The Great DJ Equipment Shortage of ’21/’22: What’s Going on & What to Do About It [Podcast] Ft. Alex Pyatetsky, CEO of The DJ Hookup

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Front Row Seats to the Biggest Equipment Shortage We’ve Ever Seen

Alex Pyatetsky, CEO at The DJ Hookup, shares his front-row seat to the great DJ equipment shortage of ’21/’22 with David Michael on The Passionate DJ Podcast.

Inside, you’ll learn what exactly is going on, how we got here (and could it have been avoided), 5 strategies and adjustments for getting the stuff you need ASAP (+2 things that’ll double your wait time), and opportunities unique to this strange time.

DJ Gear Shortage? What’s Going On?

After a crazy 2020, a record year for electronics consumption, as most of the world began to open up in February of this year, we began to see the first signs of shortages.

We didn’t know how long they would last, how deep the impacts would be, but every two to four weeks since then, we’ve seen a notable deepening of those shortages.

By June of this year, most major brands in the dj equipment/live sound/audio studio industry had substantial to severe backorders.

By August, nearly every brand had raised its prices due to increasing materials costs, logistics costs and outright scarcity of items. Some manufacturers were on their second and third rounds of price increases by this time.

That brings us to today.

For the first time that most of us can remember, we can’t get the stuff we need.

Through all of the ups and down of the past few decades, it seems like the problem of not being able to “get stuff” was a thing of the past. If you had the dollars, you could turn them into the stuff that you want/need.

Rewind to last year. For the first time, normal people couldn’t get toilet paper.

That got resolved quickly, but today, you can’t get a CDJ. In 2019, if you had the money and you wanted a CDJ, you’d have numerous retailers happy to sell it to you. You just had to decide where you wanted to buy.

Today, if you have the money and you’re willing to pay 2x the item, no one has the item to sell it to you.

You can preorder it. But if you want a brand new CDJ, as many event promoters, venues, backline companies and other price insensitive business are learning, they’re nowhere to be found.

Manufacturers are working hard to get the products to the market. But even the few pieces that do come in are generally going to people who pre-ordered. It’s an unprecedented situation for most DJs, including all of us at The DJ Hookup.

How did we get here? Could it have been avoided?

If you’ve been shopping in the past 10 months, you’ve probably seen these shortages. But shouldn’t someone have seen this coming? Couldn’t we have adapted to avoid this?

To answer these questions, we need to take a step back and understand what happened before 2021.

In March of 2020, when it became clear that the pandemic was coming to the US and it was coming hard, lockdowns went into effect and the economy cratered. People were out of jobs and the situation looked bleak.

In April, something very interesting happened. We, humans, realize that we’re not so weak and we start adapting. We say, “hey, since I’m not going to spend money on gas since I don’t have to physically go to work, I’m going to save $300 this month. I’m gonna buy a new pair of headphones I need for DJing or gaming.”

Additionally, our government, realizing that a lot of people won’t be able to pay their bills without going to work, writes a check to everyone! While, for some people, this is an absolute lifeline that puts groceries on the table, keeps the lights on and the water running, for many others, they just got a bonus. They’re still doing okay, they’re doing their job via zoom, or maybe they’re essential (truck driver, warehouse worker, certain sectors of retail, etc.) – and they just got a nice $1,200 bonus.

You can buy a lot of stuff with $1,200. Plus, additional stimulus checks follow.

Because of this, 2020 ends up being the highest ever consumer electronics sales year on record. Supplies are unstable, but generally, everyone is able to get the products they want in a reasonable time.

Towards the end of 2020, the first vaccines become available and by early 2021, most of the world is starting to open up.

“Now that we’re ready to go to work, now that my residency is back, now that the couple gave me the deposit on their wedding, now, I will upgrade my gear. Now, I’ll buy those speakers that I had no purpose for last year. Now I’ll get the pro-level controller with the XLR outputs, instead of the one with the RCAs that I was using on Twitch.”

But remember, we DJs are not special. This isn’t a DJ gear shortage. This is a global shortage of almost everything. So around us, every other industry that’s coming out of hiding, just like we are, is doing the same thing. They’re buying stuff that they’ve been putting off buying, despite 2020 being a record spending year.

So after this crazy roller coaster for manufacturers, first, shut everything down (March 2020), then, turn it all on overdrive (April 2020), after a year of producing more stuff with smaller teams and less efficiency, they really start gasping for air. As the world is opening up, as a society, we tell manufacturers “oh, you thought we bought a lot of stuff in 2020? Those were just the spenders. Now that we have the vaccine and we’re reopening, all the Savers are coming back – at once… You ain’t seen nothing yet.”

This is where we see the supply chain and economy that makes the products we depend on really tearing at the seams and grinding to a halt.

Getting the Gear Your Want Now

If what you’re looking for is in stock

  • Act quickly and do not take availability for granted. It may not be there tomorrow and, if it sells out, the wait times will likely be weeks/months. We believe in deals and discounts, so we encourage you to price shop, but do so quickly and decisively. Long decision times and procrastination will result in disappointment and delays when your items sell out.
  • This year, availability is “the deal.” In the past, when the market was flush with inventory, we were proud to offer the biggest discounts. But discounts are possible because of surplus. In times of shortage, availability becomes king and discounts aren’t always possible. If you’re coming back to the dj gear market for the first time in a few years, make sure your expectations are current, so old experiences don’t slow you down and keep you from getting the gear you want.

If what you’re looking for is back-ordered and you’re dead set on that item

  • Pre-Order, Pre-Order, Pre-Order Most arriving items are arriving in extremely limited quantities and those items usually mostly or fully preordered. If there are any remaining units available, they tend to be like Drake tickets dropping at Madison Square Garden – it’s a free for all, and remaining stock is gone almost immediately.

    Preordering gives you the single best chance of getting what you want when it becomes available from the manufacturer.

    Many dealers no longer accept preorders, because preorder management is stressful and resource intensive, but we believe it’s our duty to give you any predictability/stability that we can during these unstable times so you can continue to build your business/career.

    We know preordering isn’t fun, which is why we’re committed to giving you the best preorder experience possible, including 100% transparency in manufacturer communications, ETA updates and no cancellation fees (you just lose your place in line).

    Resource: Preorder Outright or With 5% Down. Get Your Gear ASAP.
    Instructions here.


  • I’ll wait for it to come in stock is a losing strategy this year.

    By preordering now, you may get your item in a few weeks/months. By “waiting for it to come in stock,” you will probably just end up preordering later, and extend your wait by twice as much.
  • What About Used/Open Box/Refurbished?

    If the item you’re looking for isn’t available new, the most obvious option is to look for like-new/refurbished/open box items.

    In light of the recent shortages, we’ve been working especially hard to get every like-new, high quality, warrantied piece of gear possible (see all here).

    We do not carry heavily used items because we want everything that some somebody buys from us to be of a certain quality and reliability. When something is several years old, there’s no way to make such assurances.

    We’re also generally not fans of buying substantially used electronics. There’s too much that can go wrong under the hood. Unlike buying a used car, you can’t get a professional inspection of your $500-7,000 dj gear investment to confirm that everything under the hood is what it seems.

    Resource: Where to Buy Used Gear
    If you do want to go the used route, see our Ultimate Guide for Selling Used DJ Equipment to see our recommended platforms for buying/selling used DJ gear.



If what you’re looking for is back-ordered and you’re open to alternatives

If you’re open to other models, one of the biggest opportunities available to you is to work with pros at a trusted dealer. That may sound self-serving, because… it is, but we’re not the only show in town and we welcome you to work with who you like.

That said, designing setups is what we do.

We think about use cases all day every day.

You only have to make this purchase one time. Our pros have to think through something similar 50 times a week. So not only can we give you recommendations of functional alternatives, but we can do so with insights into what’s actually available.

While working with a pro, we encourage you to be open minded and relax any “purism” for any brand/model.

Today in almost every category, for every software platform and almost every price point, we have multiple really excellent options, each with its own user groups, reliably good support, legitimate manufacturers warranties, etc.

Here are the strategies we most-often use in helping someone find an A+ alternative.

Our Favorite Strategies for Selecting Alternatives

  • Strategy 1: What’s the direct alternative to what I want from another brand?

    Whether you’re looking at CDJs, standalone units, powered speakers, controllers for specific platofrms, our first question is “what’s the direct alternative with a different logo on it?”

  • Strategy 2: Go Upmarket. Optimize for Feature Set & Getting Your Shopping Done/Not Having to Upgrade Later.

    While there’s no getting around that it’ll cost you more, going upmarket within the same brand pretty much guarantees that you get the features you wanted. It may cost more now, but you’ll get weeks/months of additional use instead of waiting + everything “extra” that you paid for is yours to keep for the years that you’ll use the item, and you won’t have to worry about replacing it/buying anything extra for a while.

  • Strategy 3: Go Downmarket. Optimize for price and practicality. Keep the door open for buying the exact model that you wanted when it becomes available.

    This strategy requires you to define the core features that you need, those that you merely want, but can do without, and helping you find them as cheaply as possible? You can think of this as a temporary unit that, or as something that’ll transition to become your home/practice/small gig rig once the thing that you really want becomes available. We can help you define your exact needs and navigate to the best bang-for-your-buck alternative, as it’s often difficult to articulate why exactly we want something.

  • Strategy 4: Get Weird. If you can’t get exactly what you wanted, get something that’s an awesome bang for the buck and will be super fun to play on.

    This is more for individuals than businesses. A lot of times, when we’re strictly focussed on gear for gigging, we only consider a few models. If you come to terms with the fact that your first pick isn’t available, it can be cool to explore what you can get (often for way less money) that’ll allow you to enjoy DJing now. It may not be as cheap as the ultra cheap option (strategy 3, above), but you can sometimes save $1,000s on last generation’s flagships or lesser known, but A+ quality brands/models while making little compromise and more importantly getting a ton of fun, innovative features that you may not have had access to with an “industry standard” model.

    Start by checking out what’s on clearance. If nothing captures your interest, come speak to one of our product specialists, let them know what you were looking for originally, ask for alternatives, and let them know that you’re open to getting weird & checking out wildcards.

Silver Linings: Looking to Sell Your Used Gear?

If you have any used gear that you’re looking to offload and put some money back in your pocket, the unavailability of new models makes this one of the best time to sell your used gear. Maybe ever.

Resource: Sell Your Used Gear as Quickly & Easily As Possible at the Best Price
The Ultimate Guide for Selling Used DJ Equipment

Your Turn.

We put a lot of love into creating these resources for you, our friends, the global community of DJs.

If you found this useful, please support by

  • Sharing this post on your socials (or texting it to another DJ who’ll benefit)
  • Leaving a comment below with what you’re most concerned about the Global Hardware Shortage or any other solutions you think the DJ community could use
  • Subscribing to the Passionate DJ Podcast
  • And if you are looking to pick available gear with great deals, consider purchasing from The DJ Hookup, who makes this possible. Ask us for below-advertised pricing and we’ll be happy to hook you up!

Reference: Audio Timestamps

  • 00:00:00 | Introduction
  • 00:02:58 | Alex & The DJ Hookup
  • 00:05:08 | What’s Been Happening (So Far)
  • 00:12:47 | Unavailability of Components
  • 00:17:25 | “Couldn’t You See It Coming?”
  • 00:30:09 | Supply & Demand vs. Pandemic
  • 00:33:48 | How Society is Adapting
  • 00:38:20 | The Re-Opening
  • 00:42:30 | Freeze Austin, Fire in Taiwan
  • 00:44:36 | Industry Reactions
  • 00:49:56 | https://PassionateDJ.com/merch 👕
  • 00:51:08 | What Should DJs Do Now?
  • 00:56:40 | How DJs Overvalue Discounts
  • 00:58:08 | “Should I Wait Forever?”
  • 01:00:44 | Buy “Up” or “Down”? (Listener Question)
  • 01:03:11 | The Importance of Preordering
  • 01:12:11 | The Second-Hand Market
  • 01:14:55 | Picking Alternate Gear (Strategies)
  • 01:22:52 | Tech Support? (Listener Question)
  • 01:26:50 | What Are The Positives?
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One Comment
Discussions from the Community.
  1. Danny Outlaw says:

    When do you think that the Pioneer cdj 1000 will be back in stock?

  1. […] to The Great DJ Equipment Shortage podcast where The DJ Hookup CEO, Alex Pyatetsky, shares his front-row seat to what’s going on in the […]

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