The Complete Guide to Playing Music on Discord

Want to play the hottest tracks, chill beats, or custom soundscapes on your Discord server? You‘ve come to the right place!

In this comprehensive 2000+ word guide, you‘ll learn multiple methods for streaming music and audio over Discord voice channels.

We‘ll cover:

• Overview: Music Bots & Audio on Discord
• Installing Top Music Bots
• Configuring Advanced DJ & Queue Features
• Integrating Spotify Listen Parties
• Playing Custom D&D Ambient Audio
• Data & Analysis of Top Audio bots
• Best Practices for Bot Management
• Additional Tips & Tricks

So let‘s dive in and start playing those tunes!

Overview: Music Bots & Audio on Discord

Since Discord‘s rise to over 100 million monthly active users, music bots have become an essential way to liven up server communities.

According to DiscordBotList.com, over 57% of sizable Discord servers have added a music bot – and that number continues rising.

Music bots connect directly to voice channels so that server members can queue up millions of tracks via text-based chat commands.

Beyond basic tunes, advanced audio bots can also handle:

• Playlists and queues
• DJ roles with added controls
• Radio streams
• Spotify integration
• Audio filters and effects

In this guide, we‘ll leverage multiple techniques like:

Music Bots – for automated queues powered by expansive music & audio libraries

Spotify Integration – to share currently playing Spotify tracks and playlists

Screen Sharing – for streaming custom audio files and mixes

Kenku FM – an app that facilitates collaborative soundscapes perfect for tabletop gaming

Let‘s start by installing some popular music bots!

Installing Top Music Bots

Adding a music bot instantly gives your community access to massive music libraries via text chat commands.

Let‘s install Green Bot – a top Discord music bot in terms of both features and ease of use.

Step 1: Invite Green Bot

First, login to the Green Bot site and click Invite Bot:

Next, select the Discord server you want to add it to:

Review the necessary bot permissions. Then confirm installation:

Bot permissions allow granular control of what it can access. For music playback you‘ll want to enable:

• View channels
• Connect to voice
• Speak in voice

Once installed, you‘ll receive a confirmation that Green Bot has joined your server!

Time to start playing tunes.

Step 2: Queue Up Tracks

Trigger audio playback by typing bot commands within any text channel after joining a voice channel.

Search songs by name, URL, playlists etc:

/play Bohemian Rhapsody

Green Bot will automatically join the voice channel and play back results!

Review full bot music commands here.

Now let‘s explore unlocking bonus DJ management features…

Configuring Advanced DJ & Queue Features

While free Discord bots can play station playlists, the premium upgrades add queue management and DJ roles perfect for public servers.

Let‘s examine top premium features and how to configure them.

Unlocking the DJ Role

The Green Bot DJ role allows assigned members to control queues by:

• Adding/removing tracks
• Creating/managing playlists
• Skipping songs
• Ban tracks
• Rename playlists
• View queue history

To enable:

1. Visit the Premium portal to upgrade your bot
2. Follow the DJ Role guide to assign it to members

With DJ coordination, you can run the bot all day without queues growing out of control!

User Playlists

Tired of constantly re-queuing your favorite songs whenever you join a voice channel?

User playlists allow individuals to create personal music compilations accessible across any session:

Members can manage playlists via the /pl command set:

/pl create Chill Beats 😎 🎧
/pl add Chill Beats Peaches
/pl remove Chill Beats 4
/pl list Chill Beats

Request saved playlists in any voice channel with /play + name. Keep those good vibes rolling!

There are many more Green Bot features to leverage like:

• Queue Management
• Audio Filters
• Importing Playlists

Review the complete commands list.

Next let‘s examine cross-integration with Spotify…

Integrating Spotify Listen Parties

Beyond standalone music bots, connecting Spotify allows syncing playback with friends.

Premium users can host real-time Spotify Listen Along sessions.

Here‘s how to link Spotify listening directly into a Discord voice channel:

Step 1: Connect Spotify Account

In Discord User Settings, navigate to the Connections tab:

Click the Spotify logo to link it with your Discord profile:

The accounts will automatically sync.

You‘ll now display the currently playing Spotify track right on your Discord profile:

Step 2: Share Private Listening Link

While a song plays in the Spotify desktop app, click the devices icon and select Invite to listen along:

This generates a one-time listening link to invite your Discord friends into a synced session!

Paste the link in a Discord channel to kickoff a Spotify powered listening party. Groove together!

Playing Custom D&D Ambient Audio

For tabletop or other scenarios requiring dynamic soundscapes, let‘s explore tools allowing collaborative audio queues beyond standard music playback.

We‘ll compare:

• Screen Sharing – for streaming personal audio files
• Kenku FM – app for collective audio immersion

Screen Sharing Custom Playlists

Discord‘s screen sharing allows broadcasting your computer‘s audio to a voice channel.

Great for personal ambient mix playlists and video game soundtracks not available on commercial platforms.

To screenshare audio:

1. Queue up desired audio files in a desktop media player
2. Join the voice channel
3. Select screen share and check "Share Computer Sound"

Now your custom audio streams into the voice chat!

The limitation is listeners cannot influence the soundscape – they hear whatever you play locally.

For true collaborative immersion, let‘s examine Kenku FM…

Kenku FM for Community Jams

Kenku FM revolutionizes tabletop musical immersion by allowing anyone in a voice chat to queue sounds with a polished interface:

Both free and premium audio content combined with crossfade abilities make it perfect for evolving soundscapes.

To get started:

1. Create a Discord bot for Kenku authorization
2. Install Kenku FM desktop app
3. Import your ambient audio library
4. Join any voice channel to begin mixing dynamic sound queues!

Now anyone in the conversation can influence real-time energy using audio. Game-changing for tabletop and creative sessions!

Data & Analysis of Top Audio bots

Let‘s examine usage stats across popular music and audio bots:

Data sources: botmetric sites, DiscordBotList, reviews

Based on sheer server saturation and listener hours, Rythm and Groovy dominate the freemium music bot category. Offering high quality streams from YouTube, Soundcloud etc.

Green Bot captures a smaller but active market share given deep premium features. Top choice for configuring advanced playlists, queues, and DJ roles.

Kenku positioned as speciality app for tabletop RPG immersion vs general voice channel music. Niche use case but powerful dynamic audio control.

Now that we‘ve installed bots, what are some best practices for managing them long-term?

Best Practices for Bot Management

Like any automated tool, judiciously configuring permissions and limitations ensures successful adoption.

Here are critical tips for securing and maintaining healthy music bots:

🔑 Restrict bot permissions to only required features like viewing channels and voice connecting. No need for messaging access.

💬Create a dedicated bot-commands channel for queue tracking and requests away from general chatter.

🚫 Assign moderator roles to ban unauthorized bot use or inappropriate content.

💲Set spending limits if enabling premium song requests requiring credits.

📚 Curate whitelists/blacklists guaranteeing appropriate content.

🤖 Install multiple bots like Rythm or Groovy for redundancy if issues arise.

By incorporating these bot management best practices, your music playback will entertain communities 24/7 without disruption!

Additional Tips & Tricks

To wrap up, here are some miscellaneous music bot pro-tips:

🔊 Adjust Windows app volumes for balancing game, chat, and music levels.

🔀Fade transitions between custom audio files creates seamless scene mood shifts.

🎚️ Use desktop voice chat apps like Krisp to privately discuss immersive soundscape mixes.

💡 Collaborative documents track session cues and dynamic audio needs.

We hope this guide serves as a comprehensive resource for elevating your next gathering through the power of discord audio!

For any additional questions, let us know in the comments. Now get out there and start playing those hot jams!