What Is Openwhyd and How Does It Help You Discover and Collect Music?
Openwhyd is a community-run music curation site that lets you collect tracks from YouTube, SoundCloud, Deezer, Bandcamp and other platforms into one personal library, then browse what other listeners are adding to discover new music. It suits people who already find music scattered across several services and want a single place to save and share it — not people looking for a licensed streaming catalog to replace Spotify or Apple Music.
What Openwhyd actually is
The site describes itself as "the community of music lovers." Its purpose is to help you discover and collect music gems from external sources rather than host or stream music itself. It is maintained collaboratively under the MIT License, which signals an open, community-driven project rather than a commercial streaming product.
The homepage heading "Openwhyd: The community of music lovers" and the tagline "Discover and collect music gems from Youtube, Soundcloud, Deezer and more" frame the two core activities:
- Discover — see what other users are adding right now.
- Collect — save those tracks into your own library.
How discovery works on Openwhyd
The main discovery surface is a live feed titled "Recent tracks from all users." Each entry shows:
| Element | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Track title and artist | What was added |
| Contributor name | Who added it (e.g. "Noizchild added this track to Erotic Lounge") |
| Destination playlist | Which collection it went into |
| Timestamp | How recently it was added |
| Source | Where it came from (e.g. "Via YouTube") |
| Actions | Add to · Like · Comment · Share |
Because the feed is chronological and community-driven, you discover music by watching what real listeners are saving — not by an algorithm guessing your taste. In the sample feed, contributors added tracks ranging from Prince & The Revolution to Archive to Current Joys, each filed into themed collections like "Indie, pop, alternative, new wave" or "rock/swing/soul/blues/jazz/down beat/oldies/folk/funk."
Collecting tracks from multiple platforms
Openwhyd's defining feature is aggregation. A track added "Via YouTube" sits alongside items from SoundCloud, Deezer and Bandcamp in the same library. This means:
- You don't need separate accounts or apps to keep track of a song you found on YouTube versus one you found on SoundCloud.
- Your collection is organized into named playlists (the feed shows examples like "Erotic Lounge," "Hazards (Artificial Sun)" and "Cover").
- Each track keeps its original source link, so playback happens on the host platform.
The trade-off is that Openwhyd does not host audio. It stores links and metadata. If a source video is removed from YouTube, the Openwhyd entry points to something that no longer plays.
Getting started: login, sign up, and adding a track
The homepage presents Login and Sign up as the entry points, plus an "Add a track" action in the feed area. The general flow is:
- Create an account via Sign up (or log in if you already have one).
- Use Add a track to submit a link from a supported source.
- Assign it to a playlist so it appears in your library.
- Optionally like, comment on, or share tracks you find in the community feed.
The site does not publish pricing details on the pages referenced here, so treat any cost or access terms as unconfirmed and check the site directly.
Using your library on mobile
Openwhyd provides a mobile track finder for looking up a favorite track on the go. The site's instruction is to click the mobile link and then bookmark it on your phone — it works as a web page rather than a native app. This is handy when you want to check your collection away from a desktop but don't want to install anything.
How Openwhyd differs from a normal streaming service
| Dimension | Openwhyd | Typical streaming service |
|---|---|---|
| Music hosting | Links to external platforms | Hosts licensed catalog |
| Discovery method | Community feed of user additions | Algorithmic recommendations |
| Curation | You and other users build playlists | Editorial + algorithmic playlists |
| Cost model | Not stated on referenced pages | Subscription or ad-supported |
| Governance | Community-maintained, MIT License | Corporate |
Choose Openwhyd if your goal is to gather and share links across platforms and to discover through other people's taste. Choose a standard streaming service if you want one integrated player with a guaranteed catalog and offline playback.