owntone-server/README_RADIO_STREAMS.md

forked-daapd and Radio Stream tweaking

Radio streams have many different ways in how metadata is sent. Many should just work as expected, but a few may require some tweaking. If you are not seeing expected title, track, artist, artwork in forked-daapd clients or web UI, the following may help.

First, understand what and how the particular stream is sending information. ffprobe is a command that can be used to interegrate most of the stream information. ffprobe <http://stream.url> should give you some useful output, look at the Metadata section, below is an example.

 Metadata:
    icy-br          : 320
    icy-description : DJ-mixed blend of modern and classic rock, electronica, world music, and more. Always 100% commercial-free
    icy-genre       : Eclectic
    icy-name        : Radio Paradise (320k aac)
    icy-pub         : 1
    icy-url         : https://radioparadise.com
    StreamTitle     : Depeche Mode - Strangelove
    StreamUrl       : http://img.radioparadise.com/covers/l/B000002LCI.jpg

In the example above, all tags are populated with correct information, no modifications to forked-daapd configuration should be needed. Note that StreamUrl points to the artwork image file.

Below is another example that will require some tweaks to forked-daapd, Notice icy-name is blank and StreamUrl doesn't point to an image.

Metadata:
    icy-br          : 127
    icy-pub         : 0
    icy-description : Unspecified description
    icy-url         : 
    icy-genre       : various
    icy-name        : 
    StreamTitle     : Pour Some Sugar On Me - Def Leppard
    StreamUrl       : https://radio.stream.domain/api9/eventdata/49790578

In the above, first fix is the blank name, second is the image artwork.

1) Set stream name/title via the M3U file

Set the name with an EXTINF tag in the m3u playlist file:

#EXTM3U
#EXTINF:-1, - My Radio Stream Name
http://radio.stream.domain/stream.url

The format is basically #EXTINF:<length>, <Artist Name> - <Artist Title>. Length is -1 since it's a stream, <Artist Name> was left blank since StreamTitle is accurate in the Metadata but <Artist Title> was set to My Radio Stream Name since icy-name was blank.

2) StreamUrl is a JSON file with metadata

If StreamUrl does not point directly to an artwork file then the link may be to a json file that contains an artwork link. If so, you can make forked-daapd download the file automatically and search for an artwork link, and also track duration.

Try to download the file, e.g. with curl "https://radio.stream.domain/api9/eventdata/49790578". Let's assume you get something like this:

{
    "eventId": 49793707,
    "eventStart": "2020-05-08 16:23:03",
    "eventFinish": "2020-05-08 16:27:21",
    "eventDuration": 254,
    "eventType": "Song",
    "eventSongTitle": "Pour Some Sugar On Me",
    "eventSongArtist": "Def Leppard",
    "eventImageUrl": "https://radio.stream.domain/artist/1-1/320x320/562.jpg?ver=1465083491",
    "eventImageUrlSmall": "https://radio.stream.domain/artist/1-1/160x160/562.jpg?ver=1465083491",
    "eventAppleMusicUrl": "https://geo.itunes.apple.com/dk/album/530707298?i=530707313"
}

In this case, you would need to tell forked-daapd to look for "eventDuration" and "eventImageUrl" (or just "duration" and "url"). You can do that like this:

curl -X PUT "http://localhost:3689/api/settings/misc/streamurl_keywords_length" --data "{\"name\":\"streamurl_keywords_length\",\"value\":\"duration\"}"
curl -X PUT "http://localhost:3689/api/settings/misc/streamurl_keywords_artwork_url" --data "{\"name\":\"streamurl_keywords_artwork_url\",\"value\":\"url\"}

If you want multiple search phrases then comma separate, e.g. "duration,length".

3) Set metadata with a custom script

If your radio station publishes metadata via another method than the above, e.g. just on their web site, then you will have to write a script that pulls the metadata and then pushes it to forked-daapd. To update metadata for the currently playing radio station use something like this JSON API request:

curl -X PUT "http://localhost:3689/api/queue/items/now_playing?title=Awesome%20title&artwork_url=http%3A%2F%2Fgyfgafguf.dk%2Fimages%2Fpige3.jpg"

If your radio station is not returning any artwork links, you can also just make a static artwork by placing a png/jpg in the same directory as the m3u, and with the same name, e.g. My Radio Stream.jpg for My Radio Stream.m3u.