Blackcandy: Self hosted music streaming server

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Self-hosted music streaming is drawing renewed interest as projects like Blackcandy, Navidrome, Jellyfin and others offer alternatives to Spotify-style services and proprietary tools such as Plex and Roon. Commenters compare features such as mobile apps, offline listening, metadata quality, playlist management, Subsonic/OpenSubsonic API support and integration with clients like Plexamp, Finamp and Symfonium, while also weighing resource usage and deployment on NAS or home servers. Many emphasize owning collections, avoiding disappearing catalogs and algorithm-driven recommendations, and see self-hosting as part of a broader move away from subscriptions and toward greater control over media libraries.

Overall themes

  • Thread centers less on Blackcandy itself and more on the broader landscape of self‑hosted music servers, how people assemble full stacks (server + clients + metadata tools), and why they self‑host instead of using commercial streaming services.

Why self-host music?

  • Desire to own collections rather than “rent” via Spotify/Apple Music.
  • Avoid disappearing tracks, regional restrictions, algorithmic recommendation bias, and corporate behavior seen as unethical.
  • Need support for rare material (demos, bootlegs, out‑of‑print albums) and exact releases/masters.
  • Many enjoy curating a library, doing metadata work, and treating music as a hobby.
  • Some still subscribe to streaming but use self‑hosting for gaps and long‑term control.

Blackcandy vs existing servers

  • People compare Blackcandy mostly to Navidrome, Jellyfin, Subsonic/Airsonic, Gonic, Funkwhale, Lyrion (Logitech Media Server), and Plex.
  • Interest in Blackcandy’s polished UI and custom mobile player; questions about offline downloads and CarPlay remain unclear.
  • Lack of mention of OpenSubsonic/Subsonic API support is a concern for those who rely on that ecosystem of clients.
  • Some dislike its tech stack (Ruby + Node + Docker) and prefer simpler/bare‑metal solutions.

Stacks, clients, and protocols

  • Common stacks:
    • Navidrome + Subsonic/OpenSubsonic clients (play:Sub, Symfonium, Substreamer, Amperfy, Supersonic).
    • Jellyfin + Finamp or Symfonium, sometimes plus Audiobookshelf and video via Jellyfin/Plex.
    • Gonic for directory‑based browsing and gapless playback cases.
    • Lyrion/Logitech Media Server and Squeezelite‑style players for multi‑room.
    • Icecast/mpd/Snapcast/OwnTone for radio‑like or multi‑room setups.
  • Protocols/“standards” discussed: OpenSubsonic/Subsonic, UPnP/DLNA, DAAP, AirPlay, Chromecast.
  • Many report that the weakest link tends to be clients (CarPlay, Alexa/Sonos, watch apps, gapless playback, codec support).

Metadata, organization, and discovery

  • Most servers rely heavily on file tags; users emphasize tagging with MusicBrainz tools or beets.
  • Debate over folder‑based browsing vs purely tag‑based UIs; some choose Gonic/Jellyfin specifically for directory browsing.
  • Several want better discovery on self‑hosted setups; ideas include using Discogs/MusicBrainz datasets, last.fm/ListenBrainz, or even local LLMs to build playlists.

Infrastructure and alternatives

  • Typical deployments: low‑power NAS or mini‑PCs (TrueNAS, Debian, Synology, TerraMaster), Raspberry Pis, plus Docker/Proxmox.
  • Access via Tailscale, WireGuard, Cloudflare Tunnel, or traditional reverse proxies (nginx, Traefik, Caddy) with per‑service subdomains.
  • Some argue streaming servers are overkill: they just sync the whole library to phone via Syncthing or SD cards, or use simple web playlists or network shares + VPN.