The short version: ID in a DJ set means a track the tracklist can't or won't name, usually because it isn't out yet. Most ID tracks stop being IDs the day they're released, not the day someone cracks them in a comment thread, so the reliable way to catch one is to follow the producer, plus any collaborator or label you can name, and let a release alert do the waiting. ID - ID is the exception: there's no name to follow, so pre-save it on 1001Tracklists if the set's listed there and wait for the crowd or the DJ to name it.
"Rumble" by Skrillex, Fred again.. and Flowdan is a good example. It first turned up as an ID in Fred again..'s Boiler Room in London on July 29, 2022, and came out 159 days later, on January 4, 2023.
What does ID mean in a DJ set?
The notation tells you which half is missing, and that decides who you can follow.
- ID - ID: no artist, no title.
- Artist - ID: you know the producer, often the DJ playing it, but not the title.
- ID - Title: the title's known, the artist isn't.
- w/: played with, two tracks layered or mashed. 1001Tracklists has had it as a tracklist suggestion type since 2012.
- VIP: "variation in production", the original producer's own rework, somewhere between an edit and a full remix.
- Dub: originally a dubplate, a one-off acetate a DJ could play before release, central to jungle, garage, grime and dubstep. Now usually just an exclusive file, though it can also be an official stripped version, like the "Nanadub" on Peggy Gou's "(It Goes Like) Nanana" 12".
How to know when an ID track gets released
- Work out what the tracklist actually gives you: producer, collaborator, title or label.
- Follow every name you've got in a release tracker. The producer comes first, because a big ID can land on a label they've never released on. Tracknack, which I built, does this for artists and labels. Whatever they put out gets added to one playlist on Spotify or Apple Music, and it can email you when the playlist updates.
- For an ID - ID, pre-save it on 1001Tracklists if the set's listed there. It's a long shot, but it's tied to that one track.
Case by case:
| ID case | What usually resolves it | Who to follow | Can Tracknack catch it? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Artist - ID | The release, sometimes on a bigger label than the DJ's own | The producer, with their label as a backup | Yes, once it's on Spotify |
| Collab or rumoured remix ("X & Y - ID", "Title (Z Remix)") | The release, which credits every main artist | Any one credited name, like Flowdan on "Rumble" | Yes for main artists, rarely through credits |
| "Forthcoming on" a named label | The label's release | The label | Yes |
| ID - Title | Someone matching the title to a release | Nobody yet. Search the title, or pre-save it on 1001Tracklists | Not until someone names the artist or label |
| Edit or rework of a known song | The DJ releasing it, if it ever gets cleared | The DJ who plays it most | Through the DJ, yes. Through the original artist, rarely |
| ID - ID | The crowd, the DJ, or recognition after release | Nobody. Pre-save it on 1001Tracklists | No |
| Dub, VIP, vinyl-only or Bandcamp-only | A 12" or a Bandcamp drop, sometimes years later, sometimes never | The artist and label on Bandcamp | Not until it reaches streaming |
The collab row is the one people underrate: one credited name, even the MC's, is enough. The rest works better as a standing habit than a search after the set: follow the producers you keep hearing in sets, and most of their IDs turn up without you chasing them. For a one-off check on a "forthcoming on" ID, label: plus tag:new in Spotify search shows roughly the last two weeks from that label.
Unreleased tracks from DJ sets mostly resolve themselves
Other DJs' sets are still where a lot of DJs find new music, and the best track in a set is often the one you can't buy yet. The usual advice is detective work: comb the YouTube comments, re-Shazam the clip, DM the DJ. All three below ended the boring way: the track came out.
That Boiler Room made "Rumble" a fan favourite, and unofficial uploads of it turned up on YouTube in the weeks before release. It came out on Atlantic and OWSLA credited to all three artists, so following Flowdan alone would have caught it.
Peggy Gou debuted "(It Goes Like) Nanana" on Printworks London's closing night, May 1, 2023. A clip of her teasing it at Lost Nomads near Marrakesh went up on June 5 and had passed 7 million views by that September. XL Recordings put it out on June 15, six and a half weeks after the debut.
Four Tet's "Into Dust (Still Falling)", his rework of Mazzy Star's 1993 song, went the slow way: about two years in his sets, from The Forum in LA to Sziget, and in Jamie xx and Floating Points mixes, before it came out on June 17, 2025.
On streaming, "Nanana" and "Into Dust" both came out on XL. "Nanana" was Peggy Gou's first single for XL, and her own Gudu Records appears only as a co-label on the 12" that followed in September. Four Tet's Text Records is in the copyright line on "Into Dust" and nowhere else. Follow the DJ's own label and you'd have missed both, and nothing in Gou's catalogue pointed at XL either. Follow the producer. The label's a backup.
ID - ID: when there's nobody to follow
The closest thing to an alert is a 1001Tracklists feature most people never touch. Since October 2019 you can connect Spotify and pre-save tracks from a tracklist, ID tracks included, and they land in your library once the site has a Spotify ID for them. Someone has to link the ID to the release first, and I haven't watched one fire on an ID - ID myself. Still, it's one click.
Otherwise you're relying on people: suggestions on the 1001Tracklists page, r/IdentifyThisTrack, the comments under the set, the DJ if they answer. Shazam ignores release dates, so a track a distributor has already delivered can sometimes match before it's out, but a dub nobody delivered never will. Newer apps claim more: trakd says it fingerprints unreleased IDs directly, and set79 says it notifies you once a track it couldn't match comes out. I haven't tested either. Beatport's Track ID, added to its mobile app on May 12, 2026, handles pitch-shifted, layered mix audio, but its launch post mentions no alerts for misses.
Some never resolve. Dr. Dubplate, who runs the ec2a label and hosts his own Rinse FM show, told DJ Mag in February 2025 there were tunes from SWAMP81's Rinse shows around 2013 and 2014 he still hadn't found.
What a release tracker can't do for you
MusicButler, the alert tool that usually comes up for this question, handles Artist - ID fine, and its upcoming-releases list can show an announced single before release day. It follows artists, not labels, so it can't help when the label's all you've got. The release tracker comparison has the rest.
Tracknack is for the waiting part, and it handles the Artist - ID, collab, label and edit rows. Free gets you 30 follows with weekly updates, and paid plans update as often as hourly, so you hear the same day. It can't:
- identify audio
- resolve an ID - ID
- see vinyl-only or Bandcamp-only releases. That's a real gap in techno, d&b and UK bass, where plenty of dubs come out on a 12" or on Bandcamp and stop there. Joy Orbison's archive 09-10 gathered demos and vinyl-only cuts that had become part of his sets, and they weren't out digitally until September 2023.
Credits are a bonus, not the main route. Plenty of new tracks reach Tracknack with no producer or songwriter credit at all, and the ones that do get credits often get them days or weeks after release. Spotify lists Hope Sandoval and David Roback as composers on "Into Dust (Still Falling)", but Tracknack doesn't have those credits for it, so following them wouldn't have caught it. Once an ID is out, look up who produced it anyway. That's the name to follow for the next one.
What does ID mean in DJ sets?
In DJing, ID marks a track in a set that the tracklist can't or won't name, usually because it isn't released yet. An ID track can be missing its artist, its title or both: ID - ID means both are unknown, Artist - ID means only the title is unknown, and ID - Title means only the artist is unknown.
What does ID - ID mean?
ID - ID means neither the artist nor the title of a track in a DJ set is known. It means unidentified, not necessarily unreleased, and it's the hardest ID to resolve because there's no artist or label to follow for a release alert.
How do you know when an ID track gets released?
Follow whichever name you know in a release tracker: the producer for an Artist - ID, any credited artist for a collab, or the label if the tracklist says it's forthcoming on one. A big ID can come out on a label the producer has never used, so the producer follow matters more than any label follow. Tracknack adds new releases from the artists and labels you follow to a Spotify or Apple Music playlist, with optional email. An ID - Title or ID - ID gives you no one to follow, so pre-save it on 1001Tracklists if the set's listed there and watch the tracklist, Reddit or the DJ for a name.
Where can I find unreleased tracks from DJ sets?
Mostly you can't until they come out. Unreleased tracks reach DJs as promos, dubs and files passed between producers, so the public usually only hears them in sets. The practical route is to follow the producer, and the label if you know it, in a release tracker and catch the release. Some come out first, or only, on vinyl or Bandcamp.
How long does it take for an ID to get released?
It varies from weeks to years. Peggy Gou's '(It Goes Like) Nanana' came out 45 days after she debuted it at Printworks London on May 1, 2023. 'Rumble' by Skrillex, Fred again.. and Flowdan came out 159 days after Fred again..'s Boiler Room on July 29, 2022. Four Tet played 'Into Dust (Still Falling)' for about two years before its June 2025 release. Some IDs are never released.
Can Shazam identify an unreleased track?
Usually not. Shazam only matches recordings in its catalogue. It ignores release dates, so a track a distributor has already delivered can sometimes match before release day, but a dub, test pressing or private edit that was never delivered won't.
Sources and notes
Checked on October 1, 2026. The release gaps are three examples, not an average.
- Rumble (Wikipedia) - Boiler Room debut, January 2023 release
- RA: Printworks confirms lineups for final-ever parties - Peggy Gou on the closing night
- Billboard on "Nanana" - the Lost Nomads clip
- Beatportal on Into Dust - two years in Four Tet's sets
- 1001Tracklists: What's new - pre-saves for ID tracks
- TuneCore: Shazam - why Shazam can find a track before release day
- Beatportal: Beatport launches Track ID - May 2026
- DJ Mag: The track ID debate - Dr. Dubplate on unreleased SWAMP81 tunes
- Mixmag on Joy Orbison's 09-10 archive - vinyl-only tracks going digital
- MusicButler, trakd and set79 - from their own sites; I haven't tested trakd or set79
- Tracknack pricing and help - follow limits and update times
