it’s a full-time 24/7 job that you wake up with and go to sleep with but I love it. I always keep my eyes on the target and that makes it easier for me to deal with all the bumps and hurdles we run into on the road to success. » Royaards also co-produced the «Bringing Home the Madness» arena shows. «The ‘Bringing Home The Madness’ and later on ‘Bringing The Madness’ concerts are one big team effort and we have succeeded big time. It’s an amazing partnership between Dimitri, Mike, myself and the extremely talented creative team of Tomorrowland. Last November, we played the Veltins-Arena in Germany (home of the soccer team Schalke 04) for 45,000 people in one single night, where we broke the record of the biggest DJ solo show in Germany. That was absolutely insane. And then, in December we did four sold out shows in the Antwerp Arena (Sportpaleis) for a total of 84,000 people. » He is drawn to electronic music due to its diversity. «I love the way it connects people from all over the world, people with different backgrounds, religions and social status. It doesn’t matter when they are partying to electronic music. Then it’s all about unity, everybody accepts everybody, it’s all about love,» he said. «The greatest thing I recently saw at Tomorrowland was a Jewish guy and a Palestine one holding their flags together and embracing each other while dancing to the beats of the main-stage. That’s something only music can do. Music has that magic power: the power to connect people. » Regarding his future plans, he said, «You know, I just turned 30, I’m really just getting started! I love this whole management business and so I absolutely want to grow in that field. With my existing acts, that means keeping on re-inventing ourselves and what we do now so we stay fresh and exciting. Then of course I’m always looking for new opportunities. That can be great major league DJ’s who are looking for a fresh boost in their careers or new upcoming talent that I feel I can bring to the top. Either way, I want to keep on working with great, passionate artists and make sure they can reach as many people as possible with their music. » Each day, he is motivated waking up next to his «amazing wife» Julie, as well as «working with great people. » «Also, making my artists and friends happy and being able to write history,» he said. On the future of electronic music in the next five years, he said, «I see it stronger than ever. If you see how it has evolved over the past years I think it has enormous potential. Electronic music is featured in every pop Top 40 radio station these days, that is something that a decade ago was totally unthinkable. The Asian market is going totally crazy for electronic music nowadays so I’m pretty sure that is going to give the scene a serious boost in the coming years. We will probably also see a great variety of new sub-genres surfacing and that’s good, I see a very bright and interesting future ahead. » When asked how he got involved with Tomorrowland, he said, «My relationship with the brothers behind Tomorrowland goes way back. At the time when they were setting up their first editions of Tomorrowland in Boom, Belgium, my then company Blue Flame was on the verge of becoming the largest producer of nightlife concepts in Belgium. In those days we would be producing over 150 club nights/year for over 100,000 party people. “Bonthuys”, “The Unit”, “Déjà vu”, “Mob Nights”, “Blow” were some of the then famous brands we built. We were really amongst the pioneers who first brought Chuckie, Sebastian Ingrosso, Dadalife, Yellow Claw, DJ Jazzy Jeff, A-Trak, DJ Kool, DJ Premier and many others to Belgium. So it was only logical that we would be hosting a stage at Tomorrowland and doing our thing, and that’s how the “Blue Flame stage” was born as a yearly tradition at the festival. I remember an old article in a Belgian newspaper stating that our stage was the hottest place on the entire festival. Sweat was dripping from the ceiling. I don’t know if that is true, but we sure knew how to throw a party J! Now fast forward to 2012/2013. At that time, I was having regular talks with Michael about future opportunities for the two of us working together and that’s how I started co-managing Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike and also Yves V. We are over four years into it now and I can only say it has been an absolutely amazing adventure. It’s great to see how all the hard work is really paying off now. You see when I came on board the guys were ranked 38 on DJ Mag Top 100 DJ’s…and last year we made it all the way to the No. 1 spot! So things are really going well, so well we decided to take on another very talented act ‘Lost Frequencies’ together with Dimitri who discovered him at an early stage with myself. «Royaards continued, «Every artist is different and has very different needs. The superstar status doesn’t really change anything about that. For me, the most important aspect is to listen to my acts and help bring their visions to life. You know these types of amazingly creative and passionate artists really know where they want to go so my job is to layout the framework and get it all done. I have to guide them all the way to the top and at the same time bring peace into their lives. It’s all about balancing. Many people underestimate the lives these guys lead. They think it’s all sunshine and rainbows but that’s a big misconception. Artists on this level are continuously travelling, from one time-zone to the other, airports, planes, hotels, clubs, festivals, lack of sleep. If they don’t have the right guidance, things can go south pretty fast. «He further added, «Managing major league artists is everything but easy, it’s a full-time 24/7 job that you wake up with and go to sleep with but I love it. I always keep my eyes on the target and that makes it easier for me to deal with all the bumps and hurdles we run into on the road to success. «Royaards also co-produced the «Bringing Home the Madness» arena shows.
