A manager of several high-profile artists said the death of Swedish musician Avicii "accelerated change" in the electronic music industry towards burnout and mental health. Avicii, whose real name was Tim Bergling, retired from touring two years ago as he had been warned the lifestyle might kill him - but was pressured to continue.
Olga Heijns, who manages dance music artists including Blasterjaxx and Laidback Luke, said managers and agents play a huge role to let the artist know it's alright to say "no" sometimes and that they should not be expected to be "always on."
Avicii died at the age of 28, and according to his family, the DJ "could not go on any longer" and "wanted to find peace". He retired from touring back in 2016 due to health concerns, such as acute pancreatitis. In October 2017, a documentary titled Avicii: True Stories was released, where he had been warned several times that his "touring lifestyle was going to kill him" - but he was being pressured to go on.
According to the South China Morning Post, 69 percent of musicians suffered from depression, and 71 percent were experiencing high levels of anxiety or panic attacks. This is particularly heightened in the electronic dance music (EDM) world because artists only get a little sleep, while they also need to play shows year-round.
Heijns noted DJ artists are different to pop/rock/hip hop artists as the latter used to a more cyclical life and can have vacations on holidays like Christmas, while DJs just goes on year-round because there are festivals around the world at all times. This will put pressure of DJs since they would think they can't miss that event - making them feel more pressured.
Laidback Luke suffered from two burnouts in his life, and just recently reached his threshold again. He said the symptoms he's experiencing were different every time from eating and sleeping pattern to "run away from real life."
In his recent burnout, he revealed it started following the death of his friend Avicii. Luke wrote an article for Billboard magazine back in 2016, asking fans to pay attention to what's really happening after Avicii announced his retirement due to health issues related to exhaustion and alcohol.
Heijns believes the industry change even before Avicii's death, but it accelerated now after his passing as people "immediately act" now when a person talks out about their mental health. People in the industry are also coming to Luke to talk about their mental health problems after the death of Avicii.
