Apple has just made its biggest move into the DJ world yet. Previously, Apple Music’s huge library of over 100 million tracks is was only available on djay Pro but now it’s also coming to rekordbox, Serato and Engine DJ.
Anyone who’s been using these super popular DJ apps has had to rely on more niche options like Beatport, Beatsource, SoundCloud Go+, and TIDAL to stream their tracks. Apple Music joining the party is a big moment as it means a major mainstream platform that millions use now works for DJs – meaning that you don’t have to have a separate source for your DJ tracks and your day-to-day use.
That’s fantastic for anyone who wants to use the same app for casual listening where they can favourite tracks and build playlists that work directly with the same platform they use for mixing.
Here’s what you need to know about the Apple Music launch for each of the new platforms.
DJ with Apple Music
As well as just adding streaming support to DJ software, Apple Music are clearly making a big push to promote themselves as the most DJ-friendly of the major music services. They’re already big on their DJ Mixes section, which is home to loads of exclusive sets, but now they’re curating tracks especially for DJs.
The new ‘DJ with Apple Music’ category gives you a selection of editorial playlists of DJ-friendly tracks, as well as curated pages for each DJ software and hardware platform which have got sample playlists to help you practice.
This is all aimed at making finding music to DJ with easier than ever. As much as having 100 million songs at your fingertips might sound like a good idea at first, once you’re actually met with that many options it’s pretty overwhelming.
Apple Music for Rekordbox
At launch, Apple Music will work with rekordbox for desktop and iOS, with Android support set to come at some point later in the year. There’s also hardware support for the AlphaTheta XDJ-AZ and Omnis Duo all-in-one DJ systems – but we’ve had no word yet on future support for any other gear, such as the flagship Opus Quad.
Mostly, Apple Music will work in the same sort of way as the other streamers already supported inside rekordbox.
There are 4 ways to use Apple Music and rekordbox:
- Logging directly into Apple Music from one of the supported products
- Exporting Apple Music playlist to rekordbox in advance – via Could Direct Play, not USB.
- Switching rekordbox to a Performance mode and using a compatible controller
- With the iOS rekordbox app on your iPhone or iPad
You can import Apple Music tracks into rekordbox playlists and prepare them just like local or other streaming files — with full support for hot cues, loops, and playlist organisation. For example, this lets you get tracks ready on your laptop and then use Cloud Direct Play to use them on an Omnis Duo.
It’s important to note that Apple Music doesn’t support offline locker functionality at launch – you’ll always need an active internet connection to stream any music.
Apple Music for Serato
Apple Music is also coming to Serato – both Serato Pro and Serato Lite.
It works in the same way as existing streaming that’s supported within Serato Pro and you just need to go to the left bar where all your music options are and log into your Apple Music account.
As it works across the Serato desktop app, you’ll be able to use Apple Music with whatever controller you’ve got.
Serato has also partnered with Apple Music to launch a curator page, offering playlists and mixes from renowned DJs like ZEEMUFFIN and DJ Miss Milan. This initiative aims to connect DJs and music fans, providing a unique glimpse into the music selections of top DJs across various genres.
Apple Music for Engine DJ
To get Apple Music support on Engine DJ, you’ll have to update to the latest version – 4.3. Along with some other enhancements, this brings in hardware support for the following gear:
- Numark Mixstream Pro +
- Numark Mixstream Pro Go
- Denon DJ SC LIVE 2
- Denon DJ SC LIVE 4
- Denon DJ PRIME 4+
- Denon DJ PRIME GO+
Once you’ve updated Engine, getting set up is super simple. Just look for Apple Music on the left hand bar where you’d find all the other streaming sites and then log in to your account.
From here, you can load Apple Music tracks on the fly, mix them with locally stored files, and analyse key, BPM, and beat grids instantly – just like you would with any other tracks.
Does Apple Music support stems?
One of the biggest questions we had when we first heard about the Apple Music announcement was whether it would work with any of these DJ apps’ stems functions. Apple Music has been available on djay Pro for a while now but has never worked with its ‘Neural Mix’ stems control due to licensing issues with the labels.
Unfortunately, the same is still true – Apple Music doesn’t support stems for Serato, rekordbox and Engine. Given that this is down to licensing issues rather than technical limitations, it’s unlikely that we’ll see an update fixing this too soon but we’ve got our fingers crossed.
Does Apple Music support offline locker?
Unfortunately, Apple Music doesn’t support any offline lockers in any DJ apps. That means that you’ll need a constant internet connection to stream songs and you can’t save them offline to play later. That could well be a drawback if you plan on using Apple Music to DJ at a gig where wi-fi connections could be unreliable.
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This is a good start for Apple, but no offline mode makes this a hard no for me as a mobile wedding/corporate DJ. Plus no access to stems is just lame, I understand why they don’t allow it but still.. if they want to compete with other DJ streaming services then they need to offer the same feature set as the other streamers.
No we just need Spotify to come to the party. Is there a particular reason why they haven’t yet?
The most annoying feature of Beatport is building a playlist using streamed songs, then dowloading them all and having to redo all your hot cues… maybe Apple can fix this