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Apple Music Integrates With DJ Apps To Let Subscribers Mix Their Entire Music Library

Apple Music has unveiled a new integration enabling its subscribers to build and mix sets directly from the platform's catalog of over 100 million songs.

The new feature, 'DJ with Apple,' connects Apple Music with DJ software and hardware providers including AlphaTheta, Serato, and inMusic's Engine DJ, Denon DJ, Numark, and RANE DJ to create an ecosystem for music mixing and discovery.

In addition to providing direct access to Apple Music's 100-million-track library, the integration also provides a new dedicated DJ with Apple Music category page on the platform, as well as crated editorial playlists for DJs.

The launch builds on Apple Music's previous DJ-focused initiatives, including the DJ Mixes program introduced in September 2021 and Apple Music Club, a 24/7 live global radio station featuring curated DJ sets that was unveiled in December.

Stephen Campbell, Global Head of Dance, Electronic & DJ Mixes at Apple Music, said, "Apple Music is committed to supporting DJs."

"With this latest integration, we're taking that commitment even further — seamlessly connecting Apple Music with the industry's leading DJ software and hardware. This innovation brings the full power of Apple Music into the creative workflow, making it easier than ever for DJs to access, play, and discover music in real time."

The new feature arrives over a month after Apple Music announced a new promotional subscription offer of $2.99 for six months.

Algoriddim CEO Karim Morsy said, "The integration of djay with Apple Music across mobile, desktop, and spatial devices opens up a world of creative possibilities for both beginners and seasoned pros." Algoriddim is a Germany-based software company that developed the digital music mixing software program called 'djay'.

"With instant access to Apple Music's catalog of over 100 million songs, DJs can mix anytime, anywhere – transforming the way they discover and play their favorite music. Whether using Automix for a seamless, hands-free experience or crafting their own unique sets with djay's powerful mixing tools, this integration marks a major milestone in making DJing more accessible than ever."

AlphaTheta President and CEO Yoshinori Kataoka added: "We are thrilled to bring this integration with Apple Music to DJs around the world and in their creative process. This marks a significant step forward in making DJ'ing more accessible, and we couldn't be more excited about the possibilities it opens up."

AlphaTheta, which produces DJ equipment and systems, has added Apple Music support to its rekordbox DJ software and selected hardware systems.

Morgan Donoghue, VP Marketing, DJ Brands at inMusic, described the Apple Music integration as a "major step forward," adding that the collaboration "ensures DJs at every level can seamlessly discover, play, and integrate new music into their creative workflow."

Young Ly, CEO at Serato, said: "Teaming up with Apple Music is a milestone moment for Serato's artist community. We are excited to see established and new DJs alike combine their passion and creativity with access to one of the largest streaming catalogs in the world."

In addition to Apple Music, other DSPs and music platforms have also enhanced their DJ offerings in recent years. In late 2020, SoundCloud launched a $19.99-a-month DJ plan, called SoundCloud DJ, that offers unlimited offline access to the platform's catalog in its DJ performance software integrations.

Last year, Beatport, an online store focused on electronic music and DJ culture, teamed up with Amazon-owned Twitch to launch its own channel to support the DJ community. Twitch launched its DJ program in June 2024 to cater to the growing number of DJs streaming on its platform.

Music Business Worldwide

This One New Feature Belongs In Apple Music, TV, Books, And More

There's no shortage of music-focused apps on the App Store, but one that's long stood out among my favorites is MusicHarbor. Now, as part of a big version 5.0 update, the app supports a feature that Apple Music should have added years ago: news integration. Here's why I think Apple News integration would be a perfect addition to not only the Music app but also TV, Books, and more.

MusicHarbor shows how seamlessly news could fit into Apple Music and more John Voorhees writes at MacStories: My favorite new section of MusicHarbor is News, which pulls articles about the artists you follow from a dozen sources. It's an excellent set of publications that includes chorus.Fm, NPR Music, Pitchfork, and others. If there are any feeds among those listed that you don't like, though, you can turn individual publications off, so they won't appear in the app. Apple Music should absolutely follow MusicHarbor's example. Reading news about your favorite artists makes a ton of sense inside the Music app, especially if it's tastefully done by Apple. Screenshots of MusicHarbor's excellent News feature For example, I wouldn't want news about artists I don't care about to clog up my Music app. But relevant stories? Absolutely. From MusicHarbor's release notes: "you'll only see updates from the artists you follow." Apple could easily add a section to every artist page in Apple Music where stories from Apple News are populated. The best, most relevant stories for your favorite artists could also be integrated into the Home tab. The company already offers Apple News integration like this in two apps—Stocks and Weather—so bringing something similar to Music likely wouldn't be a huge resource lift. And why stop there? I'd love to see relevant Apple News articles surfaced not only in Music, but also the Apple TV app and more. Integrating Apple News can boost user retention and attention One of the biggest struggles streaming services face is the constant battle for users' attention. Apps like Netflix and Disney+ want to be sticky, meaning they keep you coming back over and over. If every show and movie in the Apple TV app highlighted quality articles from Apple News about that content, that would be a great reason to keep users opening the app more often. The same principle applies not just to TV, and Music, but Apple Books and Apple Podcasts too. Apple has a powerful tool in Apple News that would be, I'd guess, not too challenging to integrate with its media apps. Why hasn't it done so? Would you want Apple News articles in Apple's media apps? Why or why not? Let us know in the comments. Best iPhone accessories FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

Spotify Says Its Payouts Are Getting Better, But Artists Still Disagree

Spotify on Tuesday released its annual Loud & Clear report, detailing information about the music streaming service's royalty payments. While Spotify revealed earlier this year that it paid out $10 billion to the music industry in 2024, the new report offers more in-depth numbers about its payments in an effort to dispel reports that the company doesn't reward artists properly for their work.

For the first time ever, an artist who received one in every million streams on Spotify generated over $10,000 on average in 2024, which is 10x what the same streamshare would have generated a decade ago, the report says.

While Spotify is touting the amount it has paid out to artists and songwriters, many are demanding fair compensation from the streaming service. A few weeks ago, a number of Grammy-nominated songwriters boycotted Spotify's songwriter of the year Grammy party because of the music streaming service's decreasing royalties. Due to a change introduced by Spotify last year, Billboard has estimated that writers stand to lose about $150 million over 12 months.

In addition, a new report from Duetti (that Spotify has dismissed in a previous statement to TechCrunch) found that Apple Music still pays artists twice as much as Spotify. It found that Spotify paid artists $3 per 1,000 streams, while other platforms like Amazon Music, Apple Music, and YouTube paid $8.80, $6.20, and $4.80, respectively, per 1,000 streams in 2024.

Following the release of the report, Spotify told TechCrunch, "These claims are ridiculous and unfounded," and "no streaming service pays per stream."

Spotify's new report attempts to dismiss these reports and concerns. The report details the company's payout model to explain how artists and publishers earn revenue on its platform.

"Major streaming services all calculate payouts the same way: based on streamshare (if an artist's catalog accounts for 1% of total streams, it would earn 1% of total royalties)," the company explained in its report. "Still, misconceptions about 'per-stream rates' remain widespread. Streaming services don't pay out based on a fixed per-stream rate — just like listeners don't pay per song they listen to."

The Union of Musicians and Allied Workers (UMAW) has been calling for Spotify to fairly compensate artists, especially independent and smaller artists who are struggling to make a living. Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib and Congressman Jamaal Bowman last year introduced the Living Wage for Musicians Act in partnership with UMAW, detailing a proposal that aims to increase streaming royalties for musicians to one cent per stream.

"It's easy to calculate what Spotify pays directly to recording artists: $0," a spokesperson for UMAW said in a statement to TechCrunch.

"There is no direct payment to recording artists by Spotify, because the company claims its manner of streaming falls under no existing regulation or requirement for direct payments to musicians — unlike other digital platforms like satellite radio, internet broadcast, or 'non-interactive' streaming, all of which pay recording artists directly. This needs to change, obviously. UMAW supports the Living Wage for Musicians Act to close this loophole and make streaming pay the musicians who create the content for Spotify and other platforms," the statement concluded.

Spotify's report touts that its payments are getting better, despite concerns from the industry.

The report reveals that the number of artists generating royalties has tripled since 2017. A decade ago, the top artist on Spotify earned just over $5 million, while today, more than 200 artists have surpassed that milestone.

Over the past decade, the 10,000th-ranked artist on Spotify has seen their royalties increase almost 4x – from $34,000 to $131,000, while the 100,000th-ranked artist has seen their generated royalties multiply by over 10x — increasing from under $600 in 2014 to almost $6,000 in 2024. 

In addition, the company revealed that nearly 1,500 artists generated over $1 million in royalties from Spotify alone last year. Spotify notes that 80% of these artists didn't have a song reach the Spotify Global Daily Top 50 chart in 2024, which means that many of them aren't household names.

Spotify also shared that the artists who generated at least $100,000 in royalties were recording music in over 50 languages in 2024, while the artists who generated at least $1 million on Spotify recorded music in 17 different languages.

Aisha is a consumer news reporter at TechCrunch. Prior to joining the publication in 2021, she was a telecom reporter at MobileSyrup. Aisha holds an honours bachelor's degree from University of Toronto and a master's degree in journalism from Western University.

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