Deejaying became much more widespread and democratic with the rise of electronic music platforms and the explosion of mixers and controllers for every budget and taste. The former meant that professional, aspiring, or bedroom DJs suddenly had daily access to tons of bangers (whether through digital downloads or direct streaming), while the latter allowed a new generation of music lovers and potential artists to express themselves in fresh ways.
Music rights, legacy platforms, and other limitations still make it tricky for hardcore DJs (those focused almost exclusively on electronic music) to access mainstream tracks. Conversely, fans of pop hits often struggle to break into the club scene. You could compare it to the ever-growing conflict among the many TV streaming platforms. Kind of.
In recent days, however, a couple of moves by two major platform holders have suddenly expanded the possibilities, and the range of genres any DJ can easily access.
Spotify and Beatport Just Changed DJing Forever: More Genres, Easier Mixing
First came DJ favourite Beatport, which announced just two weeks ago in a letter from CEO Robb McDaniels that, "with new personalisation tools and our commitment to curation across 36+ electronic sub-genres, we can now open the door to more genres without losing the digging experience you love." This means that genres such as Hip-Hop, R&B, Pop, Latin, Caribbean, and African have already started pouring into the service within the new "Open-Format" section.
In a parallel move, mainstream music leader Spotify has just gained support in leading DJ software Rekordbox, as Pioneer's owner AlphaTheta announced today. Both DJs and fans have been requesting this for years, and now, just like with Beatport Streaming, Rekordbox users will be able to see, stream, and mix their own Spotify playlists and libraries directly from the software or from supported mixers and controllers. Of course, this is limited to Spotify Premium users, and support officially goes live tomorrow, September 25, in more than 30 countries.
This marks an undeniable milestone in the ongoing growth and democratisation of deejaying across places and generations. One that will surely lead to even more varied mixing styles in the near future.