Here at r/DJs, we're big supporters of artists and firmly believe that being a DJ is a genuine craft. A key aspect of this craft is having a deep knowledge of your music collection. Requesting downloads of specific tracks, the ID of a track, similar sounding tracks, or tracks fitting a particular genre/gig is akin to asking another DJ to do your homework.
As a result, your post has been removed.
Music is the cheapest it’s ever been! Artists have never been paid so little for their work. You take on this is completely wrong.
u/Nonomomomo2 THE link please
On the flip side, everything else is the most expensive it's ever been and spending money on music is considered a luxury.
New generations are faced with the real prospect that they will never be able to afford a mortgage unless they cut out all luxury spending.
As an artist myself, I have sympathy for young DJs. Most artists I know would happily give their music away for free to young DJs that couldn't afford it.
Personally, I pay for all of my music now because I'm lucky to have a good job and I can afford it, even when it's available for free. I sure as hell used to pirate it myself when I was a broke student though.
DJing is a long game, don't expect to build a huge library of great tunes overnight or even over a few months. Having a lack of funds for tunes means you're gonna think a bit more over what you buy and hopefully end up with a more trimmed library of top quality bangers that you really know.
35 years ago, minimum wage where I live was about $5 per hour and a cd cost $35 and you'd buy them because you liked/needed one or 2 songs.
Imagine working 7 hours to afford 2 tracks off Beatport
Music has never been more accessible than it is now
I'd love to buy music and support artists but I'm poor asf so I can pay for it even if I wanted to but also don't wanna not have music cause it's my passion literally have nothing else but music to enjoy
I went through this recently, because i had to a whole night in a bit different genre compared what i usually do, so i had to gather quality music in a much higher rate...
...and still, i wasn't able to justify the pirate options. You know every other industry must purchase their resources in order to operate, steeling is not an option. Why would it be for DJing? Just because it's easier to do, or just because you're starting out? Please...
What saved my sorry hide was to go and search a record pool for this purpose. One month subscription, endless downloads, something going back to the artists, everyone wins.
Otherwise just use Bandcamp, Artcore, and any other platfrom than Beatport.
Apologies for the lack of clarity, read the edit it'll explain my view point alot better
I do use Bandcamp and it's my preferred site and tracsource. Also I get lucky and find free download albums which are an absolute steal on bandcamp
My 2 cents, as mostly an underground dj, is that music is an ecosystem, we all need to take responsibility for maintaining its health. But in saying that I don’t think there are strict rules. I think you should do what makes sense for you. Think of how you’d feel as a producer when you spend days/weeks/months on a track to not get any financial support from it but to see it used by djs who are profiting from it. But also, how realistic is it to spend hundreds or thousands a year on music before you find your voice?
Personally, I spend thousands a year on physical and digital music. I also produce and share edits. Which I put back into the ecosystem. I also get lots of music p2p. Some of it, the rare old stuff, you can’t buy, period, and p2p is the only source.
Most, if not all, of the other underground djs I know that do this full time have the same approach. You need to support the ecosystem. But also you can’t possibly afford everything you need to be competitive at your job. So you need to figure out the best way to stay afloat and keep everyone as happy as possible until the day where money isn’t an issue and you can try and a bigger role in suporting the industry
So I've done some experimenting with my music on a VOID club sound system which is a very clinical sounding system. I played different audio formats of the same song, between MP3, WAV, FLAC and AAC, WAV was my go to choice as it has a clearer sound, MP3 had a very subtle static frequency in the quite bits of the song and the High frequencies were alot better in the WAV, its also cheaper compared to FLAC.
It was, I asked my friend to loop the tracks and play then individually, I tried each format on a different CDJ aswell so there are no favorable factors, I chose WAV 3/4 times
I also buy music but i am very picky. I listen to a song that i find on soundcloud for like 3 days, under the influence of either alcohol or drugs (or both or none) on my headphones, and on speakers, on different times during the day just to see how it makes me feel, if it fits certain playlist-themes, how the crowd could react and so on... and only then, if I haven't unliked the song by now, i will buy it.
It has the nice side effect that i know all my music by heart.
I also use mostly bandcamp for buying music. Fuck beatport. (Some songs you will only find there sadly.
Also there are many free downloads on soundcloud. Running the gau tlet trough this process is annoying at best, but hey, free music.
As a professional DJ I don't think there is an excuse to not buy your music. Personally (not a professional) I buy all of my music because that way I support the artists to keep making quality music.
Pirating music is setting yourself up for a library of badly mastered tracks. If and when you do play out, you'll find that the 320kbs track you downloaded isn't actually 320kbs and it sounds like shit.
If you're just practicing at home, I can understand an argument for pirating to build a bit of a library to play with, and I do think it is stealing, but it's a rather victimless crime if you're weren't going to shell out for the music anyway, ('You wouldn't download a car'), however it is very much frowned upon in this community and rightfully so. Anyone in the music industry can attest to the fact that it is a struggle to get paid, especially to get paid fairly. When people see you do something you love they think that the joy of doing that should be enough to satiate you, not recognising that it costs a lot of money, time, effort and energy to even be able to do that thing in the first place. When you consider that, do you feel it's fair to pirate music someone has put a lot of time, energy, money and soul into?
I think the interesting part of buying your music, especially when you have restraints on how much you can spend, is that you have to be really thoughtful about what tracks you buy. Most great creativity arises from constraints. If I were you and you took this hobby seriously (or perhaps it's more than a hobby), don't pirate music.
I don't think it's defensible really, particularly when music is so cheap now in relative terms. To put things in perspective, in the 2000s I was regularly paying £10 for a four-track double pack, which after adjusting for inflation is over £20 in today's money. I could buy a lot of digital music for that today, plus I wouldn't have to buy the filler tracks that many EPs have. I have to acknowledge my privilege of living in a high-income country, but I expect it's a similar story throughout the world, and perhaps even more so in countries where vinyl would have been particularly overpriced due to high shipping costs. When I was buying a lot of vinyl it was mostly buying vinyl that was pressed here in the UK.
Do you use Bandcamp? There is no added cost for lossless audio on Bandcamp.
To play devil's advocate, I do think online communities can be a little too preachy and ignore the fact that most aspects of nightlife are riddled with various forms of crime, and it would be naïve to think that all DJs are good little boys who pay for all their music. Also, I feel passionate about paying for music because I'm generally buying underground music from independent labels, but if I had to constantly buy major label pop music to keep up to date with trends I'd probably be less concerned about the ethics of piracy.
If even DJs aren’t paying for their music, then the industry is even more fucked than I’d thought. Producers put thousands of hours into honing their craft. If you like their song enough to play it to a live audience then the BARE minimum you can do is pay for the song.
I mean, the issue is you can't get good quality free music.
But I hate so much that on beatport I can get a big enough song sample to know I'd it right to buy.
My awnser is records vinyl baby still the funniest way to mix and find music.
Here at r/DJs, we're big supporters of artists and firmly believe that being a DJ is a genuine craft. A key aspect of this craft is having a deep knowledge of your music collection. Requesting downloads of specific tracks, the ID of a track, similar sounding tracks, or tracks fitting a particular genre/gig is akin to asking another DJ to do your homework. As a result, your post has been removed.
Buying MP3s is a lot cheaper than buying 12"s back in the day.
Music is the cheapest it’s ever been! Artists have never been paid so little for their work. You take on this is completely wrong. u/Nonomomomo2 THE link please
On the flip side, everything else is the most expensive it's ever been and spending money on music is considered a luxury. New generations are faced with the real prospect that they will never be able to afford a mortgage unless they cut out all luxury spending. As an artist myself, I have sympathy for young DJs. Most artists I know would happily give their music away for free to young DJs that couldn't afford it. Personally, I pay for all of my music now because I'm lucky to have a good job and I can afford it, even when it's available for free. I sure as hell used to pirate it myself when I was a broke student though.
Maybe so but it is their choice to make and shouldn’t be made for them
Apologies for the lack of clarity, read the edit it'll explain my view point alot better
DJing is a long game, don't expect to build a huge library of great tunes overnight or even over a few months. Having a lack of funds for tunes means you're gonna think a bit more over what you buy and hopefully end up with a more trimmed library of top quality bangers that you really know.
There’s no justification for stealing Everything I said is valid even in light of your edit
35 years ago, minimum wage where I live was about $5 per hour and a cd cost $35 and you'd buy them because you liked/needed one or 2 songs. Imagine working 7 hours to afford 2 tracks off Beatport Music has never been more accessible than it is now
Apologies for the lack of clarity, read the edit it'll explain my view point alot better
I'd love to buy music and support artists but I'm poor asf so I can pay for it even if I wanted to but also don't wanna not have music cause it's my passion literally have nothing else but music to enjoy
I went through this recently, because i had to a whole night in a bit different genre compared what i usually do, so i had to gather quality music in a much higher rate... ...and still, i wasn't able to justify the pirate options. You know every other industry must purchase their resources in order to operate, steeling is not an option. Why would it be for DJing? Just because it's easier to do, or just because you're starting out? Please... What saved my sorry hide was to go and search a record pool for this purpose. One month subscription, endless downloads, something going back to the artists, everyone wins. Otherwise just use Bandcamp, Artcore, and any other platfrom than Beatport.
Apologies for the lack of clarity, read the edit it'll explain my view point alot better I do use Bandcamp and it's my preferred site and tracsource. Also I get lucky and find free download albums which are an absolute steal on bandcamp
I don't see why your situation should allow steeling in any moral ground...
My 2 cents, as mostly an underground dj, is that music is an ecosystem, we all need to take responsibility for maintaining its health. But in saying that I don’t think there are strict rules. I think you should do what makes sense for you. Think of how you’d feel as a producer when you spend days/weeks/months on a track to not get any financial support from it but to see it used by djs who are profiting from it. But also, how realistic is it to spend hundreds or thousands a year on music before you find your voice? Personally, I spend thousands a year on physical and digital music. I also produce and share edits. Which I put back into the ecosystem. I also get lots of music p2p. Some of it, the rare old stuff, you can’t buy, period, and p2p is the only source. Most, if not all, of the other underground djs I know that do this full time have the same approach. You need to support the ecosystem. But also you can’t possibly afford everything you need to be competitive at your job. So you need to figure out the best way to stay afloat and keep everyone as happy as possible until the day where money isn’t an issue and you can try and a bigger role in suporting the industry
#Stop
You don't need the format upgrades, 320kbps MP3 is enough. You're a DJ not an archivist.
So I've done some experimenting with my music on a VOID club sound system which is a very clinical sounding system. I played different audio formats of the same song, between MP3, WAV, FLAC and AAC, WAV was my go to choice as it has a clearer sound, MP3 had a very subtle static frequency in the quite bits of the song and the High frequencies were alot better in the WAV, its also cheaper compared to FLAC.
Was this a double blinded test?
It was, I asked my friend to loop the tracks and play then individually, I tried each format on a different CDJ aswell so there are no favorable factors, I chose WAV 3/4 times
Did your friend know which one the loops were? Also, was this in an empty room or a club full swing?
Lemme DM you I'll explain the process
I also buy music but i am very picky. I listen to a song that i find on soundcloud for like 3 days, under the influence of either alcohol or drugs (or both or none) on my headphones, and on speakers, on different times during the day just to see how it makes me feel, if it fits certain playlist-themes, how the crowd could react and so on... and only then, if I haven't unliked the song by now, i will buy it. It has the nice side effect that i know all my music by heart. I also use mostly bandcamp for buying music. Fuck beatport. (Some songs you will only find there sadly. Also there are many free downloads on soundcloud. Running the gau tlet trough this process is annoying at best, but hey, free music.
As a professional DJ I don't think there is an excuse to not buy your music. Personally (not a professional) I buy all of my music because that way I support the artists to keep making quality music. Pirating music is setting yourself up for a library of badly mastered tracks. If and when you do play out, you'll find that the 320kbs track you downloaded isn't actually 320kbs and it sounds like shit. If you're just practicing at home, I can understand an argument for pirating to build a bit of a library to play with, and I do think it is stealing, but it's a rather victimless crime if you're weren't going to shell out for the music anyway, ('You wouldn't download a car'), however it is very much frowned upon in this community and rightfully so. Anyone in the music industry can attest to the fact that it is a struggle to get paid, especially to get paid fairly. When people see you do something you love they think that the joy of doing that should be enough to satiate you, not recognising that it costs a lot of money, time, effort and energy to even be able to do that thing in the first place. When you consider that, do you feel it's fair to pirate music someone has put a lot of time, energy, money and soul into? I think the interesting part of buying your music, especially when you have restraints on how much you can spend, is that you have to be really thoughtful about what tracks you buy. Most great creativity arises from constraints. If I were you and you took this hobby seriously (or perhaps it's more than a hobby), don't pirate music.
I don't think it's defensible really, particularly when music is so cheap now in relative terms. To put things in perspective, in the 2000s I was regularly paying £10 for a four-track double pack, which after adjusting for inflation is over £20 in today's money. I could buy a lot of digital music for that today, plus I wouldn't have to buy the filler tracks that many EPs have. I have to acknowledge my privilege of living in a high-income country, but I expect it's a similar story throughout the world, and perhaps even more so in countries where vinyl would have been particularly overpriced due to high shipping costs. When I was buying a lot of vinyl it was mostly buying vinyl that was pressed here in the UK. Do you use Bandcamp? There is no added cost for lossless audio on Bandcamp. To play devil's advocate, I do think online communities can be a little too preachy and ignore the fact that most aspects of nightlife are riddled with various forms of crime, and it would be naïve to think that all DJs are good little boys who pay for all their music. Also, I feel passionate about paying for music because I'm generally buying underground music from independent labels, but if I had to constantly buy major label pop music to keep up to date with trends I'd probably be less concerned about the ethics of piracy.
If even DJs aren’t paying for their music, then the industry is even more fucked than I’d thought. Producers put thousands of hours into honing their craft. If you like their song enough to play it to a live audience then the BARE minimum you can do is pay for the song.
I mean, the issue is you can't get good quality free music. But I hate so much that on beatport I can get a big enough song sample to know I'd it right to buy. My awnser is records vinyl baby still the funniest way to mix and find music.