Ready to host a Discord listening party? Well, before you can do that, you first need to find a Discord music bot. But with the plethora of music bot selections available online and the questions of whether they are legal, looking for a good one can be tricky.
But worry not! This article will discuss the legality of music bots and recommend some good ones you can use to share a new beat with your friends!
What exactly are Discord bots? Find out in this article!
Are Discord Music Bots Illegal?
No. In general, most Discord music bots are not illegal. However, some Discord music bots are indeed unlawful. That’s because they don’t have authorization from record labels to share licensed music within the platform. This violates Discord’s Terms of Use, prohibiting unauthorized access to copyrighted media.
Those illegal music bots violate the copyrights of music owners as they access external platforms to stream music. For instance, a bot may play music on Discord by scraping music videos from YouTube.
This violates YouTube and the music owner’s copyright because scraping the song from a video means it will be played directly on Discord.
An example of an illegal music bot is Groovy, which YouTube shut down in 2021. YouTube sent a cease-and-desist letter to this bot against its illicit access to copyrighted music.
The famous Rhythm music bot was also illegal for some time. It had to shut down for a while, but the company has returned online after obtaining licensing deals.
It’s worth noting that while some Discord music bots are illegal, many operate legally. For instance, this article offers a curated list of legal Discord Music bots.
10 Best Discord Music Bots
Here are some of the best Discord music bots that allow you to stream music on the app legally:
1. Jockie Music
Best for: Discord users who want to stream music on large channels
Price: Free or Patreon Support
This music bot offers up to four instances. This means you can use Jokie Music for four playback sessions across various servers and channels. You can also enjoy audio effects like 8D, bass boost, distortion, and echo.
Jockie Music also supports platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and SoundCloud. So you can ensure that you’re legally playing music on Discord.
Pros:
- Supports multiple music streaming platforms
- Offers various music effects
- Excellent quality audio
Cons:
- You need to support the Jockie Music Patreon project to access all features.
2. Lunabot
Best for: People who want to stream an entire playlist
Price: Starts at $2.55/month
Lunabot is an excellent Discord music bot for people who like streaming playlists. It boasts a feature that lets you easily switch from one song to another, a pause and play button, volume options, and autoplay.
You can even set which songs you want to play next, so you don’t have to skip music that you don’t like.
Lunabot also has nightcore toggles if you like manipulating sounds.
Pros:
- Easy-to-use playback controls
- Features a queue system
- Paid subscription gives you a lot of additional features
Cons:
- You may experience delay when pressing the playback buttons.
3. Mee6
Best for: Discord users who want a management and music streaming bot in one.
You may know Mee6 as a server management bot. However, it also offers music streaming features like volume control, an option to record voice channels, and a queue system of up to 50 songs.
The good thing about Mee6 is you don’t have to input music commands to play songs on your server. Instead, you can just head to your Mee6 dashboard and play and manage songs there.
Pros:
- It lets you play music 24/7
- The paid version allows for up to 1,000 music tracks queued.
- Features music quizzes that you can answer with your friends.
Cons:
- The music features are limited since the bot is dedicated to server management.
Want to know more about Mee6’s server management features? Take a look at this article.
4. Uzox
Best for: People who want a free music bot
Price: Free
If you want a Discord music bot that works for free, Uzox is worth checking. This bot lets you access premium features like listening to music 24/7 and lyric fetching. It also has on-screen playback buttons for seamless control.
However, one downside is that it doesn’t let you create playlists within channels. But if you have a Spotify account, you can connect it with Uzox and play music using your Spotify playlists.
Learn how to integrate your Spotify account into Discord on Discord Support.
Pros:
- Spotify integration
- 100% free
- It lets you view song lyrics
- User-friendly navigation
Cons:
- No playlist creation option
5. Matchbox
Best for: Users looking for a user-friendly music bot with a lot of supported platforms
Matchbox is a fantastic music bot with features like playback and volume controls, playlist creation, and audio filters. There is also round-the-clock customer support that lets you talk to admins if you experience issues.
However, the features on Matchbox’s free tier are very limited. You cannot access 24/7 playback and unlimited Spotify, YouTube, and queue length unless you subscribe to a premium membership.
Note: Matchbox does not support Apple Music.
Pros:
- 24/7 customer support
- An option to create playlists
- Playback controls
Cons:
- You have to pay to experience premium features.
5. Fredboat
Best for: Discord users who want to export their music bot playlists
Price: Free or starts at $3/month
The Fredboat Discord bot is a good platform that offers great features even at the free tier. For instance, you can get up to five playlists per server, 20 tracks per playlist, and playback control. It also supports SoundCloud, YouTube, Twitch, Bandcamp, Vimeo, Dailymotion, and Deezer.
Fredboat is also the best Discord music bot for people who don’t want to deal with complex navigation.
Pros:
- Supports multiple streaming platforms
- The premium plan offers Spotify support
- Playlist creation and export
Cons:
- You may experience minimal lagging
6. Aiode
Best for: People looking for a customizable music bot
Price: Free
Aiode is the best choice if you are an avid Spotify user. This music bot lets you access and play your entire Spotify library. And by an entire library, that means you can also listen to podcasts with your friends on Discord.
Aiode is popular among Discord users because of its customization feature and real-time lyric display.
Pros:
- Completely free
- Offers customization option
- It lets you access your Spotify library
- Real-time lyric display
Cons:
- The long list of customization options can be confusing.
7. Rhythm
Best for: Those who want a music bot with features similar to Spotify
Price: Free or $4.99/month
YouTube shut down Rhythm once due to copyright infringement. However, its developers re-established this music bot and ensured it properly credits its owners and sources.
Now, Rhythm doesn’t support music streaming platforms. Instead, it provides compensation to artists for every stream their music gets. Some of its features include a queueing system, shuffle, and loop.
However, you can only access Rhythm’s music selection once you subscribe to a premium membership. You can only access its radio if you’re using the free version. Playback and song control are also only accessible for premium members.
Pros:
- Excellent music control for premium members
- Compensates artists well
- Offers great song choices
Cons:
- The free version only lets you access the radio.
- You can’t control playback on the free version.
8. BMO
Best for: Discord users who are looking for a multi-use Discord bot
Price: Free
This multi-use Discord bot supports memes, image manipulation, games, and utilities. Of course, it’s not the best Discord music bot if it doesn’t support music sharing and playing.
While BMO’s features may be too simple for some, they serve the purpose of sharing high-quality music with Discord channels and servers and creating queues.
However, BMO uses custom “./” commands. This means you have to type every command when using this bot. This can be inconvenient, especially if you like controlling the music you are playing.
Pros:
- This Discord bot serves multiple purposes.
- Supports high-quality music
Cons:
- It uses custom commands that you have to type manually
- Some may find BMO too simple
9. Zandercraft
Best for: Users who like Hi-Fi music
Price: Free
Zandercraft is ideal for Discord users looking for a music bot that combines music with other entertainment features. Apart from songs, you can also share GIFs, memes, comics, and fun facts on various Discord servers.
But let’s focus on the music features. This bot is great for music enthusiasts who want to play extra HD songs and Hi-Fi music. Like any other music bots, it offers playback control, lets you create playlists, and supports queueing songs.
Pros:
- On-screen playback control
- It lets you create playlists
- Supports multiple streaming platforms
- Offers multipurpose features
Cons:
- You cannot use this bot for multiple voice channels.
10. Kenku FM App
Best for: Discord users looking for a separate music streaming app
Price: Whatever price suits you
Kenku FM is not a music bot, but it is still worth mentioning due to its excellent features. This app has an interface similar to browsers, which you can use to search and play songs. It lets you share music with your Discord calls, create playlists for continuous streaming, and has Stream Deck support.
While this might be the best way to listen to music in Discord without a music bot for some, others may find it complicated to use. The reason is that you need to have a Discord developer profile to connect it with your Discord account.
Pros:
- You can buy this platform for whatever price you want.
- Browser-like interface for easy song searching and playing
- Ability to create playlists
Cons:
- You need a Discord developer profile to use this platform.
Not sure how to add these bots to your Discord server? Check this article for a step-by-step guide!
Enjoy Music on Discord
With all the music bots mentioned above, it’s worth noting that the best music bot for Discord still depends on your needs and requirements. Music bots have varying features, so look for one that can support the features you need.
When looking for a Discord music bot, make sure that the one you choose to stream songs is through legal means. Using bots affiliated with illegal music streaming can cause you to get banned, as Discord has policies against copyright infringement.
