After YouTube's 2021 takedowns, the music-bot market consolidated. Most of the survivors stream from Spotify, SoundCloud, or self-hosted libraries instead.
Current picks
Hydra
The closest spiritual successor to Rythm. Spotify + SoundCloud, free tier with light features, premium ($3/mo) for queue length + filters.
FredBoat
Open-source, self-hostable. Streams from YouTube, SoundCloud, Twitch, Bandcamp. Best for tech-savvy server owners.
Lavalink + custom bot
If you have a developer on your team, running your own bot via Lavalink is the most reliable option. No risk of the bot getting taken down.
What we'd avoid
Bots that don't disclose their streaming source. They're often one cease-and-desist away from disappearing.
Permissions to grant
Music bots need: Connect, Speak, Use Voice Activity, View Channels, Send Messages, Embed Links, Read Message History. Nothing more.