There’s a discussion taking place about the role of integrated streaming services when DJing. Because wifi is so widely available and mobile data is cheaper than ever, it sorta makes sense to have instant access to 60 million songs rather than however many you carry on your flash drive. So should DJs use streaming services? Here are two reasons against (and one for) Spotifying your setlist.
Quality
With one less gatekeeper (the record label) in the path between the producer and the fan, more people than ever are self-publishing their work. Inevitably, this means a drop in the overall quality of what we hear. When the cost of manufacturing a track is so low, so is the average quality of the output. So beware. With repeat exposure, we’re training our ears to think average audio quality is good. Here’s a 22-minute doccie on that topic.
Convenience
Future mobile DJs are going to wonder how their predecessors dealt with bridezillas who absolutely needed to hear her favorite obscure 80s cut - right now! For events where your setlist is not fully decided, using integrated streaming services wins. You can’t beat having access to basically the entire catalog of recorded pop music.
Conformity
We’re outsourcing ever more of our brain and decision-making power to software. Recommended songs, automatically generated playlists and smart track selection are all features that are now available to DJs. “If you like that, you might like this.” Neat! Problem? Everyone taking the easiest possible route all the time leads to a gray goo of conformity. In the case of club nights, it leads to a setlist that doesn’t seem too different to the ones before and after it. Many of us still want DJing to reflect the personality and taste of the human being behind the decks.
Contrary to what many DJs think, integrated streaming services aren’t a devilish attempt to turn us all into button-pushers. They’re just a new base of the pyramid. It’s simply a tradeoff. You get convenience and in return you sacrifice some personality and culture. So choose where you want to be on the pyramid, and work for it. A good place to start? One of the DJ Courses Online course options.