DJ & sound system
Can we mix with Spotify or Apple Music?
This is the question that comes up most often when reserving a console: “all my music is in Spotify, can I just connect my account on Saturday evening? » The answer has really changed in recent months, and it deserves more than a yes or no. Here's what works today, and especially what doesn't work on a standalone machine like the one you're renting.
Know before you plan: DJ equipment cannot be shipped. He withdraws and goes in person to Lyon 3 (2 Impasse du Lutin, 69003 Lyon), by appointment. The excess of €200 is paid on site at the drop-off and returned to you on return.
Since September 2025, Spotify has returned to DJ software
After five years of absence, Spotify reopened its doors to mixing software on September 24, 2025. The integration concerns rekordbox, Serato (DJ Lite and DJ Pro) and djay, it requires a Premium subscription, and France appears in the list of countries covered published by Spotify. You can therefore load a Spotify playlist onto a virtual deck, adjust it, equalize it, and add effects. On your computer.
The restriction was noted by the specialist press at the time of the announcement: due to lack of appropriate licenses, music from Spotify can only be used for personal and non-commercial use — mixing at home, rather than playing in public. Training, yes. Build a service billed on that, no.
The wall is the USB key
And here is the point that almost no one anticipates. A standalone console does not read a subscription: it reads a USB key prepared in advance. However, the official rekordbox documentation is categorical about titles from streaming: they cannot be exported to a USB key or SD card, and they are unusable in Export mode – the same one that powers standalone machines.
Direct consequence for your evening: even with a paid Premium subscription, no Spotify title will appear on the key that you slide into the console. Streaming lives in the software, on the computer, connected to the Internet. Not on the table.
Apple Music, Tidal, Beatport: same rules, one exception
Serato DJ Pro currently supports five catalogs: Apple Music, Beatport, SoundCloud, Spotify and Tidal. Two limits are announced in black and white. The first: the recording of your sets is deactivated as soon as a streaming title is loaded. The second is offline – only Beatport, with its Professional plan, allows local storage of titles, up to a thousand, for playing without connection.
It’s the nuance that counts. Beatport was designed for DJs, with licenses designed for the stage. Spotify and Apple Music are general public services grafted onto DJ software, and they retain the constraints.
What this actually changes for your evening
- Standalone console and USB key: no streaming, but no Wi-Fi to monitor either. This is the safest setup, the one we recommend for a wedding or a birthday.
- Computer and subscription: your entire library at your fingertips, but a connection that must last all night in a room full of phones.
- Invoiced service: the conditions of Spotify are intended for personal use. For commercial purposes, we use purchased files or a service dedicated to DJs.
The method that never fails
It takes four steps, to be done the day before and not the same evening, in the hubbub of the reception.
- Gather your files—digital purchases, ripped discs, promos—into a single folder.
- Install rekordbox, import this folder, let the analysis calculate tempos and beatgrids.
- Create playlists by time of evening: aperitif, opening ball, late night, last hour.
- Export on a stick, then test it on the machine before leaving. A key that has never been plugged into the console is not a ready key.
A useful tip to know: your phone can be plugged into the auxiliary input of the console, via mini-jack or RCA. It's not mixing, but it saves a cocktail, a speech or a technical break.
On which machine, and with what limits
The Pioneer XDJ-RX3 that we rent works exactly according to this logic. Two USB type A ports on the top, a 10.1-inch touch screen for browsing the library, and reading keys prepared with rekordbox without any computer. Its technical sheet does not mention Wi-Fi or network socket: it is a constraint on the day when you dream of streaming, and a blessing on the evening when the room network collapses.
If you insist on your subscription, the same machine connects via USB to a computer and then serves as a controller for rekordbox or Serato DJ Pro. You regain access to streaming catalogs, with the limits described above — and, if you're listening to us, a backup USB key in your pocket.
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