Rythm music bot returns to Discord with full UI and ‘00s-style music visualiser
Rythm is back with an all-new look, and a catalogue of 50 million songs.
Credit: Nikolas Kokovlis/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Rythm, the popular Discord music bot forced offline in 2021, has made a comeback, and this time it has a snazzy new UI.
In its original prime, Rythm allowed users on Discord servers to listen to music together. It did so by pulling audio from YouTube, and in September 2021 it told Rythm it needed to close. YouTube also shut down similar music sharing bot, Groovy.
Now, Rythm is back in business, and is available within Discord as an activity app. Speaking to The Verge, Rythm creator Yoav Zimet says, “Unlike the previous bot iteration, this one actually has a full UI.”
He adds, “You have the same experience as you had before, so you can create a collaborative queue and listen along with your friends, but now there’s an actual full UI where you can add songs, control the music, and view the album art.” There’s additionally a music visualiser, which will throw some people right back to the early 2000s.
Users can now access 50 million songs through Rythm, and this will continue to expand. Zimet says there are some deals that he and co-founder Oliy Barrett are “still negotiating” for this to happen.
There are both paid and free options available, with the premium tier costing $4.99. This will allow subscribers to create a playlist of songs that up to 20 people can join and listen to. Revenue from premium subscriptions is shared with labels and publishers.
Free users will still be able to join these listening sessions or listen to curated radio stations without a premium user in a Discord voice call. There is also no ads, though this may change later down the line. As for royalty payments, if a song is played in a session with 20 listeners it counts as 20 streams, according to Music Ally.
Standalone versions of Rythm for iOS, Android, and desktop PCs are currently in the works. Zimet says its plan “isn’t really to compete with Spotify or Apple Music”, due to its core sentiment of group listening, rather than solo playback.
Find out more over at Rythm.
