Capitalism is a failing system.

So let’s work around it.

Self hosted media

There are plenty of excellent sources available for designing and hosting your own media streaming platforms.

In the past I have used things such as Jellyfin and Plex in the past to host some media. These are both excellent tools that allow you to stream music, podcasts, tv shows, movies, etc. from your own personal collection (be that acquired legally.. or not.

The issue I currently face is that of storage space. Video media tends to be quite large, especially if you’re interested in streaming at least 1080p resolution (which I, and I assume most of you are). So I currently don’t employ any of these tools.

The dream one day is of course, to setup a LackRack piece of junk with tons of storage space for these kinds of applications.

But until then…

Navidrome

Navidrome is what I use.

Easy to setup, heres the Navidrome config:

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MusicFolder = "/home/<user>/beets/songs"
DataFolder = "/home/<user/beets"

and the lighttpd config:

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$HTTP["host"] == "<sub>.novaa.xyz" {
    proxy.server = ( "" => ( ( "host" => "novaa.xyz", "port" => "4533" ) ) )
}

It’s quite easy to use, as it implements the Subsonic API, which makes it available to be connected to countless alternative interfaces, rather than the one it employs out of the box.

Why this instead of Spotify/Apple/Google Music?

1. Paying for subscriptions is for chumps, and the companies don’t deserve my money.
2. I have full customizability over the content, who uses it, what happens to it.
3. I’m not limited by the Spotify/Apple/Google’s streaming codecs, which lower the bit rate considerably.

Aren’t bands losing commission by you doing this?

I’m on the side of Napster and other tools like it, the CD sales hardly affect the artist, and instead affect the record labels. Streaming sites take a hefty cut, and then the remainder goes to the label. I could care less about the impact on streaming sites or record labels.

I am an avid concert goer, especially to small local shows. I constantly buy merch and CDs, I support local talent. As well as the big bands that I truly love. I’m not anti artist, I’m anti record label. They have been, and continue to be leeches of the industry; providing little and taking a lot.

How do I acquire this content?

Now. I’m not going to advocate for something illegal. But if you’re tech literate and you wish to pursue this task, there are plenty of good options and tools around. Reddit is a great source and aggregates a lot of tools. Torrenting is another great tool, applications like qBittorrent are fantastic, and let you access tons of public and private trackers, which are easily found by knowing what to look for. As well, many imageboards have boards dedicated to torrenting, 4chan has a fairly decent one, with further links to some good resources.

This is where you, as a landchad, need to learn to become resourceful and self-sufficient. Good luck soldier.