#FMA-playlist

Generate a playlist from the Free Music Archive API.

Features

• Download mp3 files from the Free Music Archive and place them in a dedicated folder.
• Strip silence from the start and end of the files.

Setting up

The instructions assume you're using something similar to Ubuntu and are somewhat familiar with Linux.

1. Install dependencies.

   sudo apt-get install sox libsox-fmt-mp3

2. Clone this repository and cd into it.

3. Remove the .dummy files; they're there just so the folder is included in the repository.

   rm tracks/.dummy downloaded_tracks/.dummy

4. Customize your criteria by editing FMAdownloader.py. By default, the top 1000 tracks available for commercial use are chosen.

5. Run the program for the first time.

   make run

   You will first be prompted for an API key, which you can obtain by reading and agreeing to FMA API ToS. However, lately keys have not been given out, so check the "secrets" page on the wiki. The key will be saved to settings.py and will be reused on further runs. Create settings.py with the appropriate content before running the program if you cannot use the prompt (e.g. during automated installation).

   Next, all tracks will be downloaded to downloaded_tracks/, one at a time (so we're not a burden for FMA). After that, they will have silence removed from either end of them before they're moved to tracks/.

6. Optional: to add new tracks as the search result changes over time, add make run to your crontab.

   crontab -e

   Add a line which runs make run once every month or so, like this:

   0 10 1 * * make -C /path/to/FMA-playlist run > /path/to/FMA-playlist/runlog.log 2>&1

   in which you replace /path/to/FMA-playlist with the actual path to this directory. (As a side note, you might want to remove the redirects if you want an email each time the job is run, and thus confirm that it works.)

Once you've done all this, the tracks/ directory can be used as a playlist of music from the Free Music Archive. Example of how to use it with LiquidSoap:

fma = playlist("/path/to/FMA-playlist/tracks")
fma = normalize(fma, gain_max=1000.0, target=-1.0, window=2.0)
fma = nrj(fma)
fma = smart_crossfade(fma)
fma = strip_blank(max_blank=12., threshold=-80., track_sensitive=false, fma)
# Remember that fma is fallible; use mksafe if you want to output it directly
# Also use some mechanism to attribute the artist (you must follow the CC licenses!)