If you have all your music on Spotify and want to play a DJ set, either a one-off gig or often, this guide on DJing with Spotify is for you. In it we’ll look at five ways you can achieve this, from the very simple to the more complicated, and from the “just get the music playing!” to the 100% professional – with or without DJ gear.
Whether you’re just wondering how you can make your existing Spotify playlists sound better when you hit “play” at a house party, or you’re looking for a way to use all of your Spotify music with a DJ controller and laptop (or even on “standalone” or pro DJ gear), we’ve got you covered.
The Spotify problem (finally solved!)
So before we start, here’s the background. We all have our music on Spotify, right? It has the best features, and is the most supported by add-on apps useful to DJs. But the problem has always been that it simply isn’t set up for blending tracks, and worse, for years it point blank didn’t “work” with DJ software or hardware.
If you wanted smooth blends for dancing to from Spotify, or if you were a “real” DJ who spins with professional software, you were out of luck – Spotify simply wouldn’t play ball. Once upon a time you could use Spotify directly with DJ software (Algoriddim’s Djay Pro, if you want to know), but that stopped years ago.
But here’s the game-changing news – in September 2025, the DJ world got what it’s been asking for. Spotify integration is now available in three of the major DJ platforms: Serato DJ, Rekordbox, and – in a beautiful full-circle moment – Algoriddim’s Djay Pro. If you use any of these platforms, you can now DJ directly with Spotify – no workarounds needed!
For everyone else, don’t worry – there are still solutions. In this post I’ll go through the five solutions we advise people to choose from here at Digital DJ Tips, the world’s biggest DJ school, depending upon their circumstances.
1. DJing with Spotify – the direct integration solution (for Serato, Rekordbox & Djay Pro users)
This is huge – the solution DJs have been waiting for since Spotify disappeared from DJ software years ago. As of September 2025, three major DJ platforms now have direct Spotify integration: Serato DJ (Pro and Lite), Rekordbox, and Algoriddim’s Djay Pro.
If you use any of these platforms, this is by far the easiest way to DJ with Spotify. Simply update to the latest version of your software, select Spotify from the streaming services menu, log in to your Spotify Premium account, and you’re ready to go. You’ll see your whole Spotify library, all your playlists, and even curated DJ-friendly playlists right there in your DJ software.
What you need to know about Spotify integration in DJ software:
- You need Spotify Premium (obviously – you don’t want ads in your DJ sets!)
- In Serato, you can only use one streaming service at a time (though this limitation will disappear in Serato 4.0)
- You typically can’t create or edit Spotify playlists from within the DJ software – use the Spotify app for that
- Stems support varies by platform (check your specific software)
- No offline mode – you’ll need a reliable internet connection
Despite these limitations, this is massive news for DJs. The fact that three major platforms now support Spotify means the vast majority of DJs can finally access their Spotify collections natively. No conversions, no duplicate subscriptions, no hassle. Just log in and start DJing.
How to do it in each platform
How To DJ Like A Pro with Spotify and Serato DJ
How To DJ Like A Pro with Spotify and Rekordbox
How To DJ Like A Pro with Spotify and Djay Pro
Don’t use Serato, Rekordbox or Djay Pro? Then read on for the other ways to make Spotify work for DJing…
2. DJing with Spotify – for non-DJs
You’re not a DJ and you don’t want to be, but you’ve got a party coming up and want to play the music from Spotify. You know the music you want to play – but Spotify will, of course, leave gaps between songs if you just hook up your party speakers and hit “play”. You need a better solution. Luckily, there is one – Spotify’s built in “DJ Mode”.
To do this, first you need to be signed up for Spotify Premium – the ads Spotify inserts between songs otherwise will obviously make it unsuitable for use at a party. Then, download the app – don’t try to do this from the web player unless you have to (ie you’re using a Chromebook). The web player is less reliable.
The trick is to create a playlist for your party, and then go to Preferences and set Spotify to “Crossfade Tracks” and “AutoMix”. This blends the songs together, cutting out the gaps.
One nice thing is that you can add and remove songs to/from the playlist as it’s playing, or rearrange them to suit the mood. It’s like DJing, but not in “real time” (and sadly Spotify’s attempts at “beatmixing” aren’t very good) – but it’s MUCH better than nothing.
Tip: Use “offline mode” to download the tracks in your playlist. Then should the internet drop, the music will carry on playing. Even “real” DJs using some of the following methods don’t get that benefit!
Read this next: Spotify Taps AI To Introduce New DJ Feature
3. DJing with Spotify – one-off parties (for DJs)
Let’s say you’re a DJ who’s been given a Spotify playlist someone wants you to play at a gig. You don’t own many (or any) of the songs. You don’t want to own those songs (you may be a house music DJ playing your sister’s sweet sixteen for a favour, to give one example, and the music is all pop hits that don’t interest you).
Or, maybe you’re a former DJ who doesn’t really play any more, but you’ve got Spotify for your day-to-day music use, and you want to come out of retirement “for just one gig” – but don’t have any of the music files any more to play from, cause guess what? They’re all on Spotify for you nowadays!
In short: you want to DJ with Spotify for a single gig or occasionally. In this circumstance, Spotify’s in-app DJ mode is no good, as you want to actually DJ, using real DJ gear with these tracks – maybe you’ll also be mixing them with other, non-Spotify music files that you own.
If you don’t use Serato, Rekordbox or Djay Pro, you’ll need a workaround, because while there are streaming services that work with other DJ software and hardware, Spotify may not be one of them for your platform. So the secret is to transfer the playlist or playlists you want to use from Spotify to a streaming service that DOES work with your DJ software.
Check which streaming services your DJ software supports – common options include Tidal, Apple Music, Amazon Music, SoundCloud and others. You’ll want to choose one with a catalogue that closely matches Spotify’s to ensure most (if not all) of your songs will be available.
Before we go any further, know that the big downside with this method and the following one is that it requires internet – so do make sure that is unshakeable in your venue.
So to do this, you need a way to transfer your music from Spotify to whichever streaming service your DJ software supports. Most streaming services will give you a free trial period before you have to start paying (plenty of time to practise and play your gig), and there are services that will let you transfer a limited amount of music (such as a playlist) from one to the other automatically for free or for a small one-off fee – again, free trials are sometimes available too.
They all do essentially the same thing and their offers change, so find the one that looks best for you out of these three: FreeYourMusic, Soundiiz and Tune My Music.
Others may be available, but these are the three we’ve used successfully. You’ll sign in to their services using your Spotify login details and the login for your chosen streaming service, specify the playlist or playlists you want to transfer, and in one click, the magic will happen.
When you next log in to your streaming service on your DJ software or DJ unit that supports it, your music will be there (do check though as there’s a chance a small number of tunes will be missing if not available on that service).
Learn to DJ with us: The Complete DJ Course
4. DJing with Spotify – regularly (for DJs)
If you’re planning on doing this more often, but you don’t want to switch totally over to another streaming service in your life, leaving Spotify behind (something to definitely consider, as it will make life much easier), there is an alternative – and again, it is brought to you by the services listed above.
You see, with FreeYourMusic, Soundiiz and Tune My Music, you can have the app sync your whole collection, not just playlists, and also, have it done automatically for you. You carry on using Spotify as you always have, but when you open your DJ software or hardware and select your streaming service, you see a “mirror image” of all the music, playlists and so on you’ve worked on in Spotify, right there in your DJ software’s chosen streaming service!
This is an elegant and “hands off” solution, but it’s not perfect (as there will always be the odd song that doesn’t make it across due to the services’ catalogues not being 100% identical, and you still need strong WiFi of course). Plus, it will cost you quite a lot more, because before, you were just paying for Spotify, but now, you’re subscribing to Spotify, your DJ software’s streaming service, AND the conversion service you’ve chosen. It is pretty awesome though for DJs getting more heavily into this.
Bottom line: Have good reasons for wanting to stick with Spotify in this circumstance, as it’s trickier to set up, not perfect, and expensive – although it does work well when all configured, and it’s quite cool to see your playlists “duplicated” automatically across two services this way.
5. DJing with Spotify – the “pro” way (for serious DJs)
Spotify is an incredible tool for discovering and hearing new music, for shortlisting tunes you want to DJ with, and for your day-to-day (ie non-DJ music). But I’ll let you into a secret: Even with Spotify now available in major DJ software, no pro would rely on it entirely, maybe using it “just for the odd request” – but nothing more.
Why? Loads of reasons. Here’s three big ones:
- No offline “cached” tracks in DJ software, so it needs WiFi which pros HATE (for that, you have to use DJ-specific streaming services, namely Beatport and Beatsource, which don’t duplicate Spotify’s catalogue anywhere near as well)
- The fact that tracks “come and go” on Spotify due to licensing reasons, meaning you can never 100% rely on your playlist staying the same over time
- The inability to find those special DJ versions or hard-to-find tunes that can set you apart on Spotify
The solution? Use Spotify for all the things described above that it’s awesome for, and buy the tracks you want to DJ with, building a “local” collection of music that you own, just for DJing.
Read this next: The Playlist Pyramid – How To Build A DJ Music Collection To Be Proud Of
This is the longer route, as DJs take years to build their collections, but it is the route all pro DJs take. If you’re serious about DJing, you’ll take it sooner or later. For now though, hopefully the tips in this article will help you get from Spotify to dancefloor in a way that works for you – and with Spotify now in three major DJ platforms, that journey just got a whole lot easier for most of us!
Now take it further
Are you interested in learning how pro DJs find and organise their music? How they choose and set up their gear? How to mix? How to perform? How to get gigs?
It is all covered in our Complete DJ Course, the number one course for learning to DJ that has helped many thousands of DJs to get started, and the only course anywhere in the world that is based on our Amazon number one-selling book on how to DJ, Rock The Dancefloor!
Learn more about our Complete DJ Course here, and finally get the skills to DJ like a pro for yourself.
Phil Morse
