Like so many others, DJs everywhere have suddenly been left with no work and no income because of restrictions brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. With some health officials and politicians now predicting that large public gatherings may not return until the fall of 2021—or at least until there’s both herd immunity and a vaccine—it’s unlikely that DJs will be getting back into the booth anytime soon.

But these dire circumstances haven’t stopped DJs from sharing music with the world. Except now, they’re just doing it online. Over the past month, livestreamed sets have become so ubiquitous that leading electronic music platform Resident Advisor recently added a new hub called Streamland to its event listings. Online dance music destination Boiler Room, which has been livestreaming crowded DJ sets for 10 years, launched a new series called Streaming From Isolation, in which artists like the Black Madonna and Four Tet deliver sets from their homes or private spaces. In Berlin, the world’s clubbing capital, an initiative called United We Stream, run by the city’s nightlife advocacy organization, is broadcasting nightly sets from local clubs. Elsewhere, venues themselves have also gotten into the act; as soon as NYC began to shut down, Queens nightspot Nowadays went online with virtual sets.

Many DJs have also begun broadcasting directly to the public via platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitch. On March 28, DJ-producers Octo Octa and Eris Drew went live with a self-proclaimed “Forest Throwdown” from their backyard in rural New Hampshire. “We needed to do something to make us feel grounded,” says Drew. Despite some issues with sound quality and YouTube’s licensing mechanism—the stream was temporarily blocked to new viewers when Drew kicked off her set with Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock’s “It Takes Two”—the livestream has racked up nearly 20,000 views. They didn’t earn any money or even consider asking viewers for donations, though. “We know a lot of people are hurting right now,” says Drew. “In a few months, if we need help, we’ll ask for it, but for now, we want people who need help more than us to get it.”

Their attitude is one that’s been echoed throughout the dance music industry, as many of the highest-profile livestreams have seen DJs donating their time, often in service of a charitable organization or a nightlife institution that’s in need. Late last month, online dance music store Beatport held a 34-hour streaming marathon called ReConnect, which featured artists like TOKiMONSTA, A-Trak, and Carl Cox, and raised more than $180,000 for COVID-19 relief funds. (A second ReConnect event took place last weekend, raising an additional $80,000.) United We Stream has raised more than 400,000 euros to aid ailing clubs while piling up 6 million views, and the Streaming From Isolation series, which currently has 13 million views, has brought in more than $40,000 for the Global Foodbanking Network.