UPDATE: TIDAL is back up!
Music streaming service TIDAL is currently down for Engine OS users, which means anyone with any Denon DJ Prime hardware and a TIDAL subscription cannot play music at all on their device from the service.
We reached out to Denon DJ who confirmed that the service is currently down for Engine OS. We are told the issue is at TIDAL’s end, not with Engine, and that the company is working with TIDAL to bring it back. We have asked for further clarification which we will add to this article as and when we get it.
We discovered this purely by chance when preparing a DJ set on a Denon DJ Prime Go. While TIDAL will let you log in, no music at all is available.
Ironically, the DJ set we were working on was to test the feasibility of portable livestreaming, DJing fully on a 4G network connection, both using a streaming service for incoming music, and streaming out using the same connection. But it was impossible to connect to the service.
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The perils of music streaming for DJs…
While we are firm advocates of music streaming for DJs, because it is clear that this is how things will be in the future, this is a good example of what can happen when systems fail.
It is actually the first time we have known this to happen to a streaming service in a DJ platform (apart from the fall of Pulselocker a few years back) – but then again we stumbled over it by accident, so the likelihood is that it isn’t!
What pro DJs need is offline lockers for playlists they wish to use in performances, so that they can cache the files locally, guaranteeing their availability.
Some services offer offline lockers (namely Beatport LINK and Beatsource LINK), but not all software/hardware supports it, Engine OS being one example.
A robust notification system for when there may be issues would be good too, if companies would like people to rely on these services.
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Until such features are the norm, music streaming in DJ software will probably not be something DJs will feel comfortable relying on in a professional capacity, due to fear of inevitable outages like this.
Have you experienced issues with using music streaming services in your DJ software or on your hardware? What are your thoughts on this outage? Let us know in the comments.
Phil Morse
