How do you prevent yourself accidentally buying the same tune twice?
Digital DJ Tips reader Mr Lobow writes: “I’m a digital DJ since 2004 and like most people I suppose, at first I never worried about accidentally getting more than one copy of the same tune, because (I admit it) I downloaded freely from internet.
“But two years ago I saw the error of my ways and decided to only buy songs, as I started playing publicly and not just with friends and at private parties. However, when buying from Juno and Beatport, I have an annoying habit of buying tracks more than once! I find it easy to do this because tunes are often catalogued in different styles. Can you give me any advice on how to avoid this?”
Digital DJ Tips says:
This isn’t as crazy a question as it first sounds. Back in the days when I used to DJ from vinyl, I often did this, where it ended up costing me a lot more than when you do it digitally.
What can happen is a song is released, you buy it, it sits unplayed, then six months later, it is re-released (different label, part of a package, whatever), and you buy it again! It doesn’t help that in dance music, titles, even artists can change, as a white label or unsigned tune is picked up and comes out later on under a totally different guise.
In a rush to get out of the door with a few new tunes in my virtual crate, I have been known to buy a tune or two for a second time.
I’ve done it digitally, too. Like you, I only buy music, and I find my music mainly on Spotify nowadays, where I have a shortlist folder. Then, the day before a gig, I’ll listen through the shortlist, and quickly buy anything I am sure I want. Trouble is, I may have (equally quickly) scanned the same folder the week before, neglected to remove the “bought” tunes, and in a rush to get out of the door with a few new tunes in my virtual crate, I have been known to buy a tune or two for a second time.
How to stop this happening
So there’s a couple of obvious ways of avoiding this. Firstly, buy less music! You shouldn’t have to buy stacks of music every week; half a dozen new tunes should be more than enough for any DJ. Secondly, and obviously, make sure you check the artist/title agains your current playlists just to be sure you don’t buy something you’ve already got.
Other than that, I like to tell myself that if I accidentally buy a tune twice, it must be because it really is an amazing song, so I’ve double-rewarded the artist, and I should make doubly sure to play it at every gig – if only to get my money’s-worth out of it!
Have you ever bought music more than once by mistake, either vinyl or digital? Do you buy more music that you can listen to, and so end up with piles of stuff you really don’t know that well? Or are you really careful whenever you add anything to your collection, and therefore never have this issue? I’d love to hear your experiences and advice in the comments.
Now go to:
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Confessions of a Music Junkie: How I Kicked My 25,000 MP3 Habit
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Tags: music library management, music library tips
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I prevent buying Tracks which do not suite my Collection or purchasing them double due to prechecking the releases by downloading them free from …. where they come at a quality which are not suitable to a proper ClubSoundSystem.
[ link ]As soon I really like them and think they fit into my SetStyle i buy them at Beatport or Juno as wav file.
this prevents me to miss good Tracks and helps me to get a almost complete release Archive to listen to. But to get them played in a Club Environment only uncompressed Tracks doing well.
Beatport. They charge more for wav files but It is worth it.
[ link ]Keep a database and avoid rushed purchases… or justify your actions later by claiming the song was so awesome you had to buy it however many times. It used to be that if you bought two (or more) of something, you would be able to give (at least) one away.
[ link ]I keep mine in excel… with color status if bought green, waiting to buy yellow… and of course the Itunes wishlist.
[ link ]if this happens to more often that once in a blue moon, then you don’t know your tracks well enough.
as dj harvey once said: “selection will always trump mixing.” and how can you be an effective selector if you don’t know your tracks in and out?
[ link ]I’ll have to agree with you there.
[ link ]I’m wondering how long you’ve been collecting and how many tracks you have to be able to recall every one.
[ link ]I use free utility named Cathy to keep track of all mp3s on all of my PCs. The Cathy databases are updated on each boot (per PC offc.) and auto-synced via Dropbox.
[ link ]it depends on where you buy this i have 3 copies of maximal crazy by tiesto one from the single release,one from club life and one from dada life’s musical freedom
[ link ]if I buy a compilation i don’t mind having the same song twice because i know that in that folder that song is listed to fit perfectly(according to the artist who made the the compilation) with the one before and after it,if it is in my free music list i will mix it with almost anything without judging if it is the perfect fit but in what mood i am
Some people may think it is annoying but i don’t
To avoid that situation, join a record pool (mp3′s). You pay a monthly fee so if you download it twice there is no extra cost.
[ link ]That’s what I did and it was a one ago yearly fee. Great way to find new music too!!
[ link ]What I usually do in order to avoid this situation is this:
Don’t buy from compilations UNLESS it is an exclusive track for that compilation or you buy the whole compilation. This assures me that I won’t buy the same track twice. Buy tracks from EP/single releases.
In the mayor possible way, use My Beatport. This will tell you what new tracks are getting released. When you listen to a good track check what you bought before to make sure you don’t buy the same.
[ link ]According to a recent thread on Reddit, Beatport would warn you if you try to buy the exact same release again.
But unfortunately, Beatport also has a lot of the exact same tracks but from a different label. Beatport likely won’t warn you in such a case, and, if a track is rereleased, possibly through a different label, I’m pretty sure it’ll also qualify as a “new release”. So that won’t protect you.
Check out Deadmau5′s catalog, for example. Beatport tells me he has 267 releases. All different tracks? Yeah, right… “Alone with you (original mix)” appears 9 times on the list.
Which brings me to a related problem: if there are slight differences in sound between different releases of the same track, which one should you buy?
[ link ]If you buy from Amazon, they automatically tell you that it is in your collection. As an added bonus the track is kept in their cloud drive so that you can access it anywhere. I also agree with Arminda, avoid compilations. I bought them in my early days only to discover that the tracks were mixed and I couldn’t use them cleanly in my mixing.
[ link ]I bought a tune a couple of weeks back on Juno then discovered I had a promo on vinyl that I got over 2 years ago!! Does it really take that long for tunes to get an official release??
[ link ]Before i buy tunes, i search my computer to make sure i’m not re-purchasing the same track. I also try to only buy a few new tracks at a time, so that i can listen to them enough to not forget that i own them.
[ link ]I got all my music in a music database (MediaMonkey, only for PC).
[ link ]Its really quick. I can search in it my 15.000 tunes in an blink of an eye for every criteria I want (of course you have to make sure your tunes are properly tagged).
Before I hit the buy button in any online store I cross check if one of the tracks in my cart is already in my collection. (took me a while to establish this habbit).
Seach your database. Any player such as ITunes, WMP, RekordBox gives you a search option. Also a good DJ pool will keep track of your purchases some keep track track of what you’ve previewed to.
[ link ]One problem that I recently had, was that I heard a new release on Traxsource, that I really liked. And it sounded very familiar, but I couldn’t remember where I knew it from, so I just assumed that I heard another DJ playing it a while ago. Really JUST before I bought it, I remembered that it sounded so familiar, because another track that I already own, used the same sample! And pretty much the only difference between those two tracks were the vocals (one had a few, the other was instrumental) and the beat. So it’s not just about buying the same track, but also buying tracks that sound almost like one that you already got.
(Note, that both track were made by two different producers and they weren’t coverversions or remixes of each other or another track.)
[ link ]You forgot a key one here Phil: Listen to your music collection!
If you’re stoked on a track, you should already have a pretty good inkling as to if it might be hiding in your library somewhere – if not, you’re not listening to the music that you want to spin out as much as you should be!
Here’s how I solve this problem rapidly: I’ve got a smart playlist in my iTunes with the parameter of “Playcount = 0″ and regularly listen to it. This is also a great way to prune down a bloated library if you’ve got music you don’t actually want or need! You can narrow this smart playlist down to just pull from playlists of purchased music or what have you.
[ link ]Yeah, that’s an awesome idea Dan. I recommend doing that too. But my primary recommendation is simply to keep your library really small. I have a “one in, one out” policy that means the chances of me accidentally buying a tune twice are pretty limited to say the least.
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