dockerized-spotify-downloader

Here is a self hosted solution to download Spotify playlists in a Docker container silently spinning in the background. This method requires a user to use Spotify to switch playback to this downloader's device and start the playlist. After that you must wait for the playlist to finish. Optionally, you can grab the metadata from Spotify and automatically insert it into the audio files. The bitrate is customizable, it defaults to 320. This project should work as long as spotifyd works.

Disclaimer: this is a guide only for technical people.

Prerequisites

• A Linux machine that runs: Docker with sufficient disk space.
• An internet connection good enough to stream audio from Spotify.
• A Spotify premium account. (Free trial instructions below.)
• Optional: Spotify API Client ID and Client Secret (for metadata).

Note

• If you want to download multiple playlists, it is recommended to join them all into a single one for metadata tagging. You can create one by copy pasting all of your songs (like files in File Explorer) into a blank one, and use that playlist ID. Please scroll to the bottom of this page and read the Privacy section before getting started.

Quick start

1 Edit the compose.yml and metadata/compose.yml files to set the environment variables.

2 Run these commands to start the Spotify device:

user@host:~/dockerized-spotify-downloader ./build.sh

If this kicks back Error response from daemon: Pool overlaps with other one on this address space, then you likely either have a VPN that should be temporarily disabled to create a new Docker network OR you need to choose another IP block because there is an overlapping Docker network.

user@host:~/dockerized-spotify-downloader ./start.sh

You'll need to use docker compose down to clean up before using the container again because the way it shuts down is messy.

3 Make sure repeat is not on and start the playlist on the device whose name you set in setup.sh.

4 Wait for the playlist to complete. If you started it in a web browser, you can close that now. (Other starting methods not tested.) The container will exit on playback stop.

5 (Optional) Change the owner of the audio files if your user isn't a member of a group allowed to use Docker.

6 (Optional) Run these commands to put album art and other metadata in the audio files:

user@host:~/dockerized-spotify-downloader$ cd metadata && ./build.sh && cd ..
user@host:~/dockerized-spotify-downloader$ ./metadata/start.sh

The working dir needs to contain the volume dir with the audio files in it.

7 Grab the .flac files from the ~/dockerized-spotify-downloader/volume directory. If you don't like .flac files, use ffmpeg to convert them. (Spotify's orginal format is in OGG, but keep in mind you can convert them https://opensource.com/article/17/6/ffmpeg-convert-media-file-formats [section 'Selecting your Codecs'])

Environment variables

compose.yml:

• DEVICE_NAME= The name you want the Spotify device to be.
• PASSWORD= Your Spotify premium account password.
• USERNAME= Your Spotify premium account username. This is different from your display name. Find it in your Account overview.

metadata/compose.yml

• PLAYLIST_ID= The playlist ID. You can find this in the URL link to the playlist.
• SPOTIFY_ID= Your Spotify developer Client ID. Obtain from Spotify Developer dashboard.
• SPOTIFY_SECRET= Your Spotify developer Client Secret. Obtain from Spotify Developer dashboard.

Getting a free Spotify premium trial

Clear all your cookies or use a private browser. Sign up for a Spotify account using a new disassociated email. After this, there should be an option to have 30 days of free premium membership. Sign up for this, when they ask for a credit card, use a service that creates a temporary credit card like privacy.com and allocate $1. Save that username and password. Validate the email. Create a Spotify developer account and application under this account. Remember to cancel Spotify premium before the end of the 30 trial.

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How to improve this project

• Remove user interaction by passing the playlist to the program and have the playlist auto start on container startup. See this GitHub issue or the Spotify Web API.
• Record the audio from spotifyd directly by using --pipe instead of a pulseaudio loopback. See this GitHub issue.
• Implement a cleaner way to stop the container.

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Privacy

Everything in this project is open source and can be manually verified. However, to stay private, make sure to use a reputable paid VPN service, follow best web browser privacy practices, and don't include have anything that can link back to you. If you want a playlist, it may be best to recreate the playlist in the new disassociated account, with some different songs and split into multiple playlists. This project is for private use only. Be wary of sharing any downloaded songs, it's trivial for Spotify to add near invisible and unique trackers to every song determine where any song came from. https://www.linuxserver.io/blog/routing-docker-host-and-container-traffic-through-wireguard#routing-docker-container-traffic-through-wireguard