The thing is, 30,000 people want to listen to deadmau5 why? Because he got himself there through basically word of mouth. The mouse head wasn't the single thing that got him there. His early music was influential and very catchy. That being said, there are plenty of knocks against him.
Much of his show is visuals, not the music. While he might do some live mixing occasionally, it's not regular. Much of his studio music is songs he made a long time ago and is putting into his mix albums only now. A ton of his new music, while definitely fitting into the minimal house genre, is extremely repetitive and definitely doesn't jive with the people who love Ghosts 'n' Stuff, Strobe, etc. Some of it is pretty formulaic, but sometimes that isn't bad (see Animal Rights).
I would call his music an aquired taste, but if you listen to only Aguru, I Remember, Ghosts 'n' Stuff, or his other popular songs, you get a different idea of what he really does. I mean, I absolutely love Cthulu Sleeps, but it's 10 minutes of minimal house, and you have to be crazy to like it I think...
