newbie question

[nickcodybarrett]

I have everything sorted out with the equipment im buying to start dj'ing except for one thing.

Im not sure where to get music from.....

I know y'all will say things like "just buy it" and "download from this certain website", but that's not exactly what I mean. I see a lot of djs nowadays with thousands of tracks of all genres that I know they didn't buy. One guy in my area bosts of having over 500,000 tracks.

I just need some help of where I can get it. My birthday's coming up in 3 days (when I get my gear), and this is the last thing im struggling with.

Much appreciation if you can help out.

Thanks,
Nick

[Windows 95]

One guy in my area bosts of having over 500,000 tracks.

Why, what's the point?
Even a mobile DJ doesn't use that many songs.

Buying your songs is a LOT more practical than filling your hard drive with useless garbage.
Having 50 good songs is better than having 500,000 songs.
If money is the problem, just spend $5 or $10 a payday on music. Even at that pace, you'll probably be surprised at how quickly your library is growing when you're actually mixing your songs.

Better to have a library of songs you are intimately familiar with. Than a library that overwhelms you with a bunch of unwanted weeds.

Would you rather have a dozen cars from a junk yard, or one new car from an automobile dealer?

Although I play vinyl, when I do buy a digital song it's usually from;
https://www.beatport.com

[fueledbymusic]

Buy lots of CDs and then rip them.

[pete]

I know y'all will say things like "just buy it" and "download from this certain website", but that's not exactly what I mean. I see a lot of djs nowadays with thousands of tracks of all genres that I know they didn't buy. One guy in my area bosts of having over 500,000 tracks.

The guy you are mentioning certainly didn't buy his music.
DJs make very little money, and 500k tracks bought legitimately would cost close to 1M$.
DJs don't make enough to spend that much on music.

So most likely he pirated them. Or bought them from a pirate. Please bear in mind that digital files can not legally be resold and many can not be performed live in a commercial setting.
Or he bought/found bulk loads of physical media. And saved them being destroyed.
Or his family owned a massive warehouse full of music that they just gave him for free.
Or he joined a record pool and downloaded everything. No record label would want a DJ to have that much free music 'for promotional purposes'. So it is a kind of stealing.
Or he downloaded every rights free track he could find.

Either way, it is a silly amount of music. The greatest DJs that have ever lived do not have anywhere near that amount of music. So why would some no-name local DJ have more?

[Baller95]

As the others have mentioned, those songs were probably not acquired legally and quite frankly, who needs that many songs? I'd much rather have a few well known good songs than a lot of random songs. Record pools are a good start if you're looking a large quantity of good legally downloaded music. What equipment are you using? The software "djay" by Algoriddim has Spotify integration so if for whatever reason you want 500k+ songs, use djay and you won't even have to worry about where to store all that music.

[Not Applicable]

I've always bought music for the purposes of putting together a mix. I buy the tracks I want in the mix and that's all. So say 12-16 tracks every time I want a new mix. This may sound like it's a limited purchasing strategy, but it builds your library quickly - depending on how many mixes you do a month.

That started when I was using vinyl. It cost $10-15 per record. Now you can buy a mix for $25-30.

Once you have a collection, you get some really good tracks and learn which ones sound really amazing when you mix them. It's all about having music you want to play and not just counting them.

[fueledbymusic]

You know what, I have tons of songs myself, probably say 20-30k. Had it for years.
But it's only about 200 (quick estimate) that I ever listen to.

[nickcodybarrett]

ok, you've reasoned me out.

If I do start a business, i'd need lots of different genres. My cousin has over 1,000 tracks of different music on her phone, so that'll work out for the business. For me, I have all I need covered. I do have an extra $60, so I can use that for music.

[tomaszp]

If You do not want to spend lot of money for tracks - try search for free ones, or if You'll going to but some music find some compilations/albums - there are a lot of these where You have 40-100 tracks for 9-12$.

Best regards,

Tomek

[pete]

ok, you've reasoned me out.

If I do start a business, i'd need lots of different genres. My cousin has over 1,000 tracks of different music on her phone, so that'll work out for the business. For me, I have all I need covered. I do have an extra $60, so I can use that for music.

If you want your business to be legal then you could not use her tracks.
Usually digital files (iTunes etc) have a clause stating that the buyer is not "buying the music", just a licence to listen to the music for personal purposes. Certainly not for resale or for commercial purposes. It is the only way artists have allowed their music to be sold so cheaply.
There are some sites that sell digital music that can be played out, such as beatport, but you have to check the small print.
These days some DJ software companies are selling on having "spotify integration". But again, if you read the small print - it is not for commercial purposes.

Besides ... the tracks your cousin has on their phone - were they bought legally? And what is their quality?
Also starting a DJ business with 60$ on music is like starting a racing car business with a Pinto.

Sorry, but running a business is an expensive business. That is why you have a P&L statement. You only pay tax on your profits. A much better deal than being a worker!