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DJ With Apple Music launches to enable subscribers to mix their own sets

musicweek.com

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Re: DJ With Apple Music launches to enable subscribers to mix their own sets

#21

Post by CharlesW »

o1o1o1 wrote: post #20

Apple Music would be interesting to me if I could add my own legally purchased music. Mixing your own sets was possible with the iPod, even more so with a good operating system like Rockbox. This is old and still too limited a feature to be marketed as new, well done Apple marketing department.

Apple has this in the form of a poorly-marketed feature called iTunes Match ($25/year). https://support.apple.com/en-us/108935

I no longer subscribe to Apple Music, but I have 169.5 days of purchased music that I can stream anywhere. Tracks that exactly match an entry in their catalog are presumably just represented as a pointer, and tracks which aren't available in Apple Music are uploaded.

Re: DJ With Apple Music launches to enable subscribers to mix their own sets

#23

Post by rajbot »

kcrwfrd_ wrote: post #2

Is there support for Rekordbox? It would be awesome so that you can use Apple Music alongside normal USB sticks / Rekordbox libraries on the Pioneer XDJ line of equipment.

Yes:

“”“ The popular DJing app djay by Algoriddim already offered Apple Music integration since last year, and additional platforms that are now supported include AlphaTheta, Serato, and inMusic's Engine DJ, Denon DJ, Numark, and RANE DJ. For example, you can now access the entire Apple Music catalog in AlphaTheta's rekordbox app for iPhone and iPad.

"Apple Music support has finally arrived," says the release notes for today's rekordbox update.”””

https://www.macrumors.com/2025/03/25/dj-with-apple-music/

Re: DJ With Apple Music launches to enable subscribers to mix their own sets

#24

Post by sudo-random »

imchillyb wrote: post #13

Yet another layer of abstraction for the DJ. Apple owns the rights to the music catalog. Apple controls the access, and can limit or remove access to the music catalog. Apple owns the rights to the tools and any subset of tools or virtual devices. Apple controls the access, and can limit or remove access to the tools and any subset of tools or virtual devices. What was it Agent Smith said? "Me, me, me..." This model…

As someone who's just beginning to learn to DJ, and already subscribes to Apple Music, I will admit that I agree with you.

However, for me, the benefits of what Apple introduced here outweigh the costs: I don't have to purchase all of the songs I want to mix. As a beginner, this is huge. I can experiment with making mixes with nothing but my laptop, my Apple Music subscription and a copy of some free software like Serato Lite. I'm far from being at the stage where I know which songs will make a good mix just by listening to them, so being able to experiment for "free" sounds great.

People concerned about the issues you raised are always free to buy the music they want to mix, either physical copies, or WAV/MP3 downloads. Additionally, I'd like to point out that other streaming platform(s) such as Tidal already integrate with DJ software like Serato.

I'll add that I frequently buy LPs or CDs from my favourite artists. Just because I subscribe to a streaming service doesn't meant I don't believe artists deserve fair pay for their work. I've actually found dozens of new artists I like thanks to Apple Music (and bought hard copies of their music and/or attended their concerts.) Though, I think fewer and fewer people are buying physical copies of their music, which is a trend I don't like at all.

Re: DJ With Apple Music launches to enable subscribers to mix their own sets

#26

Post by dzhiurgis »

Gigachad wrote: post #4

Probably isn't huge for existing DJs who would need the reliability of having stuff on a USB in venues which might not have great internet access. But I can see this being good for the casual users at home since this is the first streaming integration which doesn't charge an additional DJ subscription on top of the standard subscription.

Yep, almost by definition most DJs play unreleased stuff that wouldn’t be on streaming services for years.

Re: DJ With Apple Music launches to enable subscribers to mix their own sets

#27

Post by guyfromfargo »

symlinkk wrote: post #25

How is this legal? I thought you could not use streamed music commercially? If you’re a DJ making money on a gig you’d be violating that law.

No that’s not a law. Typically when DJing the venue is responsible for paying the ASCAP and other licensing fees. As long as the DJ didn’t pirate the music they are free to use whatever source of the music they want.

The fun part is paying ASCAP and BMI doesn’t guarantee you have the rights to play any song, just most songs. So you’d have to look up if the song you want to play is in the ASCAP library before you play every song. And if they don’t have the song you must contact the artist/label and get permission before playing it. Obviously this isn’t practical. But it illustrates just how difficult it is to be compliant with copyright law.

Re: DJ With Apple Music launches to enable subscribers to mix their own sets

#28

Post by dcrazy »

symlinkk wrote: post #25

How is this legal? I thought you could not use streamed music commercially? If you’re a DJ making money on a gig you’d be violating that law.

There are many rights involved and I am not a lawyer, but my understanding is that the venue pays ASCAP and BMI for performance rights, which covers the mechanical and songwriting royalties no matter how the DJ gets them. This new feature fills in a licensing gap with respect to the license that Apple Music extends to the DJ.

Re: DJ With Apple Music launches to enable subscribers to mix their own sets

#29

Post by mikae1 »

sowbug wrote: post #9

I steer clear of Apple products, but I've still had a lot of fun in this space thanks to DJ Studio ( https://dj.studio/ ), a desktop app that helps make offline (rather than real-time) mixes. I use it to make a monthly personal mixtape, which is a nice way to remember what I used to listen to. They call it a "DAW for DJs," which is accurate. I especially admire the team that makes it. The CEO records demo videos that…

https://mixxx.org for a FOSS (read: somewhat enshittification proof) alternative.
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