{"id":3290,"date":"2024-02-13T16:00:05","date_gmt":"2024-02-13T16:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.deejayplaza.com\/en\/?p=3290"},"modified":"2024-10-22T16:44:53","modified_gmt":"2024-10-22T14:44:53","slug":"why-streaming-dj-music-is-stupid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.deejayplaza.com\/en\/articles\/why-streaming-dj-music-is-stupid","title":{"rendered":"Why streaming DJ music is stupid"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Streaming services are in high demand amongst DJs.<br>But is it the hail Mary pass we all think it is?<br>I say: it&#8217;s not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here&#8217;s why:<\/p>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"subscriptions-suck\">Subscriptions suck<\/h2>\n\n\n<p>First, the subscription.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;ve said it multiple times on this website: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>A subscription is a tax on the poor and stupid.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;If you can&#8217;t afford the full price, you can &#8216;rent&#8217;it.&#8221;<br>But what most failed to realize is, a recurring fee is the most expensive payment method, ever, period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You might look at a perpetual-license-fee of $150 to download songs from Beatport and think it is expensive.<br>But you can also pay a $10 monthly fee&#8230;<br>That&#8217;s cheap right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>No, it&#8217;s not, because after 15 months, it will cost you $160, next month $170, next $180 etc.<br>This is $10, $20, $30, infinitely too much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So you overpay after 15 months.<br>This starts to add up quickly.<br>Each month.<\/p>\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"ending-the-subscription\"><strong>Ending the subscription<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n<p>By far my biggest beef with subscriptions is, they are it notoriously hard to cancel.<br>This is by-design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They pull every trick in the book to make you stay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>manually reaching out to the help desk because you need to give them a reason (Amazon for example).<br>Only if they approve of the reason they will let you go.<br>But often, they won&#8217;t.<br>Because &#8220;conveniently&#8221; they don&#8217;t respond or your reason is not &#8220;valid&#8221;.<br><br>Or &#8220;oops&#8221; &#8220;accidentally&#8221; your support ticket wasn&#8217;t handled in time, so you can&#8217;t cancel your subscription and are stuck with it for another year.<br><br>There are also companies to make you pay to jump to the front of the support cue.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>That cancel button is very hard to find.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>They make you jump though countless hoops on the website<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Cancellation-fees. Sometimes egregious ones: $100, $200<br>These fees are always only mentioned in the fine print you never read when signing up.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>It&#8217;s a Hotel California like situation: you can check out, but never leave.<br><strong>A subscription is a commitment for-life.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you see one, run!<br>It only benefits the company, never you.<\/p>\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"saving-money\"><strong>Saving money<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n<p>Every money saving guru will tell you, that if you want to save money, start with cutting your subscriptions is the easiest route.<br>Start with your streaming subscription.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It starts adding up, especially for the months you don&#8217;t have any gigs &#8230; Januari, Februari, March, July<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: 1.6rem\">Free DJ tips in your inbox?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As a bonus gift I will send you a <strong>FREE <\/strong>E-book on how to kick-off your DJ career!<\/p>\n\n\n<!-- MailerLite Universal -->\n<script>\n(function(m,a,i,l,e,r){ m['MailerLiteObject']=e;function f(){\nvar c={ a:arguments,q:[]};var r=this.push(c);return \"number\"!=typeof r?r:f.bind(c.q);}\nf.q=f.q||[];m[e]=m[e]||f.bind(f.q);m[e].q=m[e].q||f.q;r=a.createElement(i);\nvar _=a.getElementsByTagName(i)[0];r.async=1;r.src=l+'?v'+(~~(new Date().getTime()\/1000000));\n_.parentNode.insertBefore(r,_);})(window, document, 'script', 'https:\/\/static.mailerlite.com\/js\/universal.js', 'ml');\n\nvar ml_account = ml('accounts', '1691580', 't0j5q7h5d7', 'load');\n<\/script>\n<!-- End MailerLite Universal -->\n\n<div class=\"ml-form-embed\"\n  data-account=\"1691580:t0j5q7h5d7\"\n  data-form=\"6052713:y7m2e8\">\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"what-if-it-ends\">What if it ends?<\/h3>\n\n\n<p>What if the subscription ends, while you are DJing?<br>What if the subscription end due to a bureaucracy\/administration error?<\/p>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"its-all-gone\">It&#8217;s all gone!<\/h2>\n\n\n<p>Paying for a streaming service is investing in something without reaping the rewards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let&#8217;s say, you paid $20 a month for 3 years.<br>You spend almost $1000 dollars (36&#215;20 = $720 to be precise) on music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You decide to cancel the subscription, because it isn&#8217;t working out, not enough songs are available, bad quality, you name it&#8230;<br>All your music is gone, poof, went up in smoke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>How many fun things you could have done with $1000?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Streaming services will take the music you need hostage, until you pay&#8230; and keep paying until you die.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hotel California &#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"limitations\">Limitations<\/h2>\n\n\n<p>There are limitations to streaming music.<br>What those limitations are, depends on the streaming service and your DJ software\/DJ player.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some limitations with streaming could be:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Not be able to save <a href=\"https:\/\/www.deejayplaza.com\/en\/dj-terminology-glossary#hot-cues-cue-points-song-markers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Hot Cues<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Not be able to set <a href=\"https:\/\/www.deejayplaza.com\/en\/dj-terminology-glossary#active-loop\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Active loops<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ability to correct the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.deejayplaza.com\/en\/dj-terminology-glossary#beatgrid\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">beatgrid <\/a>(because it&#8217;s wrong)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"unlimited-library\">Unlimited library<\/h2>\n\n\n<p>A streaming service allows you to handle request from the crowd.<br>I think this is the only valid reason to have a streaming subscription in my book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But, how often does that happen?<br>I mean, isn&#8217;t there another way to circumvent this?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What about: just buying the most requested songs!<br>And turn down that one freakishly niche request.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Streaming services have big libraries, but they are not infinite.<br>I don&#8217;t know about you, but that song I&#8217;m searching is almost NEVER available at the streaming service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If there is a remote possibility for a song being requested, it should be in your library in the first place.<\/p>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"internet-connection\">Internet connection<\/h2>\n\n\n<p>Streaming only works when you have a stable internet connection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But what if the internet is out?<br>Or the WIFI doesn&#8217;t work?<br>What if the streaming server has a hiccup?<br>What if the RJ45 connector has a broken pin and slowly exits your CDJ\/laptop? (we all know that CDJ never have broken buttons, right??)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Clubs and festivals are crowded places where often wireless signals aren&#8217;t reliable because of interference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Do you really want to bank the success of your gig on a working internet connection that can fail at any time?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yeah sure, luckily most software buffers the song when loading so it won&#8217;t cut out halfway.<br>But still, how do you know your next song will load, or the song after that, or the song after that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On top of that, a streaming subscription is not enough.<br>You also need an extra internet subscription with a cell-phone provider.<br>That streaming subscription all-of-a-sudden got twice as expensive.<\/p>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"clubs-dont-have-internet\">Clubs don&#8217;t have internet<\/h2>\n\n\n<p>In 95% of the venues you don&#8217;t have a working internet connection on the CDJs.<br>Meaning, that you don&#8217;t have access to your streaming library.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you do have internet access, you can put in your own account credentials and play music from there.<br>Quite cumbersome if you ask me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Unless you use your own laptop with a working internet connection, streaming DJ music is pretty much not an option.<\/p>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"missing-songs\">Missing songs<\/h2>\n\n\n<p>Imagine,<br>You have prepared your gig.<br>You know exactly what you are going to play.<br>There is a flow in the set.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You know for each song where to mix in and out.<br>The crowd went nuts last few times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And halfway through your set, you encounter an error:<br>&#8220;this song is not available anymore&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now you can&#8217;t play that banger, that mixed superb with the other songs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Or &#8230; there is only another version of the song available.<br>But you only find out WHILE you are playing the song&#8230;. because that awesome section doesn&#8217;t come up anymore where you could mix out to song Z.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>This is the reality of streaming: you can&#8217;t rely on it!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Digital rights holders can change their mind at any time and remove the track from the streaming service at any time.<br>They are not obliged to notify you with you amazing set.<\/p>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"conclusion\">Conclusion<\/h2>\n\n\n<p>As you might have guessed, I&#8217;m not a fan of streaming services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For home-use it&#8217;s great.<br>But for a performing environment, not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Above all: streaming is expensive.<br>It&#8217;s an bottomless money pit.<br>You are basically bleeding money infinitely.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Streaming services are in high demand amongst DJs.But is it the hail Mary pass we all think it is?I say: it&#8217;s not. Here&#8217;s why: Subscriptions suck First, the subscription. I&#8217;ve said it multiple times on this website: A subscription is a tax on the poor and stupid. &#8220;If you can&#8217;t afford the full price, you &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3339,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[38,48],"class_list":["post-3290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dj-profession","tag-dj","tag-dj-software"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.deejayplaza.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/thumbnail-v1-streaming-dj-music-stupid.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deejayplaza.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deejayplaza.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deejayplaza.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deejayplaza.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deejayplaza.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3290"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/www.deejayplaza.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3290\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6018,"href":"https:\/\/www.deejayplaza.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3290\/revisions\/6018"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deejayplaza.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deejayplaza.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deejayplaza.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deejayplaza.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}