Former pro DJ here. This is a big step in the right direction, but twitch probably won't be the beneficiary.
Music is sold and consumed in single-song increments, and that's silly. That's what the industry wants, not all consumers. It's like if you could only eat one kind of food ingredient at a time. There are absolutely amazing artists taking these ingredients and, like a chef, chopping and mixing them together in wildly creative ways. However, accessing this entertainment is very challenging because there is no legitimate online business model for it. This leaves DJ's with a big incentive to only perform their best material live where they can monetize it. Once there is an online business model where they can get paid decently for this material, music consumption will change dramatically in this catagory.
Imagine being able to tune into or stream different Vegas club mixes for your party at home, or at a bar, or at the gym? Imagine a netflix of all the best DJ sets of all time?
Twitch is doing some of the "icebreaking" here, but music streaming is a huge business, and Spotify/apple, and all the others will follow, and there will likely be one or more services that specialize in this.
I apologize that this is going to sound really ignorant, but how exactly is DJ mix different from something like a Spotify playlist?
I use those all the time for different activities, like a playlist for working out, another one for relaxing, different ones for different board games, etc.
But I've never been to a club where a DJ plays (just not really my thing, too loud and not my kind of music). What do they do? Why might someone want to stream one instead of using a playlist?
A large part of the “value” a DJ brings is track selection; for sure. Playlists can do part of that, say to create a certain mood. But DJs get to adjust these on the fly as they observe the crowd reaction. Additionally, DJs rarely play full songs. Transitions can be drawn out over 16,32,64 bars, taking 1-2minutes. During that time DJs use tools like EQs or stem splitters to ensure the two tracks playing don’t clash.
There’s lots more detail; just take my strongest recommendation to try DJing on hardware with a friend at some point; it’s a richer and more rewarding experience than the “Skrillex pressing play on his MacBook” meme suggests.
Edit: there’s lots more to say about DJing of course, maybe someone else will chime in. One aspect to keep in mind is that DJing is important primarily in dance music. If you don’t go dancing at clubs you may not be aware how different dance music is to traditional music meant for listening. A lot of the focus of dance music is generating tension (“build”) and releasing it in a pleasant manner (“drop”). Doing that at a pace that works for the energy level of the crowd at that moment, without unexpected shifts in energy levels, is not trivial. It requires taste and experience, and aims to create a more cohesive and unified experience for the dancers than a playlist could.
Although I've never really been the "clubbing" type, I do other types of dancing (swing, salsa, Scottish, country, etc.). They usually go off playlists, but I can see how having a live DJ who interactively adjusts the music to the crowd's energy level would be fun. I'd love to experience something like that!
In terms of streaming, it would also be really cool to get a live DJ for D&D and other board game nights, who can dynamically respond to what's happening in the game world and blend the tracks (and sound effects?) appropriately. Does anyone do stuff like that? I'd pay for that service!
Yeah, in ballroom one takes a break between songs iirc. (It’s been a decade or two.) The harder styles of dance and deeper kinds of house music seem designed to put you into a mild trance, thus the need to keep the rhythm consistent.
For D&D, have you seen https://tabletopy.com/ ? I think I saw it here on HN a while ago.
> For D&D, have you seen https://tabletopy.com/ ? I think I saw it here on HN a while ago.
Lol, that's pretty cool. Like a soundboard for D&D.
Having grown up with the
D&D video games like Baldur's Gates 1 & 2 and NWN, the ambient music and sounds is something I miss about the tabletop experience. The cities and the crowd noises, the dungeons with subtle chains and screams and caves with dripping water reverberating, the background music that stays out of the way and then amps up in the prelude to combat and gets all romantic for dialog, etc. Adds a level of immersion that's hard to get in tabletop unless the DM is heavy on production value. Still fun, just different!
I think DJs were meant to monetize "live" – that was the whole point.
I'm now imagining a Netflix of the best DJ sets of all time.
It doesn't make any money.
Musicians similarly have to "perform their best material live where they can monetize it". DJing really is part of a party, without the party, there's really next to nothing left, particularly now the technical aspect has been as good as automated thanks to CDJs.
Music is sold and consumed in single-song increments, and that's silly. That's what the industry wants, not all consumers. It's like if you could only eat one kind of food ingredient at a time. There are absolutely amazing artists taking these ingredients and, like a chef, chopping and mixing them together in wildly creative ways. However, accessing this entertainment is very challenging because there is no legitimate online business model for it. This leaves DJ's with a big incentive to only perform their best material live where they can monetize it. Once there is an online business model where they can get paid decently for this material, music consumption will change dramatically in this catagory.
Imagine being able to tune into or stream different Vegas club mixes for your party at home, or at a bar, or at the gym? Imagine a netflix of all the best DJ sets of all time?
Twitch is doing some of the "icebreaking" here, but music streaming is a huge business, and Spotify/apple, and all the others will follow, and there will likely be one or more services that specialize in this.