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Immediately we mourn one other Discord music bot that has met the wrath of YouTube: the favored Vexera music bot has discontinued its music performance after receiving a stop and desist discover from the streaming large.
“On the 4th of July we have now acquired a discover from YouTube demanding we stop exercise of streaming audio from YouTube as a part of our music characteristic,” reads a discover on the Vexera web site. “YouTube is integral to the music characteristic and we can not proceed with out it.”
The Vexera music bot, like many earlier than it, provided a handy solution to take heed to music synchronized with different folks in voice chat. With a easy search command, the bot would search YouTube, discover the video you’re searching for, and stream its audio to everybody within the channel. Based on Vexera, the bot was energetic in over 3 million Discord servers.
Vexera’s announcement reads like a near-perfect echo of the downfall of Groovy, the ultra-popular music bot (energetic in 16 million servers at its top) that was shut down by Google nearly two years in the past. After Groovy’s closure, these 16 million servers scattered to the wind in search of an appropriate substitute. I attempted out a couple of candidates in my very own Discord server earlier than deciding on Vexera. Oof.
Neither Vexera nor Groovy have shared precisely why YouTube threatened authorized motion, however in 2021 a YouTube spokesperson mentioned Groovy violated its phrases of service by “modifying the service and utilizing it for business functions.” In different phrases, Google is taking situation with music bots bypassing YouTube’s adverts on prime of providing paid premium memberships for further options that Google, presumably, receives no cash from.
When Groovy shuttered in 2021, customers anxious that it signaled the tip of all music bots on the platform, and as an extension, the tip of the salad days of Discord—hyper-convenient and unmarred by enterprise realities.
Google has not been as ferocious as anticipated in persecuting music bots within the years since. No less than one different well-liked bot has gotten the boot, however others stay at the moment.
Some thought that the introduction of Discord’s officially-sanctioned YouTube Watch Collectively app in 2022 (which helps adverts) could be the ultimate nail within the coffin. It wasn’t, presumably as a result of I don’t know a single one who’s ever used it when streaming a browser tab is way simpler. Maybe the remaining music bots are solely nonetheless round as a result of their footprint is simply too small for Google to note.
Vexera’s closure is a bitter reminder that one in every of Discord’s greatest perks exists solely on the whim of the mega-corporation that’s permitting it. With Discord itself more and more changing into a much less welcoming place without spending a dime customers, I’m wondering if one other characteristic that lets customers share paid content material without spending a dime (Go Reside streaming) is subsequent on the chopping block.
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