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Comment by pjmq | Hacker News Reader

Premise: Takes your Spotify and turns it into a personalised FM-style radio station, complete with a snarky, AI-powered radio presenter called Rad.

Rad'll quip, read you the news and weather on the hour, announce what you've just heard and what's coming next, gives you biographical info for bands you might not be too familiar with but most importantly; Rad helps you discover new music while playing all the songs you know and love, in a smart, contextual way.

Availability: iOS, Android.

Price: $0

Cost to me: like 40-50 bucks a month.

Why do it? I use it daily and so do many others. Great for house parties, offices, long car journeys or just your daily pilgrimage to the supermarket.

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Unsolicited feedback: If this were also offered as a web-based application I'd probably use it (sitting at my desk all day I don't want to use my mobile device for music). Maybe sell rotating ads or sponsorships (on screen but not in the audio stream, please!) to make some $.

Very cool.

> If this were also offered as a web-based application I'd probably use it

#metoo

Me three!

That's exactly what is coming next for it! A fully-fledged web app. It's actually built using web tech so it's an easy port. Just need to rebuild some of the native bits for web (ohh I might get to use wasm!) but once that's done it should be good to go. Planning on pushing out in the next 2 weeks.

And yeah while I don't need to run ads on it at the moment, if the right sponsor wanted to work with me I'd be exceptionally happy to do so.

Same, won't use a mobile app but would happily use a web app.

Any plans for Youtube Music support? I rarely use spotify anymore. Not your problem obviously, just wondering if you have plans to expand.

I've got plans to build my own "open music API" that'll make whatever service you use just an adaptor that Rad can tap into. At the moment Radiant is very embedded in Spotify's API ecosystem due to a few key features none of the other services has.

Longer term thing sadly as this is very much my side deal but it'll get there.

Probably make that new API and dataset OSS as I want other devs to build cool stuff without being at the mercy of the streaming services.

Very much hoping for some alternative services functionality — would love this in my shop. Cheers for an incredible idea!

If you want something like this for a shop or store etc, ping me via rad@getradiant.app, we might be able to build something cool to fit that need (I've been toying with this idea for a while so it'd be nice to have a first user for it)

Honestly, I think the value is in the DJ personalities. I'm trying to get away from sarcasm in my daily life as it makes me unhappy overall. Most evenings, I just kinda wanna listen to someone more positive like a dead head talk about music -- no offense, I just wanna look at the positive side of life for the years I have left.

That said, I would like to see even just a recommendation engine plug into YT Music, spotify, even hell, an nzb downloader. "You liked this song and band, you know you should try this band."

I'm curious about the stack-- is the app React Native with some actual native modules, then? Or is it based on something like Ionic?

It was a native iOS app originally but now it's pure web (straight Svelte SPA, no UI framework) with native plugins.

I did it because I don't have the time to maintain for 3 platforms in parallel without one falling behind and I'm not a fan of React native personally. I spent a good chunk of time testing with much older hardware as a target to make sure performance wouldn't be a noticeable distraction for users and I'm happy with how it turned out :)

If you have more info on how you set up your Svelte project, I’d be interested in hearing! I recently rewrote my personal website from react into something much simpler with Svelte and am trying to figure out the best way to serve it on phones.

Doesn't Spotify have terms around not making money on any apps that use their API? From https://developer.spotify.com/policy/#iv-streaming-and-comme...

> Except for the limited commercial uses for Non-Streaming SDAs (set out below) commercial uses are not permitted for SDAs.

Their guidelines are super strict about using any music or artwork in specific ways. For instance, I'm pretty certain you need to display a Spotify logo any time you play music from Spotify, which I don't see on the player. And the player has rounded corners on the artwork.

Some excerpts from https://developer.spotify.com/documentation/general/design-a...

> To comply with our licensing agreements, you must always attribute content from Spotify with the logo.

> Artwork must be kept in its original form. Don’t animate or distort it in any way. This includes applying overlays and blurring.

I'm not a lawyer so I'm sorry if I'm reading these incorrectly. I tried making an app using the Spotify API at one point and had it running but it got shot down a couple times for not displaying the Spotify icon. Good on you if your app is all set. I was always worried I was going to face the Spotify legal team with mine and gave up on it.

I only mention these because I do love the radio! Great mix of genres so far!

Radiant launched with a paid subscription model (like a dollar a month) Spotify shut it down, took away our API creds and left us in the lurch. Had to set it up again, with the subscription removed. That hurt because we had a good number of paying customers at that point.

But we moved to be compliant with their guidelines after that and I carried it on as a labour of love.

Now I'm actively looking at moving away from Spotify and on to my own data set and APIs that can match what Spotify has. I've built something like it before using the Cover Art Archive for the artwork, Acoustic/MusicBrainz for the metadata and custom logic built atop so I know it's possible.

Once I've done that I can start looking for sponsors.

There is always the possibility that if the userbase really scales up, Spotify would grant me a commercial license and allow me to commoditise the platform but I don't need that to happen really.

How long did it take for them to notice?

I made a Spotify powered app ( https://mergemusic.app ) and we didn't add any payment methods to comply with their terms.

Tried for months / years to get in touch with someone at Spotify who could discuss a commercial licence agreement, so the app could have a business model. Stonewalled.

Turns out Spotify instead of working with us, made their own version - Spotify Blend, launched 2 years after our app.

The thing that bugs me the most is Spotify is a member of https://appfairness.org which states

> App store gatekeepers have carefully crafted their mobile device ecosystems to eliminate competition and maximize their own control and profits, to the detriment of developers and consumers.

However Spotify's own App Store did exactly the behaviour they are complaining about.

I suspect it might be complicated by the fact that most of their content isn't owned by them but leased(?) from record labels, artists, podcasters, etc?

But I agree it seems like they use this API as a free launch pad for ideas, which seems morally or ethically questionable. Sorry to hear they might have ripped your idea.

We weren't taking content. Just creating playlists back on Spotify through their API.

Hell, ads would even make it feel more like real radio. Bonus points if the "host" "reads" them.

If you're on an M1 MacBook, you can run the iPad app on it, pretty responsive.

If anyone is interested in learning more, suggesting stuff or getting support etc I've set up a discord that I've done a frankly appalling job of promoting -> https://discord.gg/4YgkhAgfJ5

BTW you can also follow along on Reddit if you'd prefer doing it that way -> https://www.reddit.com/r/RadiantApp/

I love this! I did something similar recently with Phoenix10.1 (https://github.com/pncnmnp/phoenix10.1).

I love the idea, and I instantly downloaded the app. After a peppy welcome message from the robot, it doesn't actually play any songs. Just crashes constantly :(

I can send you any debug info if you like. But no pressure, it's free as far as I can see and I don't want you to worry just because it doesn't work for me.

Great idea anyhow!

Yep. That's not good... thanks for the offer, if you could shoot over an email to rad@getradiant.app and I'll get whatever broken fixed this weekend and released by Monday.

Just downloaded. I loved JackFM back when I listened to terrestrial radio in the car - it was a station with a snarky robot dj and it was great. Thanks for making this!

Is there like a link to a JackFM broadcast on Youtube or something? I'm super curious to learn what their formatting was like and maybe use it as a case study!

It was 100.3 KJKK Jack FM which I’m realizing was only in the DFW area. I figured it was syndicated

Here’s a link to what I’m guessing is their site: https://jack.fm/listen-to-jack-fm/

Here’s a YouTube video which is either a recording or a fan-made version. Either way the quip by Jack after the first song (~3:37) nails the tone for the robo dj’s persona: https://youtu.be/ewDE2rrRbH8

oh wow thanks!

Was definitely syndicated. Listed to a lot in Southern California. Haven’t heard it in years though. They had the largest selection of songs.

I think this is a really cool idea and you should keep working on this. You're onto something. Incorporate more day to day? Include podcasts that I subscribe to as programs? So much potential.

Short-form podcasts are being looked at as sort of a syndicated content. Like there'd be a list of interesting shows like 'The Daily', 'Business Wars Daily' etc that you could subscribe to and have injected into the stream when appropriate!

Obviously, I'd expand this with more full-fledged shows if people liked the format. You could even configure it with "I listen to my podcasts in the morning / after noon / when I'm driving" etc in settings and Rad would factor that in when choosing when to play em.

I would love to be able to listen to news podcasts in this.

> Why do it?

Doing stuff like this is how you get experience in areas where your day job may not provide you the opportunity.

After all - employers don't care how you got the skills, that you have the skills.

Also having something I'm passionate about gives me a lot of purpose. I've obviously up-skilled tremendously building (and then rebuilding it for cross-platform) but above all else, it's a lot of fun to build and it's something I personally wanted to see in the world and enjoy using!

I've been listening for about 30 minutes and it's pretty neat, I've already found some new music I like. However, the weather forecast told me it was 275° F.

Damn it! Thought I'd fixed this. Back to that micro service I go :(

Thanks for using and for the bug report!

Trying it now and it seems really nice! I wish you had a desktop/web version, and it would be my daily background radio while I work all day. Spotify's Discover Weekly playlists are nice enough, but they barely carry me through the first 1-2 days, and then it gets pretty repetitive.

It would also work really well as an Alexa skill, especially with Rad's commentary.

What did you write the apps in?

Yep, the idea is that the stream of music it plays is both time appropriate and always relatively fresh. You can tune its selection algo too with the thumbs up or down (long pressing on either for more fine controls).

Web is due out in the next 2 weeks. Alexa skill has been on the roadmap forever as I've always seen smart speakers as like the place it makes the most sense.

The apps are Svelte based with capacitor (planning on switching to Tauri when that gets proper mobile support) and some custom plugins for the native stuff. It was a native iOS app but got a full rewrite to support Android and iOS with the web planned as a fast follow.

Very cool! Joined your Discord server. Even if you don't want to monetize it right now, you should set up a Patreon or something like that, and at least let people chip in on your server costs.

It would be a very cool community-supported smart radio service :)

The app has a built-in link to 'Buy me a coffee' (which actually does cover my coffee expenses along with some of the hosting costs!)

I'm quite keen to get a bigger community of people contributing ideas and maybe give me the push to move away from Spotify.

Eventually, swathes of the service could go open source too if the community wanted it.

Thanks for joining the discord!

Looks like those clowns in Congress did it again! What a bunch of clowns.

Rad literally says this

Ha! How does he keep up with the news like that?

This sounds absolutely incredible. Definitely checking this out.

I had this idea myself but never bothered to make anything of it. Thanks for saving me the effort!

This is super cool, but the first thing I wanted to do was cast it to the Chromecast plugged into my hi-fi. It seems casting isn't available yet - do you have plans to add it? It would make this a total winner for just playing music in the background.

Chromecast support is a gigantic pain to implement! But I 100% agree it'd be excellent to have it!

Maybe it's gotten easier since I last checked in on it

Very cool, I've daydreamed about building something similar but always convinced myself I'd have to wait until text-to-speech was better to really incorporate all the sources I'd like. Awesome work!

The major advancements in text-to-speech we've since in the last year have me planning on revamping Rad's voice (maybe basing it on Tom Sellek...who knows) but the fact we've come this far has really opened a world of opportunities for audio-first experiences.

You could use unreal speech for this. Not a plug but i found it really cheap to make realistic tts using an api using it.

https://unrealspeech.com/

This looks (or sounds, rather) exceptional.

Long term I'm going to go with something self-hosted using Tortoise TTS etc but I also want to break away from Google's Cloud Speech as that can cost me hundreds a month when the user base has a peak so this looks great, thank you!

I’d be very interested to see what’s possible taking SOTA models and trying to get some version of them working offline, on-device.

Cool! Just signed up. I was a little turned off by how much access you need to Spotify. Is that just because they don't have granular enough permissions?

What does it request? That part was in french for me.

Weird its in french. Thats all controlled by Spotify which suggests your Spotify is set to french. Might be worth checking to see if your Spotify is being accessed anywhere else...

Basically write access to playlists and change access. I totally get why, I was just wondering if their scopes were limited.

I know it's a bit of a laundry list. Everything there is required to use the Spotify API the way I needed to. Playlist read/write so it can add songs you like to the 'Liked on Radiant on Spotify', Profile to set your locale when making requests and for setting your profile picture if you have one etc etc.

I'll look at paring it back in future if I can!

FWIW, I think you meant to say "paring it back" and not "pairing it back".

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/pare

It makes sense what you ask for based on what the app does! I was just wondering if it was an issue with scoping and them not providing enough granularity.

Is it possible to onboard service onto Apple Music?

Not today but we're planning some radical changes to the music data we rely upon which should open it up to Apple Music, Deezer and beyond!

Got my attention! Switched to Deezer a while back and there aren't a ton of integrations for it. Which is fine, but also, they'd be nice.

IMHO, this is exactly the sort of functionality I'd expect to be built into any music service when I say "start song radio". They misuse the word "radio" by so many degrees, they just mean "shuffle".

Even if it's not broadcast over actual radio, at least give me an announcer! And you've done that, and I'm very intrigued. Is there a place I can sign up for reminders to learn when the Deezer connector is ready?

If you head over to our Discord which you can find here -> https://discord.gg/4YgkhAgfJ5 and it'll be announced there :)

You can also follow updates on Reddit -> https://www.reddit.com/r/RadiantApp/

I love it! And I would love to have some kind of Home Assistant integration so Rad can wake me up with news in the morning.

This is absolutely on the roadmap!

Thank you so much to everyone for the points and really nice words of encouragement. Real shot in the arm and means a great deal.

Downloaded, will test it, looks very promising. Absolutelty willing to donate. Do you take donations?

The bottom of the settings screen has a 'buy me a coffee' link but I'm equally happy if you're using it and enjoying it!

Or if you have feature requests please send them my way! Those are worth an awful lot :)

Thanks! I had some issues with playback as soon as the app was im background. The song switched but it did not start to play.

Very cool. An alarm function would be nice. Waking up with Rad! My family is blown away by the idea.

Interesting! I've never actually thought about that! Very clever!

If it was launched from the alarm it could start the show with "Gooood morning, looks like it's going to be <insert weather> and <insert some info about traffic on your usual route>, now let's get to the reason we're both here; great tunes." or something.

I'd buy that for a dollar!

Public transport info for those of us that live in countries with good APIs for this stuff that travel in, too.

A long time ago I had an internet radio (musicpal) that played shoutcast stations, you could point the screen at RSS feeds; it felt kind of futuristic to have info on when my next train to work was on it, this would even more so.

Just to let you know, on Android the "Connect with Spotify" button opens a Google Chrome view, which is weird, because my default browser for everything is Firefox.

It would be nice if you could make the DJ a bit more like the ones in GTA radios, in particular Vice City. I would pay for that!

This is literally my dream for the service. A personal GTA radio station. I'm entirely all ears if you have any suggestions on how to pull that off!

ChatGPT

> Write a Grand Theft Auto Vice City in-game radio advertisement.

> "Attention all Vice City residents! Are you looking for a new ride to cruise the streets in style? Look no further than auto dealership, "Tommy's Auto Sales"! We've got a wide selection of sleek sports cars, rugged off-road vehicles, and everything in between. Plus, with our no questions asked policy, you won't have to worry about where you got the money to pay for it. And for a limited time only, take advantage of our special offer: steal any car on the lot and bring it to us, we'll give you a substantial discount. So what are you waiting for? Head on down to Tommy's Auto Sales and step up your ride today!"

Ahh so fake ads! That'd be neat actually! Going to work on that over the weekend :) TY

I wish I could get the Mr. Sticky Buddy ads from the original YDKJ....

Chalky the Squirrel!

This is fantastic

I love the idea!

This is... awesome! Great concept!

Well, that was an easy sell.

This is very comfy.

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