Where DJs Buy Music 2025 (Best download stores, advice & more)

⚡ TIMESTAMPS ⚡
00:00 Intro
02:06 Why own music in 2025?
06:20 Best for electronic/EDM DJs
06:58 Best for house DJs
08:02 Best for mainstream music
08:23 Best for supporting artists
09:07 Best for penny pinchers
09:32 Other download stores
10:42 Tips for buying DJ music
13:01 DJ community picks

Read the guide: https://www.digitaldjtips.com/best-music-download-stores-for-djs/

I download tracks so i can have music to play if I am at a place where there is no wifi or cellphone service.

hi Phil great Video Thank You ! where would you get latin music from ?- salsa – bachata – merengue -etc. I think it's only on Bpm supreme Latino ? I joined once for a month and then cancelled last year .

Gramaphone in Chicago. 🥰

Digital DJ Pool

I buy physical music from labels still. I get my CD's and Vinyl from Bedrock and Global Underground. CD's basically cost the same as their digital couterparts. So I buy CD's and rip them to 320 mp3's and Aiff digital files. Same as my vinyl.

I get my other tunes from iTunes and Beatport and also produce my own music.

I collect music, as I did with vinyl still. I usually pickup around 20 new tunes a month and even less. Because there is just too much music around these days and because a lot of my electronic music dates back to the 80's. I also play A LOT of late 80's and 90's Techno and electronic dance music, that I have been collecting for more than 30 years, which still sounds fresh on the dancefloor today. "Some" older tracks I will re-master for a more modern sound. Louder and more spacious. Because lets be frank. OLD Techno and most OLD electronic music does not meet the mastering standards of today.

My Rules of collecting Tunes for DJ'ing:

1. Keep your collection simple and quality. NOT QUANTITY!
2. Play older tunes that the new generations have not heard before. I get a LOT of questions about certain tunes and what is this tune playing? When I say it's a 90's Tune. People are blown away!
3. Note the tracks that go down well in my DJ sets and put these bangers in a "Floor Bangers Playlist".
4. Go through my Live DJ sets that blew up the dancefloor and save the whole set in a playlist of "Banger Sets". Past sets that did very well in a club. Save them!
5. Support friends who are DJ's and Producers and get tracks from my mates to test on the dancefloor. We ALL share tracks with each other. Do colabs etc..
6. I get my didital music, that is unavailable in hard copies from Beatport for Underground and hard to find. iTunes, as I still use iTunes as my music file manager and ripping of my CD's. Audacity for ripping my vinyls.
6. Lastly, I produce and play out my own music too.

I try to keep my music collection as small as possible, very difficult. I know. But I really try to collect GOOD Tunes, the very same way I used to go down to the record store every week during the 80's and 90's and even still to today.

I predominantly do vinyl anymore since that's where I started way back in 1991. I love my digital gear but I just love spinning on vinyl more for whatever reason. SO I do tend to frequent record shops and I spend unhealthy amounts of time and money on Discogs.

Qobuz gets my vote. You can purchase and stream from them and they have a pretty wide selection. I do tend to pass the tracks through Platinum Notes though just to add some dynamics back in.

Rip your owned cd and vinyl collection too

I'd use amazon if there was no area restriction. Even itunes limits some music availability which is just bizarre.

👍👍👍👍👍👍

Beatport for new tunes.
Sometimes direct from the producers.
If you ask them kindly enough, they'll let you have their tune(s). But of course thats talking about bootlegs/remixes.
Sometimes they give them away anyway.

DISCOGS for older tunes, on Vinyl and CD.

Sorry, but these digital music stores are the biggest hustle goin. Those perfect WAV or FLAC files you pay a premium for aren't always the best quality. In MANY cases, those files are overly compressed, with a high limiter on and then the volume cranked up right before the clipping point, and sometimes beyond. Put them on the sound spectrum and see for yourself. The result is a loud, full sound with no dynamic range at all. I used to spend all my money at those digital stores, feeling prideful that my music was purchased from Beatport, Juno…. until an ole school DJ taught me about sound and how music is produced.

I "buy" it on "cobalt DOT tools" 😉

A lot of ppl tell me YouTube and convert it …