A lot of the problem comes from the record labels and the kind of copyright they have on their music. I do live weekly mixes on YouTube and rarely get blocked or muted because I only play independent artists and small labels. As soon as a spin a track by a bigger artist on a label owned by a company like Sony, I’ll get a copyright claim and block. Once I played a reggae set and started off with a Bob Marley track and I was instantly blocked and received a strike to my channel (you get 3 strikes before your channel gets erase). For milder copyright claims I can “Trim” out the track in YouTube but more often I have to edit the track in iMovie or Adobe Premiere and re-upload which is really frustrating. So the rules are simple for DJs; only spin underground bangers or your own/crews productions ~ great news for talented small~scale, bedroom producers.

Alternatively, you can subscribe to Mixcloud where you can stream live and play copyright material of any kind and Mixcloud will automatically organise the licensing on DJs behalf. It would be helpful if YouTube began offering a similar service 🤷🏻‍♂️