So, imagine I’m using any sort of streaming server. Is there ANY of them that have the ability to suggest new stuff, which is the number 1 and only reason I still use Spotify?

If anyone could answer this including the setup they have to run it, that would be awesome.

  • erisir@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    3
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    It’s quite unlikely that a self-hosted music streaming server could give you suggestions of music not in your library without an external service. But there might be some alternatives to Spotify that can address some of the economic injustices in music streaming, just like self-hosted and free/libre/open-source software can address some injustices that damage user privacy and data sovereignty in centralized services.

    While not strictly about streaming, I find Bandcamp quite nice for discovering new music. As a bonus, bands receive much more money if you purchase their music than what they’d get when streamed on a service like Spotify. (Note that, in aggregate, a band may nevertheless earn more from mainstream platforms if they are streamed a lot but listeners aren’t willing to purchase. Be sure to buy music that you like if you have the means to do so! Not only it helps bands to create more awesome music, you can also listen to downloaded digital files after the demise of centralized streaming platforms.)

    Worryingly, Epic Games purchased Bandcamp last year. However, the fate of the platform looks at least somewhat safe, since its workers recently managed to unionize despite initial union-busting by corporate.

    Another laternative would be Resonate, which is run as a co-op and has a novel approach to music purchases and paying bands. However, their collection can currently be a bit sparse, depending on which genres you’re interested in.

    • @tooting.ch
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      @erisir @maikelthedev I missed that Bandcamp got purchased. That is kind of worrying.
      Although everything I’ve bought off bandcamp is safe in my own library, I would be sad to see it disappear as a good source of music.
      It’s unusual in that its good both to artists (transparent artist compensation) and listeners (downloadable drm-free music files in multiple formats, minimal js on the website, no bs, just music).
      It’s been ~1 year since the purchase, I hope the same bandcamp is here in 5 years

    • vividspecter@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      Bandcamp are also one of the few that sell lossless FLAC files, and while I don’t really care about listening to FLAC directly, it makes sense as an archive format.