SoundCloud DJ and Go+ for DJs
SoundCloud's paid DJ tier opens the full catalog inside supported DJ apps, with offline saves on some of them. This guide covers what it unlocks, what the license blocks, and how DJs use the platform for mixes and digging.
Quick Answer
What the DJ tier unlocks
Both paid tiers let you DJ with SoundCloud. You sign in from inside the DJ app, search the catalog, and load a track onto a deck the same way you would load a local file. Go+ does that while you are connected. The DJ tier keeps everything Go+ gives you and adds unlimited offline track saves.
- Over 200 million tracks, the same library you browse on the website
- Streaming inside the DJ app, with all DJ tools and features handled by the software itself, not by SoundCloud
- Offline playback, currently limited to VirtualDJ and rekordbox, with more integrations promised
- Ad-free listening across the SoundCloud app and website
- A free trial for first-time subscribers, once across Go+ and the DJ tier, not once each
Setting it up inside your DJ app
- 1
Check that your app is on the supported list
SoundCloud lists VirtualDJ, Serato DJ Pro and DJ Lite, Pioneer DJ rekordbox and WeDJ, Algoriddim djay and djay Pro, edjing Mix and edjing Pro, Denon DJ PRIME Series, Mixvibes Cross DJ, DEX3 and DJUCED. Traktor DJ 2 dropped off that list in September 2024.
- 2
Pick the tier that matches how you play
Go+ covers mixing while you are online. The DJ tier adds unlimited offline track saves. First-time subscribers get one free trial across the two, so using it on Go+ means you are not eligible for another on the DJ tier.
- 3
Sign in from the streaming panel
Open the streaming or online sources panel in your DJ software and log in with a DJ's SoundCloud account details. The catalog then appears as a browser source next to your local folders and playlists.
- 4
Cache the tracks before you leave home
Where offline saving is supported, load and save every track you plan to play while you still have a solid connection. Venue wifi is the most common reason a streamed set stops mid-track.
- 5
Keep owned files for anything that matters
Streamed tracks cannot be exported to USB, cannot be recorded in rekordbox, and are not covered by its backup function. Anything that has to survive a laptop failure needs to be a file you actually own.
What streamed tracks will not do
Streaming is a license, not ownership, and the DJ apps enforce that in code. rekordbox documents that tracks from streaming services cannot be exported to a USB storage device or SD memory card, cannot be sent by LINK EXPORT and played, cannot be recorded because of copyright restrictions set by the streaming services, and cannot have their track information edited. Music files from streaming sources are also skipped by the backup function.
| What you want to do | Streamed SoundCloud tracks | Files you own |
|---|---|---|
| Practice or play at home | Yes, in a supported app | Yes |
| Play a club or venue booking | No, private use only under SoundCloud's guidelines | Yes, subject to the venue's license |
| Export to a USB stick for CDJs | No | Yes |
| Record the mix in rekordbox | No, blocked by streaming copyright restrictions | Yes |
| Edit key, BPM or tags in the app | No, track information cannot be edited | Yes |
Streamed tracks compared with owned files, per SoundCloud and rekordbox documentation.
Every other service has the same shape of limits, with different app support and different rules about what reaches EXPORT mode. The same questions come up for Spotify and for TIDAL, and the rekordbox side of this setup is covered in how to use SoundCloud with rekordbox.
Posting your own mixes
The other half of the story is upload, and it works on a completely separate set of rules from the streaming tiers. For DJ mixes, SoundCloud is still the default home, and a SoundCloud DJ set can sit online for years quietly collecting plays long after the night is over.
Copyright still applies to you as the uploader. SoundCloud's guidance on publishing a DJ mix on SoundCloud says that all respective rights holders still own the copyright to every track you included, and that you need their explicit permission to upload or publish the mix. Some producers and labels are relaxed about it. Some are not, and SoundCloud has a dedicated help article for mixes taken down for copyright infringement.
When you post a DJ set, SoundCloud can act on those rights holder claims at any time, so a takedown is a normal risk rather than a freak event. For a single DJ mix, SoundCloud's own best practice guide for creating and uploading is worth ten minutes before you hit publish. For long DJ sets, SoundCloud ties upload allowances to your account level, and its Artist Pro plan is the one that allows unlimited sets.
Finding sets worth studying
Listening is half the education. DJ mixes on SoundCloud run from radio residencies and label showcases to raw phone recordings of a basement party, and the good ones teach you structure and pacing rather than just track IDs.
Plenty of well known producer-DJs keep official profiles there. On SoundCloud, DJ Snake has published under the same profile for years, and a DJ Snake SoundCloud upload has more than once landed well before an official release date. Label channels and radio shows are usually the better hunting ground, because they post full sets rather than singles.
Two things are worth knowing before you go hunting. You cannot DJ on SoundCloud itself: a mix you like is a finished audio file, not a session you can open and pull apart. And if you want to DJ online, SoundCloud is the record shop rather than the mixer, so the browser tools behind searches like DJ mixer online SoundCloud are separate products with their own catalogs and their own limits.
Tags help you start. The SoundCloud DJ music tag and the genre tags surface a lot, but reposts from accounts you already trust beat blind search almost every time. SoundCloud DJ mixes that get passed around inside a scene are usually the ones worth an hour of your attention, and SoundCloud DJ sets from residents at rooms you like tell you more about a city than any chart does.
One habit pays for itself: save the timestamps. A SoundCloud DJ mix rarely lists every ID, so note where the track you want sits, then go and find it in a store afterwards.
Where Vibes fits
Vibes does not touch streaming. It has no streaming import and no streaming playback, from SoundCloud or anywhere else, and there is no workaround hidden in a menu. Vibes works on files you own.
Where it helps is the other side of the same library. Using SoundCloud for DJ discovery is fine, but the tracks you buy afterwards still have to be prepared. Vibes imports from rekordbox, Serato, Traktor, Engine DJ and plain folders through the Import Wizard, analyzes BPM, key, energy and track sections, tags tracks into vibes with Vibe Sort or Auto-Tagging, finds harmonic neighbours with Find Compatible, builds an energy curve in Set Designer, and exports playlists back to your DJ software.
What it does not do: no decks, no mixing, no recording, no stems, no cloud sync between machines and no mobile app. It never plays to your hardware. Everything reaches the booth through your DJ app, which is exactly where the streaming account lives too.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Hey, it's Ben Modigell 👋
I DJ and produce as so I so: downtempo, minimal, dub house, tech house, and techno (releases on Spotify and SoundCloud, links above). Everything I write here comes from my own gigs, studio sessions, and library cleanups: the rules I follow, the failure modes I have actually hit, and the workflow I use when nobody is watching. If a technique did not earn its place in my own sets, it does not make it into a tutorial.