How to Live-Stream a DJ Set

How to Live-Stream a DJ Set Post-Lockdown

Live-streaming DJ sets has been a massive trend over lockdown. DJs who can’t play at clubs want to continue to share their music with the world and live-streaming is the perfect solution. So much so in fact that DJ stores world-wide sold out of all their DJ equipment!

The live-streaming options have also changed hugely while DJs and platforms battle with copyright holders to have permission to host live stream DJ sets. So, what is the best way to live stream your DJ set post-lockdown? Here are the options:

Live-Stream a DJ Set on Facebook

You can easily live-stream anything from your phone's camera and microphone directly to Facebook. However, if you want to get the best sound quality, direct from your mixer, you should use the Pioneer DJM-REC App or OBS. Open Broadcast Software, or OBS for short, is a freeware program you can use to capture audio and video for streaming. You just need to plug your audio into your computer using a soundcard or direct from your mixer's USB output (if it has one) and then into OBS. You can then connect your camera to OBS and then it will act as an interface to control the scene you’ve created. OBS will then prepare everything for streaming and then all you need to do is connect to your desired platform using a stream key. For this system to work you need to have a fast computer and a very fast internet connection.

However, even if you do all of that correctly Facebook might still block your stream because of copyright issues. Facebook doesn't pay a license fee on behalf of its users to give them the permission to publicly perform copyrighted music. So even if you’ve bought your tracks you don’t technically have permission to perform them to the general public. There is no way of getting around this but some DJs still manage to upload a set and circumnavigate the copyright police! One way of doing this is to play very underground music that is not detected by Facebook's copyright algorithms. This is the same for more platforms.

Live-Stream a DJ Set on Instagram

As with Facebook, Instagram also allows you to stream directly from your phone but you will get better quality if you use OBS. Copyright restrictions still apply.

Live-Stream a DJ Set on YouTube

Like Facebook and Instagram you can stream directly to Youtube but copyright restrictions still apply and your stream might be muted or taken down. Repeat offending might result in your channel being suspended or deleted entirely.

Live-Stream a DJ Set on Twitch

Twitch is one of the best ways to live-stream a DJ set at the moment. Your stream won’t be taken down for copyright infringement, YET! They are actually having some issues with the big record labels now and we expect this window of opportunity to use Twitch to close soon. So, make sure you use the platform while you can!