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YouTube continues its crack down on use of music from their platform via third parties by shutting down another Discord music bot.

We recently reported that YouTube was cracking down on third-party music bots on Discord such as Groovy bot, now they’ve turned their attention to Rhythm bot. YouTube has sent a cease and desist to the owners of Rhythm, a bot that allows Discord users to play music from YouTube videos. It’s an incredibly popular bot and has more than 560 million users. 

Google has requested that the Rhythm bot closes down within seven days, and the service has compiled and announced it will be shutting down on 15th September. 

Rhythm is currently installed on more than 20 million Discord servers and has more than 560 million users and 30 million active monthly users. This is another blow to Discord, even though they support YouTube, as it works out that roughly 20% of their users, use Rhythm. 

Speaking on the cease and desist, the creator of Rhythm Bot, Yoav, said: “One way or another we knew this was due to happen eventually.” Adding that:  “Which is why we started working on something new a year ago.” 

Discord has allowed music bots to be a part of their service for so long due to the fact that they’re third-party owned and managed, thus they didn’t face the possible scrutiny. However, Discord has said that they are working with YouTube to create an alternative for their users.