How to find and buy the tracks from a DJ set
Find the set's tracklist, identify what's missing with Shazam, then listen, choose versions and buy. The full route from a set you loved to tracks you own.
On this page
- The route in six steps
- Step 1: find the set and note the moments
- Step 2: get the tracklist
- Step 3: fill the gaps with recognition
- When recognition fails
- Step 4: collect everything in one list
- Step 5: listen to each track on its own
- Step 6: buy the right version
- Special cases
- A live stream or radio show
- A set on video
- Edits and bootlegs
- A set from years ago
- Doing this with CatchIt!
- Checklist
To find and buy the tracks from a DJ set, start with the tracklist: check the upload itself (Mixcloud shows often have one, SoundCloud descriptions sometimes do) and tracklist sites such as 1001tracklists. Identify anything missing with Shazam on your phone or Recognize Music on your Mac while that part of the set plays. Then put every track in one list, listen to each one on its own, keep the ones you'd play, and buy the exact versions you heard from a DJ store. Mark each track as bought as you go.
The route in six steps
| Step | What you do | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Find the set | Locate the recording and note timestamps | A link and the moments you care about |
| 2. Get the tracklist | Upload, description, tracklist sites | Most track names |
| 3. Fill the gaps | Shazam or Recognize Music on the recording | Names for missing tracks |
| 4. Collect | One list, duplicates removed | Candidates |
| 5. Decide | Listen to each track on its own | A keep list |
| 6. Buy | Find the right version and format | Tracks you own |
Step 1: find the set and note the moments
If you heard the set live, look for a recording: the DJ's SoundCloud or Mixcloud, the event's or radio station's channel, or the club's page. If you only care about one or two tracks, note roughly when they played. For a recording, write down the timestamps as you listen. With a timestamp, everything else gets easier.
Step 2: get the tracklist
A published tracklist is faster and more reliable than recognition, because a person who knows the tracks wrote it down.
- On Mixcloud, look below the player. DJs add tracklists at upload with Tracklist & Timestamp, typing rows, pasting a list in the format "Artist Name - Track Title - HH:MM:SS", or importing a Serato, Traktor or cue sheet file. Mixcloud also fingerprints uploads, but its help center says this "will not create a tracklist for you".
- On SoundCloud, check the description and the comments, especially comments at the timestamp you care about.
- On tracklist sites. 1001tracklists is the biggest. Its users submit and fill in the lists, and coverage is best for well-known club, festival and radio sets.
- On video uploads, check the description and comments. Listeners often post IDs with timestamps.
Two things to know before you trust a list. Where a row says ID instead of an artist and title, whoever built the list heard the track but couldn't put a name to it, perhaps because it isn't out yet. And since volunteers type most of these lists, a name can simply be wrong: nothing on a tracklist is settled until you've played the store version against the set.
Step 3: fill the gaps with recognition
For tracks the list doesn't name, identify them yourself from the recording.
On a phone: play the set and use Shazam. To identify a single moment, scrub to the timestamp and tap the Shazam button. Apple's guide confirms Shazam can identify a song "playing in another app on your device". For the whole set, press and hold the Shazam button to start Auto Shazam, which carries on in the background, even with the screen locked.
On a Mac: add Recognize Music to Control Center or the menu bar. With headphones on, it identifies what's playing on the Mac itself, so you can scrub through the set in your browser and click at each new track.
How to Shazam a whole DJ set from a link covers the methods in detail.
When recognition fails
Expect misses during long blends, on heavily processed passages and on unreleased tracks. Match what you see to a likely cause:
| What happens | Likely cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| No result mid-blend | Two records at once | Move the playhead on until only the new track is playing, then retry |
| A result that sounds wrong | A neighbouring track, or a different cut | Play it next to the set at that timestamp before it goes on your list |
| No result anywhere, even on a clean passage | Unreleased promo or private edit | Save the timestamp, look at listener comments, revisit the tracklist in a few weeks |
| Everything fails, and you really want it | Nobody has published it | A short, polite message to the DJ often works for released music; "not yet" is a fair answer for promos |
Step 4: collect everything in one list
Don't paste the tracklist straight into a store cart. Put every track into one list, alongside your other finds, and remove duplicates, including tracks you already own. Note which set each track came from so you can find your place in the set again later.
Step 5: listen to each track on its own
A track inside a mix is shaped by the DJ: the blend, the EQ, the track before it. Will Lynch, writing for Pioneer DJ about digging, recommends listening "purely for your personal pleasure, without picturing yourself playing it to an imaginary crowd". For each track:
- Listen on proper headphones or monitors.
- Jump to the parts that would matter in your set.
- Decide keep or reject. If you'd only play it in the exact blend you heard, reject it.
How to decide which tracks to buy has a seven-question checklist for this step.
Step 6: buy the right version
By now you have a short keep list. Go through it one track at a time with the set open in another tab:
| Before checkout | Why |
|---|---|
| Hear the store's sample, then jump back to your timestamp in the set | A tracklist line or a recognition result gives you the song; only your ears can confirm the cut. Intro length, where the vocal enters and how the drop lands usually give it away |
| Choose lossless for anything you'll play out | WAV or AIFF if storage allows. Beatport lets you upgrade an MP3 you bought to WAV or AIFF later by paying the difference; Bandcamp downloads include FLAC, WAV and AIFF |
| Tick it off the list right after paying | A list that mixes bought and unbought tracks has you checking your library before every purchase |
Which store? Beatport has a broad club catalog, Bandcamp is where many artists and labels sell their own releases, and specialist stores such as Traxsource focus on particular scenes. Where do DJs buy music? compares them. Traxsource vs Beatport puts those two side by side, and do DJs have to buy their music? covers when streaming or a record pool is enough.
Special cases
A live stream or radio show
The same route applies. Radio shows often publish tracklists on the station's or host's page, sometimes days after broadcast. If you're listening live, identify tracks as they play with Shazam or Recognize Music, and note the time for anything that fails.
A set on video
Video uploads often carry a tracklist in the description or in comments with timestamps. When they don't, recognition works on any audio your phone or Mac can hear, including a video playing in another app.
Edits and bootlegs
Some tracks you hear in sets are a DJ's own edit or an unofficial remix, made for their own sets rather than for sale. Sometimes the producer releases them later on their own Bandcamp page or gives them away, so follow the producer if you can find out who made it. If you can't, let it go: chasing a track you can never buy is time you could spend digging.
A set from years ago
Older sets have an advantage: their IDs have had time to be filled in. Check tracklist sites first. The risk is availability, because older releases may have left some stores. Check Bandcamp, specialist stores and, for vinyl, the Discogs marketplace.
Doing this with CatchIt!
CatchIt! is a Mac app with a free iOS companion. It covers steps 2 to 6, from tracklist to shopping list.
- Import the tracklist by link. In the Add Tracklist sheet, paste a page from 1001tracklists, TrackID.net, set79 or Djooni. The tracks land in the Inbox as one tracklist. See Importing tracklists.
- No tracklist? Shazam the whole set. Paste a SoundCloud or Mixcloud link instead. CatchIt! fetches the set and runs Shazam recognition over it, with live progress and a stop button. For your own recordings, it identifies local mp3, wav, m4a or aiff files on the Mac, and the audio never leaves your computer. YouTube sets aren't supported.
- Decide. In the Inbox, Return keeps a track (green) and Space rejects it (red). On the iPhone, the Tracklists tab plays each track's Apple Music match and lets you mark it green or red; it needs Apple Music access and a subscription.
- Buy from the Greens. Kept tracks collect in the Wishlist with Bandcamp, Beatport, YouTube and Google search links, a copy action for a clean "Title Artist" line, and a Done flag for what you've bought.
- Finish the set. Mark the tracklist completed, and Hide Done clears it from the sidebar.
Checklist
- Find the recording and note timestamps.
- Check the upload, the description, comments and tracklist sites.
- Identify the gaps with Shazam or Recognize Music; note misses.
- Put every track in one list and remove duplicates.
- Listen to each track alone; keep or reject.
- Buy the exact version in the format you need, and mark it bought.
Guides in this series:
- How to use Beatport charts to find tracks
- How to move a Spotify playlist to Beatport
- How to Shazam a whole DJ set from a link
- How to dig through DJ mixes and tracklists
For the terms used here, see the glossary.
Frequently asked questions
- How do you find one song from a DJ set?
- Note the timestamp, then check the set's tracklist on the upload or on a tracklist site such as 1001tracklists. If there's no list, play that moment of the recording and identify it with Shazam on your phone or Recognize Music on your Mac.
- What if the track isn't identified anywhere?
- It may be unreleased, an edit or a promo. Note the timestamp and set, check the tracklist again in a few weeks, and read the comments left around that moment of the upload. Many DJs also answer polite ID requests about released music.
- Why does Shazam give the wrong version of a track?
- Recognition finds the song, but several cuts of one song can sound alike for a few seconds, and it may pick a different one from the cut the DJ used. Listen to it against your timestamp first.
- Can you buy a DJ set as a whole?
- Usually not. Mixes on SoundCloud or Mixcloud are for listening. To play the tracks yourself, buy each one individually from a store such as Beatport, Bandcamp or Traxsource.
- Do you have to buy every track from a set you liked?
- No. Listen to each track on its own first. Many tracks that sound great inside a mix are ordinary alone, so buy only the ones you'd play yourself.
Sources
- Mixcloud Help: How do I manually add a tracklist to my shows?
- 1001Tracklists
- Shazam User Guide: Identify a song using the Shazam app on iPhone, iPad, or an Android device
- Apple Support: Use your Apple device to identify what song is playing
- Pioneer DJ: How to find music you love, in a way that you love
- Beatport Support: Upgrading purchased tracks from MP3 to lossless
- Bandcamp Help: In which formats can I download my purchases?