Swiss-French DJ, record producer and #dreamtrack inventor Quentin Mosimann sat down with Dam Yankee host Zack Newmark fresh off a sleepless night after announcing a sold-out show at the Accor Arena in Paris for 19,000 people. 

After 15 years as a DJ, something shifted in the last two years. The social numbers went up, the gig requests went up, and suddenly Quentin was playing 150 shows a year while trying to figure out how to handle worldwide agency requests with a team that was never built for that kind of scale.

He talks about the viral Dream Tracks series he created with Hugh Jackman, Kate Hudson and Edgar Wright, why his worst dream track got millions of views, and why he once walked away from a million euro deal and a Universal contract to start completely from scratch.

Timestamps: 
00:00 – Introduction & The Paris Arena Announcement
01:58 – 5,000 People in Line & Why He Can’t Believe It’s Happening
03:17 – 15 Years as a DJ & What Suddenly Changed in the Last Two Years
05:14 – Paradiso Amsterdam vs a 19,000 Seat Arena
07:19 – Why One Hour as a DJ Is a Disaster & Why He Needs to Tell a Story
09:20 – Producing His Own Shows for the First Time & the Risk That Paid Off
09:58 – Dream Tracks: The Concept, Hugh Jackman & the Wolverine Scream
12:35 – When Dream Tracks Become Real Releases
13:03 – Edgar Wright, The Running Man & the Dream Track That Shouldn’t Have Existed
16:18 – How Dream Tracks Became the Concept for His Entire Live Show
18:38 – Building a Track Live on Stage by Sampling the Crowd
21:14 – How He Opens & Closes Every Show & the Eric Prydz Outro
23:08 – What It Means to Be Aligned as an Artist
24:20 – Star Academy France: Why He Did It & What He Had to Lose
26:12 – Winning a Million Euros, a Universal Deal & Walking Away From All of It
30:36 – Quitting Universal, Signing to Sony RCA & Trusting His Team
32:28 – Paying Off His Mother’s 145,000 Euro Debt
34:21 – Swiss-French Identity and Dutch Directness
38:07 – Working 24 Hours a Day & Watching Other People Drink Beers
40:15 – 150 Shows a Year, No Alcohol on the Road & One Cigarette a Day
42:04 – Hotel Rooms, Netflix, a Dog & Waiting for the One
44:00 – Why Being Aligned Is the Only Thing That Matters
46:10 – Why He Started Bringing Live Instruments on Stage
48:00 – Playing Underground Techno at Fuse Belgium: A Childhood Dream
49:07 – Checking Off Bucket List Milestones & Amsterdam Dance Event
50:52 – Four Seasons as a Judge on The Voice Belgium & Why He Stopped
51:13 – What Opened the Door to Big Name Dream Tracks
52:03 – The Dream Track He Still Wants: Jimmy Fallon & a Dutch Artist
53:35 – The Full Dream Tracks Process: From Pre-Interview to Final Edit
57:04 – The Two Hour Remix That’s Now Everywhere on French Radio

Connect with Mosimann:  
https://www.instagram.com/mosimann/
https://quentinmosimann.com/

Connect with me:  
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zacharynewmark