Today’s streaming music library news comes from Pioneer DJ, who are announcing a new version of Rekordbox DJ 5.6.1 – which adds Beatport LINK and Soundcloud Go+ libraries to the app. The
What happens when you completely remove limitations of how many tracks you own, and make it about the tracks you know/can find? That’s what the integration of streaming services into DJ services really starts open up, and both of these services offer something a bit different. While Beatport LINK offers one of the most comprehensive catalogs of electronic music, Soundcloud Go+ means that there’s all types of artist and user uploaded content at your fingertips. It’s a bit of a choice to make.
Feature Overview
Here’s the official feature overview from Pioneer DJ – keep reading for the key features they sent over in their press release:
- Seamless integration from selected streaming services to rekordbox dj – Stream tracks from Beatport LINK and SoundCloud Go+, or download via Beatport LINK PRO or PRO+, and use many of the features in rekordbox dj to craft creative sets.
The application will analyze the BPM, Key and waveform for each track, and you can set and save Hot Cues and Loops. This means you can perform in the same way you would with music stored on your PC/Mac, and you can mix in tracks from either source whenever you want. - Browse Beatport LINK and SoundCloud Go+ charts and playlists via rekordbox dj – Take advantage of the streaming services’ powerful track search features without leaving rekordbox dj. Browse the charts compiled by each platform for different genres of music, as well as user-created playlists, directly from rekordbox dj. Also, with SoundCloud Go+, you can find and select music from your listening history, liked songs, and tracks by people you’re following, all from the tree view within rekordbox dj.
- Related Tracks: Easily find music related to the track you’re playing – Use the original Related Tracks feature in rekordbox dj to automatically find tracks that are suitable to play next. The list is displayed in the tree view and is based on the metadata of the tracks you’re currently playing. This helps you discover music you might not have found by yourself and build sets with tracks that mix together well.
[Related Tracks feature only works with tracks that have been imported to rekordbox dj (streamed tracks and those in the offline locker are automatically imported).]
A Few Big Limitations
Adding streaming music to any DJ software isn’t without a few absurd but legally-required limitations. In the case of Rekordbox adding Beatport LINK and SoundCloud Go+, there’s a number of disabled features:
USB Export, Link Export, Link Monitor, Record, Capture, and loading to the Sampler are not available when playing tracks from Beatport LINK and SoundCloud Go+.
Remind Me How These Services Work?
Ok, here’s the quick 411 on how each of these two DJ streaming services works.
Beatport LINK is Beatport’s streaming service that allows access to their entire streaming catalog. It launched earlier this year, is now available in most of the world (except China) and has a few different plans. The more advanced plans include offline storage lockers (a la Pulselocker, it’s their old tech running this). Here’s the breakdown on pricing in the US:
SoundCloud Go+ is the SoundCloud paid streaming service, which incorporates much of the catalog found on the site. It launched in 2018 as a tool for DJs, first incorporated in Serato DJ Pro, and is available in about 15 countries. The service is $9.99 an month – or $4.99 a month if you’re already a Pro Unlimited paid uploader to Soundcloud (many DJs are).
