Plex Last.fm "Now Playing" Scrobbler

This application listens for webhook events from your Plex Media Server and updates your Last.fm "Now Playing" status in real-time. The built in Plex scrobbler only scrobbles after the track is over, and some other attempts seem to time out halfway through a song. This should fix both of those problems.

Configuration

The application is configured using environment variables. You will need to gather the following information:

• LASTFM_API_KEY: Your Last.fm API Key. You can get one from Last.fm API Accounts.
• LASTFM_API_SECRET: Your Last.fm API Shared Secret (you'll get it with the API_KEY).

Installation and Running

You can run this application using Docker (amd64 or arm64) or as a systemd service on a Linux system.

Set Up

There is a guided set up upon first start. You can access it by going to http://your-instance:8000/setup.

1. It will use your API_KEY and API_SECRET to get an auth url.

2. You need to click that link and accept the application in last.fm.

3. Once you've done that, go back to this site and it will ask you for your last.fm username; submit.

4. (This part is invisible to you - it happens behind the scenes) Once you complete that, it grabs a session key and stores it for you in a .env file in the volume specified in your docker compose file or in the path $currentWorkingDirectory/lastfm-data/.env NOTE: This file must be writeable on the host from Docker or your user running via systemd.

5. From now on (even after restarts), it will use your session key to authenticate you in a way that allows you to scrobble (the API_KEY and API_SECRET alone will not give you write permissions)

Method 1: Using Docker Compose (Recommended)

Prerequisites:

• Docker installed.
• Docker Compose installed.

Steps:

1. Create a docker-compose.yml file: Create a file named docker-compose.yml with the following content: Note: The application stores Last.fm credentials and session data in a persistent volume. By default, data is stored in /opt/homelab/traefik/lastfm-data on the host.

   services:
     plex-lastfm-now-playing:
       image: ghcr.io/soehlert/plex_lastfm_now_playing:latest
       container_name: plex_lastfm_now_playing
       restart: unless-stopped
       ports:
           - "8000:8000"
       volumes:
           - ${LASTFM_DATA_PATH:-/opt/homelab/traefik/lastfm-data}:/app/lastfm-data
       # Set up to read env vars from portainer
       environment:
           - LASTFM_API_KEY=${LASTFM_API_KEY}
           - LASTFM_API_SECRET=${LASTFM_API_SECRET}
       # Optionally use an env file instead of vars in portainer
       # env_file:
         # - .env

   Optional env_file:

   LASTFM_DATA_PATH=path on the host of your .env file
   LASTFM_API_KEY=your_lastfm_api_key_here
   LASTFM_API_SECRET=your_lastfm_api_secret_here
   # Optional as we will gather this during set up if it does not exist (you likely don't want to set these on your own)
   LASTFM_USERNAME=your_lastfm_username_here
   LASTFM_SESSION_KEY=your_session_key
   # Optional to override defaults
   UPDATE_INTERVAL_SECONDS=some_sort_of_integer_seconds
   PAUSE_TIMEOUT_SECONDS=some_sort_of_integer_seconds
   APP_PORT=8000
   LOG_LEVEL="INFO"

2. Start the application: Open a terminal in the directory where you created the docker-compose.yml file and run:

   docker-compose up -d

Method 2: Running as a systemd service (Linux)

This method involves installing the application directly on your Linux system and running it under systemd.

Prerequisites:

• Python 3.12+
• uv - installer.
• git
• A dedicated user to run the application (recommended for security, e.g., scrobbler).

Steps:

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/soehlert/plex_lastfm_now_playing /usr/local/plex_lastfm_now_playing
   chown scrobbler:scrobbler /usr/local/plex_lastfm_now_playing
   cd /usr/local/plex_lastfm_now_playing

2. Create a virtual environment

   uv venv

3. Activate the virtual environment

   source .venv/bin/activate

4. Install the application and its dependencies using uv

   uv pip install -e .

5. Configure Environment Variables for systemd: Create an environment file for the service. For example, at /etc/plex_lastfm_now_playing/config.env:

   sudo mkdir -p /etc/plex_lastfm_now_playing
   sudo nano /etc/plex_lastfm_now_playing/config.env

6. Add your configuration from the previous envfile example to this file:

7. Secure the file:

   sudo chown scrobbler:scrobbler /etc/plex_lastfm_now_playing/config.env
   sudo chmod 600 /etc/plex_lastfm_now_playing/config.env

8. Create the systemd Service File: Create a file named plex-lastfm-now-playing.service in /etc/systemd/system/

   [Unit]
   Description=Plex Last.fm Now Playing Scrobbler
   After=network.target
   
   [Service]
   User=scrobbler
   Group=scrobbler
   WorkingDirectory=/usr/local/plex_lastfm_now_playing
   EnvironmentFile=/etc/plex_lastfm_now_playing/config.env
   
   ExecStart=/usr/local/plex_lastfm_now_playing/.venv/bin/fastapi run src/plex_lastfm_now_playing/main.py --proxy-headers --port 8000
   Restart=always
   RestartSec=3
   
   [Install]
   WantedBy=multi-user.target

9. Pick up the new service and start it:

   sudo systemctl daemon-reload
   sudo systemctl enable plex-lastfm-now-playing.service
   sudo systemctl start plex-lastfm-now-playing.service

Plex Configuration

Once the application is running (either via Docker or systemd), you need to configure Plex to send webhooks to it.

1. In Plex, go to Settings > Webhooks.
2. Click Add Webhook.
3. Enter the URL where your plex-lastfm-now-playing application is listening. Eg:

   http://10.10.10.10:8000/webhook

4. Save the webhook.

Plex will now send notifications to your application when media playback starts, resumes, stops, or pauses (among others - you can ignore them).