• Your Ultimate Buying Guide for Mobile + Club DJs

• AI Will Cure The World

• TikTok Is Coming To The U.S.

• Aaron's Cheat Codes

• Spinelli Takes On A Spotify Playlist

Prime Day Deals for DJs: 2025 Edition

Amazon’s 2025 Prime Day is officially here (July 8–11), and the deals are stacked. We’ve combed through the noise and handpicked the most valuable Prime Day steals for DJs—whether you rock weddings, clubs, Twitch streams, or all of the above.

Let’s break it down by gear type and budget.

🛠️ Pro Tip: How to Shop Smart

• ✅ Look for "Prime Exclusive" or "Lightning Deal" tags

• ⏰ Check back hourly—many deals are flash-only

• 💬 DM us if you’re unsure what’s worth grabbing

• Find more Hot Deals for DJs right here

In last week’s poll we asked “Would you ever stream a live DJ set in VR” and 43% responded Not yet, but I’m curious

Tuesday Night, Once Again It’s On!

We are going LIVE with none other than Deville from Club Killers - and he’s going to show you how to build the ultimate Top 40 Pop Dance crate from scratch. We will discuss

• His ruthless 10% track selection method

• How he chooses edits that actually hit and complement his sound

• Where he finds Fire remixes that no one else is playing

  Plus - All Live attendees get a special discount code for club killers music and merch!

  
  🎥 Live on Twitch + cratehackathon.com

🗓️ Tuesday, 8PM ET / 5PM PT

Google DeepMind’s AI Wants to Cure Everything—What That Means for DJs

What’s Happening:

Google DeepMind is officially leveling up from building chess champions to (casually) attempting to cure all human disease. That’s right—DeepMind’s AlphaFold, which cracked the protein-folding code back in 2020, is now entering its first-ever human clinical trials, with eyes on tackling conditions like cancer, autoimmune disorders, and infectious diseases.

This isn’t sci-fi. This is AI looking at 71 million protein structures and saying, “Let’s fix everything.”

Why It Matters for DJs (Yes, Seriously):

Sure, you’re not prescribing meds—but imagine this future:

• 🧠 Custom supplements or nootropics to optimize your focus before a set (goodbye Red Bull).

• 💪 Personalized recovery protocols after a 3-gig weekend.

• 💤 Sleep enhancements to combat jet lag after a destination wedding gig in Ibiza.

• 🎧 Cognitive performance boosters to help with live mixing, multitasking, and crowd-reading under pressure.

As AI starts hacking biology the way you hack your playlists, it’s not just about staying alive—it’s about thriving in high-performance creative environments.

The Bigger Picture:

DeepMind’s move from data to human trials means AI isn’t just solving problems—it’s potentially creating superhuman baselines. That’s something DJs, performers, and night warriors should be paying attention to. As the lines blur between tech and health, the next wave of “performance enhancements” might come from your bloodstream, not your DAW.

Bottom Line:

AI might be curing diseases—but it could also be curing gig burnout. Watch this space. The future DJ might not just play longer sets… they might actually feel better doing it.

TikTok’s “Diet” U.S. Version Is Coming

What’s Happening:

In a twist that feels more like a reboot of Black Mirror than real life, TikTok is prepping a U.S.-only version of its app—one that’s totally divorced from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance. Why? To avoid a potential ban and stay alive in the American market. The move comes as pressure mounts for ByteDance to sell TikTok’s U.S. operations or get booted entirely.

The new app would reportedly be rebuilt from scratch—no shared codebase, no shared algorithms, and possibly a lot fewer viral eyebrow dances (just kidding… kinda).

Why It Matters for DJs & Creators:

🎵 If you use TikTok to promote your sets, build your brand, or get those sweet “Shazam at the club” moments… this could change how your content performs.

• 💥 Algorithm shakeups: Your secret sauce for viral clips might not taste the same in the new version.

• 📉 Potential drop in reach: Early versions may lack the recommendation superpowers we’ve come to expect.

• 📊 New rules, new rhythms: Expect fresh content moderation and monetization frameworks—and possibly a new wave of “how to go viral on TikTok (U.S. edition)” videos.

Bottom Line:

TikTok’s possible U.S. spin-off is a reminder that even the biggest platforms can get reshuffled overnight. If you’re leaning hard on TikTok as your main discovery engine, now’s the time to diversify your content game and maybe even revisit that dusty YouTube Shorts tab.

📲 One app. Two realities. Same DJ hustle.

Top 40 in 2025 isn’t what it used to be—and if you're DJing like it is, you’re already behind. These five Cheat Codes will expose what’s actually working on American dance floors right now. These aren’t recycled TikToks or Billboard repeats. These are set-saving insights hiding in plain sight.

Cheat Code #1: Pop = House Again (And Nobody’s Saying It)

• The real Top 40 movement? Slap house and piano house are back—just under new names. Teddy Swims’ “Lose Control” and Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” both ride that groove DJs used to call “blog house.”

• House grooves are dominating the bottom end of the pop chart... and tricking DJs into thinking it's just pop.

🎯 Action Step: Re-scan the current Top 20 for 4-on-the-floor bass patterns. Rebuild your open-format set around this mid-tempo dance revival. These are club records in disguise.

Cheat Code #2: Male Vocal Ballads Are the New Drops

• Female anthems are peaking—but male slow burns are converting. Think Benson Boone (“Beautiful Things”), Stephen Sanchez (“Until I Found You”), or Noah Kahan. These aren’t hype tracks—they’re cathartic singalongs.

• Emotional falsetto is this year’s surprise crowd lock. No drop needed. The chorus is the payoff.

🎯 Action Step: Toss one “heartthrob” ballad into your set where you’d normally drop a hands-up track. Let the crowd scream it. Then smack them with energy right after.

Cheat Code #3: The 98 BPM Pocket Is the Silent Trend

• Call it the “Isley shuffle.” Tempos between 95–100 BPM are seeing surgical use in chart-topping songs: SZA, Jack Harlow, Tyla, and even Billie Eilish’s “Birds of a Feather” around the 110-115 mark, depending on the remix.”

• It’s not quite twerk tempo, not quite slow jam—but it glues your early night set together in a slick way.

🎯 Action Step: Build a transition crate of 95–100 BPM modern Top 40. Use it to link slow R&B, Latin pop, Afrobeats, and mellow rap seamlessly.

Cheat Code #4: Latin-Inspired Beats Are Now Stealth Crossover Hits

• It’s not just Bad Bunny and Peso Pluma. Olivia Rodrigo’s “Vampire” uses reggaeton hi-hats. Even Taylor Swift’s newer stuff borrows from Latin percussive rhythms.

• Most DJs miss this because it’s not labeled “Latin” in metadata—but the bounce is there.

🎯 Action Step: Start genre-tagging your crates by rhythm structure, not just artist origin. Scan Top 40 for dembow-inspired grooves, even from non-Latin artists.

Cheat Code #5: AI Fan Edits Are Influencing Mainstage Sets

• On YouTube and TikTok, “slowed + reverb,” “sped-up,” or “bass-boosted” fan edits are now feeding back into official tour setlists. Olivia Rodrigo and Doja Cat have been caught lifting fan-made transitions.

• This is grassroots remix culture... in real time.

🎯 Action Step: Mine the top YouTube AI remixes (search: “song name slowed + reverb”) and test one during your set. Crowd response will tell you if the edit is hotter than the original.

Want to dig deeper into the method of building a Top 40 Pop Crate, be sure to join tonights Hackathon with Deville from Club Killers.

Nick Spinelli vs. a 141-Song Spotify Playlist

Last week’s Hackathon guest Nick Spinelli is back—and this time, he’s staring down 9 hours of music like it owes him money. In this behind-the-scenes walkthrough, Nick shows you how he takes a beefy Spotify playlist and wrangles it into a tight, crowd-pleasing setlist using Crate Hackers, Serato, and just a little bit of playlist black magic.

Watch as he organizes, prunes, and builds energy flow like a DJ Jedi. If you’ve ever felt personally victimized by a couple’s massive wedding playlist request, this video is your therapy.

🎧 From caveman tactics to Crate Hackers convert in one video.

💡 Learn how to filter by energy, build “cool-down crates,” and avoid the wrath of the dad who NEEDS all 7 minutes of Rosalita.

👉 Watch now, steal the tips, and stop dragging songs over one-by-one like it’s 2009.

BONUS: We’ve got a special 7-day free trial of Crate Hackers so you can take your crate organization to the next level and lessen your workload. Grab it here: https://www.cratehackers.com/7daytrial