This month in digital music libraries - September 2025
September 25, 2025 in digital music by Dan Gravell
This month: the music ownership movement picks up steam with practical guides and technical insights, how self-hosting platforms can enable data sovereignty, new music players bridge different approaches, and streaming developments remind us why ownership matters.
Music ownership philosophy spreads
The movement to own your music collection continues to gain momentum. First, a deep dive into the history of music streaming that puts today’s ownership discussions in perspective.
A music streaming history tedium.co/2018/01/30/l... thanks @shortformernie.bsky.social
— bliss - automated music library management (@blisshq.com) 2 September 2025 at 12:02
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And another personal journey from streaming back to ownership - proving this trend is more than just nostalgia.
Another "how I own music" post - you're far from the only one! hounie.me/writings/own...
— bliss - automated music library management (@blisshq.com) 6 September 2025 at 12:01
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A detailed technical walkthrough of ditching Spotify for a self-hosted music stack - complete with the tools and setup process.
Why I Ditched Spotify, and How I Set Up My Own Music Stack by @leshicodes.bsky.social leshicodes.github.io/blog/spotify...
— bliss - automated music library management (@blisshq.com) 12 September 2025 at 12:01
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Self-hosting hardware and platform considerations
Why data sovereignty matters: Astiga reflects on hardware lockouts and the importance of designing services with user exit strategies in mind.
These kind of shenanigans are exactly why we design @asti.ga with thought about how you will use your music if we ever go away. e.g. your sovereignty of storage, offline sync, free just-ask exports community.hubitat.com/t/nest-1st-g...
— Astiga - the streaming service for your own music (@asti.ga) 6 September 2025 at 10:31
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For those looking at the hardware side, here’s a deep dive into using Synology NAS systems for music hosting - exploring both the benefits and potential pitfalls.
The Synology End Game lowendbox.com/blog/they-us... on @LowEndNetwork
— bliss - automated music library management (@blisshq.com) 8 September 2025 at 12:02
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New music players emerge
Nuclear takes a unique approach - a music player that sources tracks from legitimate free sources.
Nuclear is a music player that finds music from (legitimate) free sources nuclearplayer.com
— bliss - automated music library management (@blisshq.com) 10 September 2025 at 12:01
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Meanwhile, Mac users get Radiccio - a promising new player that bridges local files with streaming services like Apple Music and self hosted servers like Plex and Jellyfin.
A new #Mac music player on its way... local file support, Apple Music, Plex and Jellyfin radiccio.music @radiccio.music
— bliss - automated music library management (@blisshq.com) 17 September 2025 at 12:00
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The great streaming vs. ownership debate
The Guardian explores who still buys MP3 players in 2025 - turns out it’s more people than you might think.
The normies discuss: Who buys an MP3 player in 2025? www.theguardian.com/thefilter/20...
— bliss - automated music library management (@blisshq.com) 19 September 2025 at 12:01
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After years of promises, Spotify finally delivers lossless audio - though they’re stopping short of hi-res.
Spotify #lossless lands... finally stereonet.com/news/spotify... . But no #hires
— bliss - automated music library management (@blisshq.com) 21 September 2025 at 12:01
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But sometimes streaming platforms remind us why ownership matters - when beloved artists pull their music entirely.
When it's an artist you rate that redacts from streaming... that's when it gets serious #ownyourmusiclibrary www.stereogum.com/2323422/mass...
— bliss - automated music library management (@blisshq.com) 23 September 2025 at 12:02
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See you next month!
Photo by Bruno Bučar on Unsplash
