robert-dean/deadair v0.20.0

deadair 0.20.0

on GitHub

A Deezer similarity source, so discovery works without an API key

The station already reaches past its own library: it programmes part of every
hour from artists who resemble what has recently aired, mixes neighbours into a
playlist on request, and fetches a record it does not own when something picks
one. All of that needed a similarity plugin, and there was exactly one —
Last.fm, which needs an API key you have to go and register for. Until you had,
the settings said discovery was on and nothing came of it.

Enable Deezer and it works. There is no account, no key and nothing to fill in:
Deezer's catalogue answers who resembles an artist, and what to play by them, to
anyone who asks.

It sits alongside Last.fm rather than replacing it. Two sources disagreeing
about who sounds like Portishead are not in conflict, so the station keeps every
name both of them offer and has a wider pool to programme from than either gives
on its own.

One thing worth knowing: Deezer's search is fuzzy and ranks by popularity, so
this plugin takes an exact name match or nothing. An artist Deezer does not
carry under the spelling your library uses is passed over quietly rather than
answered with the nearest famous act, which would fill an hour with the wrong
scene and look perfectly healthy while doing it.

Similar artists from ListenBrainz, with no token needed

The MusicBrainz plugin now also answers who sounds like an artist, using
ListenBrainz's listening data. It is the same organisation's data under the
same ids, which is why it lives here rather than in a plugin of its own, and
it is now called MusicBrainz and ListenBrainz on the plugins page.

The ListenBrainz token stays optional and does the same job it always did:
enrichment in batches rather than one request a second. Similar artists work
whether or not you have pasted one in, because the endpoint behind them is open
to anyone.

If you already run Last.fm, this sits alongside it. The station keeps every name
both sources offer rather than picking between them, so the pool it programmes
from gets wider.

Records that sound like one record, from ListenBrainz

When the station mixes similar records into a playlist it would rather ask
"what do people play alongside this record" than "what else is by someone who
resembles this artist". With a ListenBrainz token set, the plugin now answers
the first question. Massive Attack's Teardrop comes back as Glory Box, Roads,
Sour Times, Porcelain and In the Waiting Line.

It needs the token because of how the data is keyed. MusicBrainz holds a
separate recording id for every release a song appeared on, and the similarity
data exists only against the one ListenBrainz treats as canonical; finding that
one is a lookup only a token can make. Without a token the station keeps the
answer it had, which is to reach for a record by a similar artist instead.

This adds labs.api.listenbrainz.org to the plugin's network permissions,
paced on the same budget as the rest of ListenBrainz.

Name an artist's records from ListenBrainz, with a token

Similar artists tell the station who to reach for; this is what it actually
plays by them. With a ListenBrainz token set, the plugin now answers an
artist's best known recordings, ordered by how much they are listened to.

It needs the token, and says nothing without one. The endpoint behind it
refuses anonymous callers, and the open endpoint that looks like a substitute
is a radio sampler: asked for Daft Punk's best it offered a four-track medley,
a mashup and a radio edit, and asked for Portishead's it offered album
interludes and live takes. Records by the right artist that nobody would have
chosen are worse than no answer, because the station has other sources and this
one would have spoken over them.

So: no token, and this contributes similar artists while Deezer or Last.fm name
the records. With a token, all three answer and the station asks them in turn.

Choose which similarity source the station asks first

With more than one similarity plugin enabled, two of the three questions the
station asks them take the first usable answer and stop: what to play by an
artist, and what sounds like a particular record. Which source answered was
decided by alphabetical order of the plugin id, which is not a decision anybody
made, and an operator who trusted one source over another had no way to say so
short of switching the others off.

Which similarity source to ask first, under Settings, Rotation, is that
list. Leave it empty and nothing changes. Listing a source does not enable it
and leaving one out does not disable it: anything unlisted is simply asked
after the ones that are.

Who resembles an artist is unaffected, because that question is asked of every
source and the answers pooled. Two sources disagreeing about who sounds like
Portishead are not in conflict.