3LAU claims he was paid nothing to DJ at US President Donald Trump's Inauguration ball

3LAU says he wasn't paid to play at US President Trump's Inauguration Ball on Monday (January 20), describing his his participation as "an honour."

EDM DJ and producer, whose real name is Justin Blau, shared an account via Instagram of the event, writing: "Playing Starlight Ball was not on my 2025 bingo card, but I mean, wow, what an honour."

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BLau added that he was "so nervous" and only got to play for 30 minutes. Nevertheless, he labelled the experience as "achievement unlocked".

Blau's Instagram post has since been flooded with comments from followers, including fellow musicians, questioning his decision to play for the controversial Republican President.

Responding to one comment accusing him of "selling out", 3LAU defended himself by writing: "I think this is the third time I'm saying this, but the government only covered my travel".

Blau, a US national based in Las Vegas, has a number of crowd-pleasing pop hit remixes under his belt — including his spins on 'Into You' by Ariana Grande, 'Bon Appétit' by Katy Perry and 'Desperado' by Rihanna.

In 2021, the producer also founded the blockchain-based music investment platform Royal and previously made millions as from selling NFTs (non-fungible tokens).

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In November 2022, Digital Music News reported that the DJ was sued by artist Luna Aura an over the $11.7 million dollar sale of his NFT album 'Ultraviolet'.

She alleged that he did not properly licence a song from the project ('Walk Away') that she co-wrote and featured on and that she DJ only offered a single payment of $25,000. The case was reportedly settled in 2023.

Henrietta Taylor is Mixmag's Digital Intern, follow her on Twitter