Dance-Music Stars Evolve for Pop Fame Clockwise from top left, the DJs Swedish House Mafia, Avicii, Deadmau5 and Martin Solveig, heavyweights of electronic dance music making inroads into the mainstream. THE 23-year-old Swedish DJ and producer Avicii has one world-killing hit, "Levels," to his name, and has opened for Madonna at Yankee Stadium on top of playing countless dance-music festivals the world over. But he is not made of magic. He could not uproot the seats from the floor of Radio City Music Hall. Leigh Vogel/Getty Images For USA Today Matthew Koma who collaborated with Zedd on "Spectrum," a rare example of a dance-music song in which vocals mirror the shape of the music. Last month he headlined a pair of nights at that storied building, DJing from atop a huge, smooth head, amid the usual rainbow lights and lasers, while several thousand neon-accented fans danced - more like shimmied - in the small space between the seat they paid for and the one in front of it. It was exuberant, but also awkward. Only toward the end of his set, when he built a swell with "Greyhound" and "Don't You Worry Child"by Swedish House Mafia (featuring John Martin), David Guetta's raucous "She Wolf" (featuring Sia), and then, of course, "Levels," did members of the crowd finally figure out that if there was no moving front or back or left or right, then at least they could go up. Several hundred celebrants ended the night standing on armrests, doing their best impression of a party where movement was less constrained. As problems go, this is a fine one to have for a performer like Avicii (pronounced uh-VEE-chee), who is quickly becoming better known beyond dance-music circles. Let's ignore the oft-used term E.D.M., which is a needless shorthand for electronic dance music, and somewhat redundant. He belongs to a generation of stars raised on one rule book and now, as their profiles increase and change due to success, they are figuring out if they can also play by the other rule book, the one that governs more traditional pop acts. Playing more conventional stages, as opposed to nightclubs or dance festivals or raves, is part of that shift. Avicii's Radio City stint actually pales next to the ambition of Swedish House Mafia, which headlined Madison Square Garden last December. There is also the issue of albums, and of chasing chart hits. In the United States, unlike in Europe, it is the rare song that begins in the dance-music world and ends up a pop hit. The higher tempos and digital chill of dance music are in evidence on the pop charts, but usually in borrowed form by bandwagoneering mainstream stars like the Black Eyed Peas or Pitbull. But as younger fans raised on dance music age and dance-music producers sense a bigger opportunity on the horizon, those worlds are likely to meld far more than they have before. The past few weeks have seen the release of numerous albums by some of the scene's most powerful players, each telling a different story about how dance music is evolving: Deadmau5"s ">album title goes here<" (Ultra), Martin Solveig's "Smash" (Big Beat) and Zedd's "Clarity" (Interscope). Swedish House Mafia's "Until Now" (Astralwerks) and Calvin Harris's "18 Months" (Roc Nation/Ultra/Columbia) will be released later this month. This may be the first wave of this generation's dance-music albums to exist under the shadow of theoretically possible American pop success; electronic and dance musicians of all stripes have been making full-length albums for years, but their impact on the pop mainstream has been temporary or minimal. These artists have taken widely varied approaches to that possibility, insomuch as it has informed their approaches at all. The most surprising choices are by Deadmau5, simply for being the least conciliatory. A star of the dance-music Internet who has become one of the scene's biggest draws, Deadmau5 (pronounced "dead mouse") often prizes spectacle over creativity. What's notable about ">album title goes here<," though, is that it appears to be an argument for his inclusion in the dance-music pantheon. There's progressive house, big beat, glitchy almost-hip-hop and more. The convincing track "October" even suggests, in places, a fluency with vintage Detroit techno. Of all the genre's stars, Deadmau5 would probably have the easiest time recruiting famous collaborators, but he has largely resisted that. The most prominent guest is Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance, on "Professional Griefers," and as craven pairings go, it's a sharp one. Mr. Way is a theatrical vocalist, not humbled by Deadmau5"s wall of sound, even if it's foreign to him.