Music platforms.
Where serious DJs buy and download music in 2026. Download stores for owning tracks, record pools for unlimited access. Here’s every platform worth knowing — and the honest difference between them.
Buy your music.
Beatport
The electronic music standard. Techno, house, drum and bass, trance — all genres, all major labels and underground imprints. WAV and AIFF available.
Traxsource
The underground alternative to Beatport. Purely a download store — no distractions. Deep house, afro house, soul, funk. The go-to for selectors who dig deeper.
Beatsource
Owned by the same group as Beatport and DJcity. Built for open-format DJs — dance, hip-hop, pop, Latin, R&B, reggae. Exclusive DJ edits that are easier to mix.
Bandcamp
Artist-direct. Buy straight from labels and producers — more money goes to the artist, and you find music you genuinely won’t find anywhere else. Essential for diggers.
Unlimited access.
DJcity
The most established record pool for working DJs. Exclusive edits, remixes and DJ tools across every genre. Used by professional DJs worldwide. Integrates with Rekordbox and Serato.
Vault Record Pool
A strong alternative to DJcity with a focus on house, dance and electronic music. Curated DJ edits and exclusives. Growing catalogue worth exploring for working club DJs.
MyMP3Pool
Over 200,000 tracks across 300 genres at 320kbps MP3. One of the most affordable record pool subscriptions available — broad catalogue, competitive pricing. Full review coming soon.
Download store record pool.
You own what you buy
Download stores let you buy and keep individual tracks permanently. Cancel your account tomorrow and you still own everything you bought. Record pools are a subscription — cancel and you lose access. If ownership matters to you, download stores win.
Cost per track
At £1.49 per track, buying 50 tracks a month from Beatport costs £74.50. A DJcity subscription at $34.99 gives you unlimited downloads for roughly the same money. If you download more than 20–25 tracks a month consistently, a record pool almost always wins on cost.
Audio quality
Beatport sells WAV and AIFF alongside MP3 — the best audio quality available for download. Most record pools offer 320kbps MP3 only. For club DJs playing on professional sound systems, WAV makes a real difference. For mobile and bar DJs, 320kbps MP3 is fine.
DJ edits and exclusives
Record pools specialise in DJ-friendly edits — intros stripped, acapellas, clean versions, extended mixes — that make tracks easier to blend. These edits often aren’t available anywhere else. If DJ edits are important to your workflow, a record pool is invaluable.
Genre coverage
Beatport dominates for underground electronic. Traxsource for house and afro. Beatsource for open-format. DJcity covers everything from hip-hop to EDM. Your genre should drive your choice — no single platform is best across all styles.
The practical answer
Most working DJs use a combination: a record pool for volume and current releases, plus Beatport or Bandcamp for specific tracks and deeper cuts. Start with one record pool, add a download store for the gaps it doesn’t cover.
Our reviews.
In-depth reviews and comparisons of DJ music platforms, download stores and record pools.
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