Updated October 2026
★ A note on links: Links to DJ Courses Online in this review are affiliate links. If you join through one, we earn a commission at no extra cost to you. It doesn’t change what we say about the platform, and that includes the weak spots.
DJ Courses Online is a $19-a-month membership (or $120 a year) that unlocks its whole library: 16 DJ courses, from first-steps basics to scratching, Rekordbox, the CDJ-3000, Serato, Traktor and Ableton Live. Its strongest material comes from DJ TLM, an Amsterdam turntablist with 25 years behind the decks, who teaches the flagship Masterclass, the Rekordbox deep dive and the CDJ-3000 course.
It’s a good fit for beginners and improving DJs who want structured video lessons without paying course by course. The trade-off is that some of the catalogue, the Serato course especially, was clearly recorded a long time ago. With a 30-day money-back guarantee, a month is a low-risk test.
How we reviewed it: we went through DJ Courses Online’s full catalogue (every course page, its lesson list and runtimes, the instructors named, and the pricing and terms), all checked on the platform’s own site in October 2026.
$19/month or $120/year · 30-day money-back guarantee
- One price, everything included: the membership unlocks every course, so there are no per-course fees.
- Annual works out at $10 a month, about half the monthly rate. It pays for itself if you’d stay subscribed for more than six months.
- The best courses are the newer ones: the Rekordbox deep dive (15 lessons, about 1h 54m) and the CDJ-3000 course (11 lessons, about 55m), both by DJ TLM.
- The flagship Masterclass runs 15 lessons and about 2h 10m, covering beatmatching by ear and phrasing through to scratching and recording your mix.
- Some of the catalogue is dated: the Serato course still compares Scratch Live and ITCH and demos early-2010s controllers.
- Gaps: no VirtualDJ or djay course, and no free trial, though the 30-day refund guarantee does the same job.
Who DJ Courses Online is for
The platform suits a specific kind of learner: someone who’s self-directed, prefers to watch someone else do it before trying it, and wants one subscription instead of a stack of separate course purchases. It isn’t a school. Nobody marks your mixes, and nobody sets you deadlines.
- Complete beginners who want the fundamentals in order
- Bedroom DJs moving to CDJs and Rekordbox for club gigs
- Open-format and hip hop DJs who want to start scratching
- DJs who’ll binge a lot in a month or two
- Anyone who wants to try a course before spending on a school
- VirtualDJ or djay users (no dedicated course)
- DJs who want feedback on their own mixes
- Anyone after a certificate or formal qualification
- Producers who want production courses rather than DJ courses
- Serato users after up-to-date Serato DJ Pro training
If you’re still at the “which controller do I buy” stage, start with our guide to starting DJing in 2026 first. Courses make a lot more sense once you have gear in front of you.
What’s in the library
The catalogue lists 16 courses plus the membership bundle. Three instructors are named: DJ TLM teaches most of the newer and more advanced material, Isaac Cotec teaches the Ableton DJing course, Nick Trikakis teaches Traktor, and the rest are credited to DJ Courses Online itself. According to its About page, the platform was started by the founders of the Institute of Digital Music, and it’s hosted on Teachable.
| Area | Courses | Taught by |
|---|---|---|
| Fundamentals | DJing Basics · How to DJ: Masterclass · DJ Techniques I, II, III | DJ Courses Online · DJ TLM (Masterclass) |
| Advanced technique | Advanced DJ Techniques and Tips, Parts I–III | DJ TLM |
| Pioneer / AlphaTheta | Deep Dive into Rekordbox · CDJ-3000 Series | DJ TLM |
| Other DJ software | Serato DJ · Traktor 101 · Ableton Live · DJing with Ableton Live | DJ Courses Online · Nick Trikakis · Isaac Cotec |
| Music prep | Mixed In Key | DJ Courses Online |
| Career | DJ Career Tips | DJ TLM |
Every course is video, streamed in the browser, and some come with downloadable exercise files. Members also get discounts with zipDJ, a music download service. The details are given at sign-up.
The courses worth joining for
How to DJ: Masterclass
This is the course the platform is built around. It has 15 lessons and runs about 2 hours 10 minutes, so it’s long enough to cover the ground properly but short enough to finish in a weekend. The order is sensible. It starts with equipment, then counting bars, beats and phrases, then song structure and selection. Next comes beatmatching by ear, with a separate short lesson on sync, which is the right way round. EQ and effects follow, and it closes with four scratch lessons (baby scratch, fader, drops, transformer), recording your mix and branding yourself.
DJ TLM is the draw. He’s an Amsterdam-born turntablist and open-format club DJ who has toured as DJ for the Dutch hip hop artist Brainpower, and the course page credits him with more than 3,500 live shows. If your target gigs are bars and open-format clubs rather than techno warehouses, his background matches yours.
Deep Dive into Rekordbox
For anyone heading towards club booths, this is arguably the most useful course in the library. It has 15 lessons and runs about 1 hour 54 minutes. It covers Export mode properly: importing, preparing, tagging, Related Tracks and Intelligent Playlists, then exporting to CDJs. After that it moves to Performance mode, online music sources, controllers and DVS with turntables, and finishes with a three-part CDJ-3000 overview. Preparing a USB properly is the skill that separates a smooth set from a panicked one, and it’s the part most beginners skip.
CDJ-3000 Series
Eleven short lessons, about 55 minutes in total, walk through the player itself: loops and hot cues, the display, jog wheel, browser and tag lists, the utility menus, slip mode, beat sync and instant doubles, and HID mode with Serato. It finishes with a short mix demo. If you’ve got a first club gig on CDJs coming up and have never touched one, this is an efficient hour. For the newer player, see our CDJ-3000X review.
Limitations and dealbreakers
Parts of the catalogue are old
The Serato DJ course is the clearest example. Its six lessons open by comparing Serato DJ with Scratch Live and ITCH, and they demo controllers like the Vestax VCI-380 and Novation Twitch. Both of those controllers are long gone, and Serato DJ Pro has moved on a long way since. The basics of mixing don’t expire, but if you’re a Serato user wanting current workflow training, this course won’t give it to you. The platform doesn’t date its courses, so you can’t tell from the catalogue which material is recent.
No VirtualDJ or djay course
Rekordbox, Serato, Traktor and Ableton are covered. VirtualDJ, which is popular with mobile and wedding DJs, and djay, a common first app, are not. The fundamentals courses still apply whatever software you use, but you’ll be translating every button.
No feedback loop
This is self-study video. Nothing on the course pages suggests personal feedback on your mixes. If you learn best by being corrected, a school with tutor feedback is a different product at a different price, and probably the better buy for you.
Thin information before you pay
Course pages list lesson titles and runtimes, which helps, but there are no dates, instructor details are missing for several courses, and the catalogue gives no lesson counts. The 30-day money-back guarantee is the real safety net here. Treat the first month as the trial.
Pricing: monthly or annual?
| Plan | Price | Effective monthly | Best if |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly | $19 / month | $19 | You’ll binge the courses you need in one to three months |
| Annual | $120 / year | $10 | You’ll keep coming back for more than six months |
The maths is simple. Six months on monthly billing costs $114, and the seventh takes you past the $120 annual price. Most people working through the fundamentals, then Rekordbox and the CDJ course, could do it inside two months, which costs $38. Start monthly, and only switch to annual if you find yourself still logging in after a few months.
Both plans renew until you cancel, and both are covered by the 30-day money-back guarantee. Prices were checked on DJ Courses Online’s site in October 2026. Confirm them at checkout, because subscription pricing changes.
Alternatives you should consider
DJ Courses Online’s case is breadth for the price. Here’s how it compares with the other options in our roundup of the best online DJ courses:
| Platform | How you pay | Strongest at | Pick it over DJCO if… |
|---|---|---|---|
| DJ Courses Online | Subscription | Broad library, Rekordbox/CDJ, scratch basics | — |
| Point Blank | Per course, premium | Structured, school-run courses | You want a formal learning path and have the budget |
| Club Ready DJ School | One-time payment | A single complete beginner programme | You’d rather pay once than subscribe |
| Digital DJ Tips | Free content, paid courses sold individually | Free tutorials and guides | You want to learn for free first |
Realistically: a beginner on a budget could start with free tutorials, join DJ Courses Online for a month or two to fill in structured technique and CDJ prep, and save a premium school for later.
Verdict
DJ Courses Online is worth a month for most beginners and improving DJs, especially if CDJs are in your future. Pay for the DJ TLM courses and the Rekordbox prep, not for the archive.
Join it if you’re learning from scratch or moving towards club setups, you’re happy to self-study, and you want a structured beginner-to-intermediate path for about the price of one new record a month.
Skip it if you use VirtualDJ or djay, want up-to-date Serato DJ Pro training, or know you need someone to listen to your mixes and tell you what’s wrong.
Whatever you choose, the skills that get you booked aren’t all technical. Our guides to getting more DJ bookings and what DJs actually earn cover the other half.
FAQ
How much does DJ Courses Online cost?
$19 a month or $120 a year, as of October 2026. Either plan unlocks the whole library and renews until you cancel.
Is there a free trial?
No free trial is advertised, but every membership comes with a 30-day 100% money-back guarantee, and some course pages have free preview lessons.
Does DJ Courses Online teach Rekordbox?
Yes. Deep Dive into Rekordbox covers both Export and Performance modes in 15 lessons, and there’s a separate CDJ-3000 course.
Is DJ Courses Online good for complete beginners?
Yes. DJing Basics and How to DJ: Masterclass both start from zero. DJing Basics covers setups, cables and song structure, and the Masterclass goes from beatmatching by ear through to your first scratches.
Can I learn to scratch on DJ Courses Online?
The basics, yes. The Masterclass includes baby scratch, fader work, drops and transformer scratch, and the Advanced DJ Techniques series goes further. It’s not a dedicated turntablism school.
Do I get a certificate?
The membership page doesn’t advertise one. If you need a formal qualification, look at an accredited school instead.