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Track ID
A track ID is a request to name a record played in a set — and, in a tracklist, the placeholder "ID" standing in for a track that is unreleased or deliberately withheld.
In practice
An ID in a tracklist means the record is unreleased or withheld — not that the DJ forgot it.
Keep the answer in the comment field of your own library rather than in your head. If a promo arrives with an embargo, record the release date beside it, because "ID" is a temporary state and the moment it lifts is when the credit is worth something to whoever made the record. When asking for one, a timestamp and the set is far more useful than a description; when answering one, the artist and the exact version matter, since an edit or a VIP of a familiar record is the most common reason nobody recognised it.
Unreleased
What ID usually means
Comment field
Where to keep the answer
Timestamp
What makes a request answerable
Where these come from: Tracklisting convention, not catalog figures. A track ID is a record with no title yet, so a catalog cannot hold one. Searching titles for the word finds "Caller ID" and "Fake ID" — the instrument matches the letters, never the state. For what we can measure, see where the answer belongs.
Why it matters
It is the one piece of DJ vocabulary the audience uses more than DJs do. Somebody hears something in a set, cannot find it anywhere, and asks; the answer is often that the record does not exist yet, which is precisely why it stood out.
From the other side it is a scheduling problem. A track marked ID in your own tracklist is one you cannot link to, cannot credit and may not be allowed to name, and keeping track of which is which is a library job rather than a memory one.
Frequently asked
What does ID mean in a DJ tracklist?+
That the track is unreleased, unidentified, or being kept back deliberately. It is a placeholder for a name, not an admission that the DJ does not know it.
How do you find a track ID from a set?+
Give the set and the timestamp rather than a description. Audio recognition often fails on club material because the version played is an edit or a VIP rather than the release.
Why do DJs not reveal track IDs?+
Usually an embargo — the record is not out and naming it early undercuts the release. Occasionally it is an exclusive the DJ was given on the understanding it stays unnamed.
Related terms
Dubplate
A dubplate is a one-off record cut for a single DJ, historically onto acetate. In sound-system culture it is usually a personalised version of a track recorded specially for that DJ.
White label
A white label is a record pressed with a blank or minimal label, sent out ahead of release or issued without official credits. It carries no artwork and often no artist name at all.
Comment field
The comment field is free text inside an audio file, and the only metadata slot nobody else is using. DJs fill it with the things no other field holds — energy ratings, where a record works, what it mixes into.
VIP
A VIP — Variation In Production — is the producer’s own rebuild of their own track, usually made for their own sets. It is not a remix: same artist, same record, a different arrangement built to land harder.
Explore: Search the catalog · Version types · VIP · All DJ terms