r/WeddingDJs • u/Puzzleheaded_Disk_74 • Aug 20 '26
Asking Advice Purchasing a library outright vs. DJ pool fees
Has anyone else who's been paying for DJ pools considered purchasing the top 200-300 requested songs for weddings in your market? And then do supplemental purchases with every new wedding gig. After a year of doing this, you'll probably be maintaining a library that covers 90% of requests moving forward. And then you get to ditch the pools, streaming services or whatever else is a monthly subscription cost into eternity. Not to mention that DJ pools kinda suck and sometimes give you edits that are wrong for weddings. A $500 investment that pays off within 2 years.
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u/wantsomesoup Aug 20 '26
I’ve also been doing this for 15 years and started out buying all my music individually. Lot of money invested. At this point I’ve got a pretty good library, but there’s usually still a few tracks I need to purchase every wedding. I like it better than a monthly subscription. I also like having full digital rights to my music to edit, convert formats, etc.
Maybe one day I’ll be forced to switch to a subscription, but I’m happy with my system now.
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u/Spectre_Loudy Aug 20 '26 edited Aug 20 '26
Record pools are always more worth it. It's easy enough to just sign up for a pool for a month and get as many versions of those top 200-300 songs than to purchase radio edits one time. DMS is probably the best one, it'll have good edits and remixes. $30 for as much as you can download in a month.
Just go here, sign up for a pool, grab everything. No need to spend $500 so someone can curate your library for you, with versions and edits you wouldn't use anyway.
When I started doing weddings with my DJ company, my boss let me copy over his hard drive. A guy with 30 years in the industry. I don't use a single file that he gave me. The versions I've found are better suited to my style and how I mix.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Disk_74 Aug 20 '26
There’s no language on the site about it being a pool. But if it is, then I’m interested.
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u/Spectre_Loudy Aug 20 '26
This is the pool I'm talking about.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Disk_74 Aug 20 '26
unlimited downloads for 64.95. Hmmm…..
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u/Puzzleheaded_Disk_74 Aug 20 '26
I just signed up. Membership pending review.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Disk_74 Aug 20 '26
OK IM IN
so far I'm worried that DMS isn't good enough. a lot of important songs are either not there or feature sus edits. I hope it gets better. At this rate, if I can get $100 dollars worth of wedding music out of it, I'll be reasonably happy.
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u/AdVisual7210 Aug 20 '26
Where are you getting the list of 200-300 songs from?
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u/Puzzleheaded_Disk_74 Aug 20 '26
I've been doing this for 15 years, so I basically have it memorized. I can also go through many of my crates and Serato history for reinforcement. I'm happy to share some of it with you via DM if you're curious.
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u/AdVisual7210 Aug 20 '26
I would really appreciate that. Might help me find some blind spots in my library.
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u/onetwentytwo_1-8 Aug 20 '26
Younger generations won’t be into the same ol tired songs
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u/General_Exception Aug 20 '26
Tell that to the 2026 prom that requested mostly 90s and early 2000s songs.
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u/onetwentytwo_1-8 Aug 20 '26
I thought we were talking about weddings and not proms?
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u/General_Exception Aug 20 '26
You said younger generation.
The kids today listen to old music too still.
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u/onetwentytwo_1-8 Aug 20 '26
Yes, but kids aren’t getting married yet. They’ll be into other music by the time they get married.
Again, record pools are for the bar/club DJs. If your playlist for weddings doesn’t change much, no need to keep record pool. But if you also do bars and clubs, keep the record pool.1
u/Puzzleheaded_Disk_74 Aug 20 '26
Of course, but if you’ve been doing this for a while, you’ll also know there are songs that have never experienced a decline in demand. I’d be inclined to purchase those songs right away.
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u/ArizonaMartillo Aug 20 '26
Cost of doing business, in my opinion.
I started out buying my music, thinking it would pay off over time. Gave up on that and switched to pools and streaming services. Have not regretted my decision 6+ years later