Why DJs Can't Use Spotify Right Now

Added: 2026-05-21

[00:00:00]Spotify has been broken inside Rekordbox, Serato and DJ for nearly a week now. If you've turned up to your gigs in the last few days and found your Spotify playlist empty, you're not imagining it and there's nothing you can do at your end to fix it. So, here's what's going on. This story has two parts, the news, which is bad, and the lesson underneath it. So, on the 12th of May, DJs started reporting that their Spotify playlists were showing up empty inside their DJ software. The playlist names load and the cover art loads, but the track inside, the actual music, doesn't appear, just empty rows. Again, this is happening in Rekordbox, Serato DJ Pro, Serato DJ Lite, and in Algoriddim's DJ Pro. All three pieces of software have that Spotify integration.

[00:00:44]Spotify on its own is fine. The standalone app is fine. Apple Music, Tidal, SoundCloud, Beatport, they're all working normally. It's specifically the Spotify integration with DJ software that's broken.

[00:00:57]So, I contacted one of the affected software makers. They told us that they've escalated it to Spotify and that, in their words, it appears to affect a subset of users in the United States only. We're not certain that's the full picture. Spotify hasn't scoped the problem to any region in its official status post. As I'm recording this, it's tagged under investigation.

[00:01:17]There's no ETA. Now, some users are 6 days and counting without this. So, what can you do if you've got a gig coming up? Well, first, some people have tried a VPN set to a country outside of the United States and reported that this restores access. Secondly, switching to Apple Music for now. You can use Tune My Music or other similar services, or indeed, Apple Music's got a built-in import now that you can copy your Spotify playlist across in a few minutes. And then thirdly, this is the real answer.

[00:01:47]Rely on your own music. Buy the music you love, cuz here's the thing. This is the second Spotify DJ wobble in 2 months. The first, back in March, was the Rekordbox track loading mess, which all right, only hit record box, but this one's wider and the integration itself is only 7 months old, remember? Spotify had a previous DJ software integration with Algoriddim's DJ, um but that ended and they weren't even anywhere near DJ software for 5 years. Uh they're back, but it's got issues.

[00:02:15]Again, stream the music you like, but buy the music you love. Streaming is for discovery.

[00:02:21]It's for tracks that you just want to mess with.

[00:02:24]The tracks you actually rely on, your wedding bangers, your peak timers, the ones you close out with, you've got to own these. No internet required, no 30 third party API that can stop responding and trip you up. So, we'll keep you posted as Spotify rolls out a fix. Do keep an eye on the associated news story. Drop me a comment down below if you're seeing this on your own setup, particularly if you're outside the US. I want to know how far this is going. If you find DJ news like this interesting, then do sign up to make sure that you get all the DJ news first. Just scan that QR code there or click the link and we will keep you up to date with everything going on in the DJ world via our newsletter. But meanwhile, for me filling the studio, get good, get out there, and make the moments. Bye for now.