How do famous djs source music?
I was listening to this set by Richie Hawtin:
Its amazing how he plays sets almost every weekend but uses different songs. How would someone like Richie source his songs when he has a busy schedule? and where could I find Techno tracks similar to the ones he plays in his sets
They get unreleased music from friends, their own label, etc. Also, they usually have an email/dropbox where people send promo tracks. In Richie’s case, I wouldn’t be surprised if he had a person whose job is to pick a number of tunes for him to consider.
He also has an entire team who spots and preps tracks. 
I am sure a lot of DJs hire people, it’s impossible for someone to find such a variety of awsome music just by themselves… they would have to be listening to music like 10 hours a day…
I have a friend who was a b/c level dj/producer and he said people send you piles of music…like everybody else you just have to wade through the trash…
i personally spend 2 hours a day sourcing new music, between beatport, email, various blogs/forums. its a real pain considering most of the music sucks… but when you find a great song it makes it even more special 
It’s not really as hard as you may think to do it yourself.
Find some set lists from Hawtin’s sets. Just use Google or look through YouTube comments for specific track IDs.
Look up the producers on Discogs or Beatport. Whichever you want to use, really.
Find the release you’re interested in, and the most important part comes next.
Click the record label to go directly to that label’s catalog. The record label will be the most important thing to remember and generally the small independent labels will focus on a specific sound. You’ll want to track those labels. If a producer has released on another label, check that label out too.
It will be a ton easier for you to find new music if you learn to recognize record labels rather than producer names.
Some record labels I follow, for example:
echospace [detroit], Ostgut Ton, Stroboscopic Artefacts, Soma Quality Recordings, Modern Love, Tresor, etc.
All you have to do now is find the labels you like!
I get between 100-200 promos a week. I personally look at the labels and names that I know… There are tons that get overlooked. It is just as hard to go through all the promos as it is to sort through beatport etc. It may even be harder… Bigger named guys have a small team of guys who go thought the promos, they download the stuff and then send it off to the DJ if they like it. Many times stuff never makes it to them because their minions don’t like it…
Yeh, no real substitute to putting in the hours researching new stuff if you wanna stand out and have your own sound and identity. I’ve been using more and more of those sites that detect new daily releases, like http://rippletunes.com/today/17/Dance and the other subgenres around it (house, d’n’b, and techno/trance mainly) - it’s actually a little scary the sheer amount of stuff that comes out per day.. 