“My playlist, my tracks, my history – it was all blank”

Finding out your playlists have vanished minutes before a gig is every DJ’s worst nightmare, and right now, there’s good reason to hit pause on updating your decks.

A recent firmware update for Pioneer DJ’s CDJ-3000 (version 3.30 released on 21 October) has triggered widespread reports of USB playlists appearing completely blank once plugged in, with many DJs urging others not to update until the issue is resolved.

Australian DJ-producer What So Not was among the first to sound the alarm, posting a video warning his peers: “This is a warning for all DJs. There is a new firmware update in CDJs and it is going to fuck your set up… Basically playlists and songs did not even register when I plugged in the USB. My backup USB either.”

He adds that he uses an older version of Rekordbox because “the newer ones sometimes have crazy problems,” and describes how he salvaged his set by “dumping raw MP3s outside Rekordbox” from his laptop and mixing without sync, hot cues or BPM grids – “like the good old days.”

BBC Radio 1’s Jaguar, too, experienced the same nightmare during a 1 November show at London’s Drumsheds: “I put both of them in, and clicked on my playlist, my tracks, my history – it was all blank.”

The musician says she was able to finish her set only because she was playing back-to-back and had time to troubleshoot, eventually relying on a four-year-old backup USB.

A number of DJs including VTSS, SOSA, Zoe London, and more have also reported similar incidents in the post’s comment section.

For now, Seattle-based DJ nohup has urged clubs and promoters to avoid updating their CDJ-3000s for now, and shared advice via their miseryconfusion blog for those caught mid-crisis: “There are two ways to get yourself out of this DJ nightmare if it happens to you: 1. Be prepared with Device Library Plus on your USB (or ask to borrow someone’s laptop). 2. Carry around a copy of the CDJ-3000 v3.20 firmware (the last compatible version) so you can downgrade club equipment.”

In the meantime, Pioneer DJ’s parent company AlphaTheta has acknowledged the issue and says it’s working on a fix: “We’re aware that some users have experienced issues following the recent CDJ-3000 firmware update (version 3.30), and we sincerely apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused,” a spokesperson told Resident Advisor.

More updates as they come.