You can’t just download all the songs you like on Spotify, TIDAL etc, as these sites are not stores. Even with digital files, some of that lives on. OK so my final point may be a stretch too far, but if you’ve ever collected vinyl or CDs, you’ll know that intangible quality that comes with ownership. And as all great communicators know, if you want to convince anyone of anything, you should never use borrowed words… To put it more poetically, the tracks you play are the words that form the sentences you “speak” to your audience when you DJ. By owning them, you’re making a statement. An actual collection says something tangible about you – These individual tracks become part of how you view the world of music.

And finally, if you’ll permit me to share an artistic reason… You’ll think harder about each track once you go to the trouble of downloading and organising it into your collection – The act of downloading/buying, tagging, and protecting your local music takes effort and often money, and so you’ll give more thought to each new track, which is always a good thing for keeping the quality of your DJing high.They’re truly yours forever – No streaming service going bankrupt, or licensing agreement with a record label running out, can affect the availability of tunes you actually own.Local files are more reliable to DJ with – Once these tracks are on your computer, or your USB drive, it’s as good as having the record or CD with you.DJs should always be “digging” for new music, and streaming services offer the perfect setting to do so.īut owning your own music in the shape of downloaded, locally kept music files is still a non-negotiable. And DJing with streaming services is lots of fun and has its own advantages, too. Indeed, in our DJ courses we recommend that every student DJ subscribe to a streaming service, if only for the purpose of music discovery. Yes, it is possible to use streaming services (which of course is what the majority of non-DJs do for their music nowadays) as your day-to-day music source, even to DJ with. A DJ’s music collection constitutes their tools of the trade, and no DJ will have exactly the same one. As of today, it is still important for DJs to own a carefully collected, local music collection.

Music downloading programs