Librespot not providing artist metadata

[elParaguayo]

Firstly, I love this project and am so grateful for the work you do.

Describe the bug
When playing a librespot stream and using the web interface, the artist is always "Unknown Artist".

Is this information not available from the Spotify stream?

Steps to Reproduce

1. Start server
2. Play spotify stream
3. Open web player and observer metadata

Environment details

• OS: Tested on Arch Linux and NixOS
• Snapcast version: 0.29.0
• Installed from a package, self compiled, Installed from AUR on Arch, nixpkgs on NixOS

Attach logfile if applicable
Generate logs with snapclient --logfilter debug or snapserver --logging.filter debug if possible and paste them in the following codeblock

2025-01-01 15-12-17.984 [Info] (librespot_playback::player) <Fractal> (317454 ms) loaded
2025-01-01 15-12-17.984 [Info] (LibrespotStream) metadata: <Fractal>
2025-01-01 15-12-17.985 [Debug] (PcmStream) setProperties, stream: "Test Librespot", properties: {"canControl":false,"canGoNext":false,"canGoPrevious":false,"canPause":false,"canPlay":false,"canSeek":false,"metadata":{"artData":{"data":"PD94bWwgdmVyc2lvbj0iMS4wIiBlbmNvZGluZz0iVVRGLTgiIHN0YW5kYWxvbmU9Im5vIj8+CjxzdmcgeG1sbnM9Imh0dHA6Ly93d3cudzMub3JnLzIwMDAvc3ZnIiBoZWlnaHQ9IjE2OHB4IiB3aWR0aD0iMTY4cHgiIHZlcnNpb249IjEuMSIgdmlld0JveD0iMCAwIDE2OCAxNjgiPgogPHBhdGggZmlsbD0iIzFFRDc2MCIgZD0ibTgzLjk5NiAwLjI3N2MtNDYuMjQ5IDAtODMuNzQzIDM3LjQ5My04My43NDMgODMuNzQyIDAgNDYuMjUxIDM3LjQ5NCA4My43NDEgODMuNzQzIDgzLjc0MSA0Ni4yNTQgMCA4My43NDQtMzcuNDkgODMuNzQ0LTgzLjc0MSAwLTQ2LjI0Ni0zNy40OS04My43MzgtODMuNzQ1LTgzLjczOGwwLjAwMS0wLjAwNHptMzguNDA0IDEyMC43OGMtMS41IDIuNDYtNC43MiAzLjI0LTcuMTggMS43My0xOS42NjItMTIuMDEtNDQuNDE0LTE0LjczLTczLjU2NC04LjA3LTIuODA5IDAuNjQtNS42MDktMS4xMi02LjI0OS0zLjkzLTAuNjQzLTIuODEgMS4xMS01LjYxIDMuOTI2LTYuMjUgMzEuOS03LjI5MSA1OS4yNjMtNC4xNSA4MS4zMzcgOS4zNCAyLjQ2IDEuNTEgMy4yNCA0LjcyIDEuNzMgNy4xOHptMTAuMjUtMjIuODA1Yy0xLjg5IDMuMDc1LTUuOTEgNC4wNDUtOC45OCAyLjE1NS0yMi41MS0xMy44MzktNTYuODIzLTE3Ljg0Ni04My40NDgtOS43NjQtMy40NTMgMS4wNDMtNy4xLTAuOTAzLTguMTQ4LTQuMzUtMS4wNC0zLjQ1MyAwLjkwNy03LjA5MyA0LjM1NC04LjE0MyAzMC40MTMtOS4yMjggNjguMjIyLTQuNzU4IDk0LjA3MiAxMS4xMjcgMy4wNyAxLjg5IDQuMDQgNS45MSAyLjE1IDguOTc2di0wLjAwMXptMC44OC0yMy43NDRjLTI2Ljk5LTE2LjAzMS03MS41Mi0xNy41MDUtOTcuMjg5LTkuNjg0LTQuMTM4IDEuMjU1LTguNTE0LTEuMDgxLTkuNzY4LTUuMjE5LTEuMjU0LTQuMTQgMS4wOC04LjUxMyA1LjIyMS05Ljc3MSAyOS41ODEtOC45OCA3OC43NTYtNy4yNDUgMTA5LjgzIDExLjIwMiAzLjczIDIuMjA5IDQuOTUgNy4wMTYgMi43NCAxMC43MzMtMi4yIDMuNzIyLTcuMDIgNC45NDktMTAuNzMgMi43Mzl6Ii8+Cjwvc3ZnPgo=","extension":"svg"},"artUrl":"http:/laptop:1780/__image_cache?name=da673b3dcfcee2110cc925447c70f573.svg","duration":317.4540100097656,"title":"Fractal"}}
2025-01-01 15-12-17.986 [Debug] (Server) Properties changed, stream: "Test Librespot", properties: {
2025-01-01 15-12-17.986 [Debug] (Server)    "canControl": false,
2025-01-01 15-12-17.986 [Debug] (Server)    "canGoNext": false,
2025-01-01 15-12-17.986 [Debug] (Server)    "canGoPrevious": false,
2025-01-01 15-12-17.986 [Debug] (Server)    "canPause": false,
2025-01-01 15-12-17.986 [Debug] (Server)    "canPlay": false,
2025-01-01 15-12-17.986 [Debug] (Server)    "canSeek": false,
2025-01-01 15-12-17.986 [Debug] (Server)    "metadata": {
2025-01-01 15-12-17.986 [Debug] (Server)       "artData": {
2025-01-01 15-12-17.986 [Debug] (Server)          "data": "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",
2025-01-01 15-12-17.986 [Debug] (Server)          "extension": "svg"
2025-01-01 15-12-17.986 [Debug] (Server)       },
2025-01-01 15-12-17.986 [Debug] (Server)       "artUrl": "http://laptop:1780/__image_cache?name=da673b3dcfcee2110cc925447c70f573.svg",
2025-01-01 15-12-17.986 [Debug] (Server)       "duration": 317.4540100097656,
2025-01-01 15-12-17.986 [Debug] (Server)       "title": "Fractal"
2025-01-01 15-12-17.986 [Debug] (Server)    }
2025-01-01 15-12-17.986 [Debug] (Server) }

[elParaguayo]

Closing this. Looks like the plugin is only for librespot-java (which also seems to be unmaintained now).

[chriscn]

Was looking for someone whom was suffering the same issue as me for this. It would be nice to be able to get the information itno snapcast. Is it a librespot problem at the moment then?

[elParaguayo]

Looks like the solution would be to write a stream plugin for librespot that gets metadata by using the Spotify API. I'm looking into doing this as I've written a custom stream plugin already but I've not worked with oauth stuff in python much before so that's slowing me down.

It might be easier if I use a library like spotipy to help...

[elParaguayo]

One problem I can see with this is, if you're using librespot without specifying a username (so anyone on the network can connect/play), the API won't work as you'd need a token for every user.

[elParaguayo]

The librespot output includes the spotify track ID so we can use that to get track info. The problem is that a stream plugin doesn't have access to this as it's handled by snapserver and is never passed to the plugin.

You could deal with this by having the stream be alsa/pipe/etc and have the stream plugin start a librespot instance so it's able to capture the output and query track info.

This is probably my preferred approach.

[elParaguayo]

@chriscn FYI I have written a script that will play a librespot stream and provide the additional metadata for now playing tracks. I'm just doing some tidying up of the code and will then post to github after that.

[chriscn]

@elParaguayo perfect, I think I've seen the repo - if you'd like to talk it through at any point let me know. Would be good to get some docs written for in here (although I'm happy to help with that.

[elParaguayo]

Want to get a basic working version (configuration was hard coded for testing purposes) but would definitely appreciate some testing etc after that.

[elParaguayo]

@chriscn It's in a state where you can probably test it. Have added some basic documentation. If you have any comments, please leave them on the issues page there: https://github.com/elParaguayo/snapspot/issues