Three years after YouTube shut down Rythm, the popular music bot is back inside Discord.
In 2021, YouTube forced Rythm and other music bots offline for streaming audio from YouTube videos into Discord voice channels, leaving a gap for shared music listening experiences on Discord.
The New Rythm Experience
The relaunch of Rythm sees it return as a Discord activity app, allowing friends to listen to music together again. Unlike before, Rythm now has a full user interface with album art, a music visualizer, and controls to add songs and manage the queue collaboratively.
Rythm’s Origins and Funding
Rythm was originally created by Yoav Zimet when he was just 14 years old to easily share music during Discord calls. By 2021, it had been installed on over 20 million Discord servers with 560 million users. Zimet has raised funding from investors to turn Rythm into a social network for shared music experiences.
Paid and Free Options
Rythm will launch with both paid and free options. A $4.99 premium tier allows the creation of playlists for up to 20 people, with revenue shared with music labels. Free users can join these sessions or listen to radio stations if no premium user is present.
Music Library and Monetization
Rythm includes access to over 50 million songs, with more being added. While there are no ads currently, the team may introduce ads consciously to avoid disrupting conversations. Mobile and desktop apps are also in development.
Positioning and Vision
Rather than competing with music streaming services, Rythm aims to create a new segment for social, shared listening experiences. The vision is for groups to listen to new album releases together on Rythm.
