Funkwhale

Overview

Funkwhale started in 2017 as a project by French developer Eliot Berriot, built around the idea of applying the federated, ActivityPub-based social networking model popularized by Mastodon to music streaming. Rather than a single centralized service, Funkwhale instances (called “pods”) are independently operated servers that can federate with one another, letting users on one pod follow artists, libraries, and playlists hosted on a completely different, independently administered pod — similar to how Mastodon servers interconnect.

The project is released under the AGPL-3.0 license and is self-hosted, typically via Docker, with each pod’s administrator responsible for their own storage, moderation, and user accounts. Funkwhale supports uploading a personal music library (including podcasts) and streaming it through a web player or any Subsonic-compatible mobile app, and its federation model means a small pod’s library can effectively be extended by following and streaming from other pods without duplicating storage.

Key Features

• Federation (ActivityPub) — Independent pods can interconnect, letting users discover and stream libraries hosted elsewhere
• Self-hosted — Deployed via Docker on infrastructure you or your community controls
• Subsonic API compatibility — Works with existing Subsonic-compatible mobile and desktop clients
• Podcast support — Hosts and streams podcasts alongside music
• Radio and playlists — Algorithmic and manual playlist/radio features per pod
• Multi-user pods — Community-run instances with per-user libraries and permissions

Use Cases

• Community-run music servers — Groups or collectives hosting a shared, federated library
• Personal self-hosted streaming — Individuals streaming their own ripped or purchased music collection
• Privacy-conscious listeners — Avoiding licensing-catalog dependencies and third-party tracking
• Podcast hosting — Self-hosted podcast distribution alongside music

Who It’s For

Funkwhale suits self-hosters and communities who want a music streaming service built around user-owned libraries and federation rather than a licensed, centralized catalog. It appeals particularly to users already familiar with the Fediverse (Mastodon and similar platforms) who want the same federated model applied to music.