Discord was once filled with music bots like Rythm and Groovy. Users could listen to music while gaming or chatting. However, in 2021, YouTube banned these bots for streaming content without ads and hence, without compensating artists. Discord later introduced the ability to play YouTube videos, including songs, but it didn’t provide the same experience. Until recently, there hadn’t been a proper music bot on Discord — but that has changed. Music bots have made a comeback on Discord. I will help you pick the best music bot for Discord but first, here how’s they compare.
Table of Contents
1. Rythm
The most popular Discord music bot has returned. However, instead of using YouTube content, Rythm now comes with its own licensed library that compensates artists for every stream. Unlike before, it now offers both a free and a paid plan. Let’s look at both.
Rythm no longer uses commands for music control; instead, it requires you to join a voice channel and use a Spotify-like interface. The free version is limited to playing radio stations and playlists suggested by Rythm, with no option to search for specific songs.
The paid plan, at $4.99 per month, lets you search and play any song available in their library. Free users can join the session and listen along, but they cannot control the music playback or selection unless they switch to the paid plan. However, the biggest downside is the music library.
It’s quite small and mainly features top hits from major artists. There is no proper artist or album page to browse and discover songs easily either. Additionally, there is a time limit if you’re playing songs solo; the app requires at least two people in the voice channel for unlimited playback time. Essentially, it’s like a music subscription with a limited library, only useful for group listening.
On the plus side, Rythm now features a basic equalizer and lets you control who can play music and who can listen to it. However, with a paid plan that lacks a comprehensive music library, Rythm falls short of its former glory. In fact, using YouTube on Discord offers a better music library and features for free, with nearly the same audio quality.
Get Rythm Discord bot (you can also get it via Discord Activity)
2. Trebel
Trebel has a free plan powered by ads but no paid plans. The music library is much better than Rythm though still not as extensive as the music bots before the ban. You can search and play any song and view dedicated artists and album pages. You can also allow others in the voice channel to control the music.
However, the bot suffers from bugs and offers an inconsistent experience. For example, I couldn’t scroll through the suggested songs unless I clicked the middle mouse button and hovered over the edge of the list. You get search suggestions only to discover those songs don’t exist on the platform.
It also includes remixes of songs, but distinguishing them from the originals in the search results is difficult—you have to play them to find out. They have an AI for music suggestions, but I didn’t have a good experience with it either. Most importantly, the music quality is not on par with other services. If you listen to a song you’re already familiar with, you can easily tell it sounds different, almost like a recreated version of the original.
Get Trebel Discord bot (also available via Discord Activity)
3. TuneIN
TuneIn isn’t exactly a music bot but more like a group radio station or podcast player. You can’t search for songs or check artist pages like on Rythm. However, it is quite useful for what it offers.
To start, it’s completely free. You can access top radio stations and playlists, which are quite good. It features an “Explore” section where you can listen to radio stations from around the world. There is good podcast support. Most importantly, the sound quality is excellent compared to YouTube, Rythm, or any music bot I tried before. Of course, it’s not as good as listening directly from a dedicated streaming app, but good enough for streaming music together on Discord.
You can get TuneIn only via Discord Activity.
Use Music Bots on Discord
While music bots have technically made a comeback on Discord, they are nowhere near what they used to be. Using YouTube on Discord is a much better option: it’s free, has the largest music library, allows everyone to control the music, and offers sound quality on par with other music bots. While you still can’t control music with commands, none of the new music bots offer that feature either.
Discord recently announced a partnership with Amazon Music, similar to its collaboration with YouTube. Although this feature isn’t available yet but if you have a Prime subscription, you will soon be able to stream Amazon Music on Discord, which should offer a better experience and library than any of the current music bots.
