April 24 2025 GM

The Sound of Independence: Building Your Own Music Streaming Service

Glitter Meetups What are Glitter Meetups Notes from Past Glitter Meetups Virtual Events Calendar Join the TCU Mattermost

• Date: Thursday, April 24
• Time: 10am EDT / 2pm UTC
• Facilitator: Mardiya
• Featured Guest: Raphael Mimoun
• Where: On TCU Mattermost "IF Square" Channel.
  • Don't have an account to the TCU Mattermost? you can request one following the directions here.

Join us on April 24 to hear from Raphael from Horizontal, who will be sharing:

• Ethics and politics on why anyone would want to move away from Spotify or other corporate music streaming services?
• How to build your own music streaming service without coding or technical skills
• The road forward: how can we make this accessible to more people, even non-techies?

Raphael Mimoun is a digital security trainer and programs lead at Horizontal, a non-profit that develops digital security tools like Tella or Shira.  Raphael is always looking for ways to make it easier for ordinary people to divest from surveillance capitalism and protect their data and identities online. Raphael is also active in the Palestinian solidarity movement and writes about Zionism at onesmalldetail.blog.

What is Glitter Meetup?

Glitter Meetup is the weekly town hall of the digital rights and Internet Freedom community at the IF Square on the TCU Mattermost, at 9am EDT / 2pm UTC. It is a text-based chat where digital rights defenders can share regional and project updates, expertise, ask questions, and connect with others from all over the world! Do you need an invite? Learn how to get one here.

Notes

Please introduce yourself to those who are unfamiliar with you, and your work.

• My name is Raphael Mimoun, I founded Horizontal a few years back. Horizontal is a tech non-profit where we develop technology for human rights and give digital security training. You might be familiar with the apps we develop: Tella, which is an app to hide and encrypt files on your phone, and document human rights safely; and Shira, which is a web app to train yourself and your community on phishing attacks. I'm also active in the Palestine solidarity movement and other movements for justice here in the US, where I currently live.
• When it comes to tech, I'm interested in building tech that gives people real ownership and control. And I think the DIY streaming service we're about to discuss is a good illustration of that!

On to the fun part! Why did you decide to build your own streaming service? Can you share the link to the step-by-step guide you created?

• Sure, here is the step-by-step guide on my blog: https://blog.raphmim.com/how-to-build-your-diy-music-streaming-service
• And why I decided to build it: well, I got into Spotify about 10 years ago, and honestly it was an incredible experience for me. Not just because it was very convenient (whatever music you like, it takes 2 or 3 taps to add to a playlist, and it's available on all devices at all times), but also because it allowed me to discover a lot of new stuff, and really good stuff. I know a lot of people complain about the Spotify algorithm, but for me it's worked really well. But then, I learnt about how little Spotify compensates artists, and the overall impact of streaming services like Spotify on the music industry.
• And on top of that, I discovered over time that I would "lose" songs: once in a while, some of the songs in my playlists would become unavailable. But there was nothing I could do about it. That's when I realized that I was captive to Spotify and had no real control or ownership over my music. And I spend so much time building playlists, I would be devastated if I lost it all.
• So I looked for alternatives that would give me real control and ownership and the only thing I found was this DIY kind of solution using open-source and self-hosted software!
• We talk about the case of Bruce Willis vs iTunes and our rights as a end-users and not owners of the music: https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/bruce-willis-did-not-sue-apple-over-his-itunes-library-186714/

How did you eventually find out which tools / services to use to build yours. Can you take us through a quick process to build a streaming service? And how long did it take you to do it?

• This is a very quick summary. There is more details in the blog post if some people want to actually go through with it.

1. First, you need to set up a music server. That's where all your music files are stored. There are a few options available: Jellyfin, Plex, and Navidrome are the main ones. I suggest Navidrome because it's open-source and it specializes on music (Jellyfin and Plex manage media in general, including films and tv shows). Navidrome is also very actively developed, so there are regular updates with new features and improvements.
2. Then you need to decide where you're going to host the server. One option is to set it up on your computer or a home server, but then your music won't be available if your computer/server is turned off or gets disconnected from the internet. So I personally preferred having it on a remote server so that's it available all the time. I use PikaPods, which is a service to host open-source software without having to deal with any of the technical stuff. I'm not a very technical person, so I needed a system that lets me do everything without coding or system administration knowledge.
3. Once the music server is set up, you can start adding music! If the music server is on your computer, you just have to point the server to the folder where you music is. If your server is hosted somewhere like PikaPods, then you have to upload your music with some sort of SFTP client (that's an app to move files from your computer to the server). It's a bit tedious but not too complicated!
4. And once you have the music files on the server, you can just download some of the compatible apps for your computer or phone, connect to the server, and you're set up!

• Once you're set up, you just need music files to add to your server. You may already have an old library from when we listened to mp3 to start with (and actually, it's a great way of discovering your old stuff). If not, you can buy mp3 and albums online. It's also possible to download songs from YouTube or from Spotify, but this may or may not be illegal so I can't give advice on that.
• A participant shares that you can use RTSP using 'audio sharing' software on linux to share the audio from their machine to some friends using VLC

I started trying out the guide a month ago, then abandoned it because I got stuck at the part were you discover new music and upload it. How do you discover new music?

• For passive discovery, I use internet radios. Nowadays, you can find thousands of radio stations on the internet.
• And the specific music server that I use, Navidrome, supports internet radios; so you can add the radios you like to your app and then listen to them from the same place where all your music is stored! That's really convenient and accessible. It just requires a bit of time to find the radios that suit you initially.
• Everyone listens to music differently, so maybe passive discovery and internet radios is all you need!
• But if you're like me and you need a solution for active discovery, it's a little trickier. YouTube may be good for some. Personally, I ended up buying a subscription with Qobuz: it's a streaming services that pays artists much better than Spotify, and also lets you actually purchase the songs as mp3. I know, it's a little weird to build a whole DIY streaming service only to sign up for another corporate streaming, but honestly I couldn't find a better solution; and active discovery is too important to me. I still only use Qobuz to discover new stuff and buy it: I don't build playlists there, and as soon as I find a track or album I like, I move it to my own setup. So Qobuz is only a place to discover music.

Can friends buy the music and share it on the same server?

• Yes! So when it comes to sharing, you have a few options here:

1. If it's someone who you're really close to, you can create a user account for them on your server. So a server doesn't have to be personal, it can be for a family, a group of friend, or a community (IFF music server anyone?!). And this way, everyone on the same server has access to the same music: add an album to the server, and it's available to everyone. And each person can create their own playlist. And in the future, Navidrome will make it possible to share playlists among users on the same server!
2. Another option is to share the link to the track, album, or playlist. Then, anyone with the link will be able to listen in their browser. For example, check out this playlist I'm currently building: https://music.raphmim.com/share/dfgTaV3DuJ

• You can decide to make it public. You can even make the mp3 files downloadable! The server doesn't have to be like an isolated island. Though for now there aren't ways of sharing specifically from one server to another, but I hope it will become possible at some point!

How has this project changed your relationship to music? Has it changed at all? what does the sound of independence feel like ??

• Yes, I really enjoy it. There is something actually freeing, knowing that the music is mine and I'm in control. It doesn't matter if Spotify crashes and burns, or if they decide to completely change their business model, I'll still have full access to my music. I can also organize the way that suits me: I'm the one decide what genre each track or album belongs to; I can even add "moods" to each track or album. So the sky's the limit! It's work though lol, but worth it in my opinion.
• I feel closer to the artists, also become you rediscover albums! Spotify had turned me into a single-track listening maching. But now, I buy albums and got back into the full album listening experience.

What do you think about genders? It's created a gap in some areas.

• That's super personal. It can easily become a time hole where you spend a ton of time researching genres and thinking how your organize things in your library. But at the end of the day, you organize it however it suits you... So for someone who knows little about EDM, I have an "Electro" genre, and others would probably have dozens of specialized subgenres.

Last thoughts from Raph:

• The entire ecosystem of self-hosted music servers is developing and growing a lot. There's more and more compatible apps, and those apps are getting better and better. So you may try it out now and find that creating your own DIY streaming service is a bit too much work for you. Then check back in six months, maybe it'll be in a better place for you!
• One big thing is that moving to a DIY streaming service requires a mindset shift. It's not a one-to-one replacement for corporate streaming. For example, you will need to spend more time organizing your music (tagging its metadata, like genres, etc). Honestly, to me it's been illuminating and bringing me closer to my music. I learnt a lot about the artists I've listened to for years, and about genres, etc. But that's not for everyone. For some, it might be tedious and tiring to organize your music. But if you go ahead with it, it's an incredible experience!
• And finally, hit me up if you're gonna set up your music server! I'd love to hear how it's going for you, and I can help if you're struggle :) raphmim@proton.me or Signal: raph.01