Linux Spotify Ad Mute

_README.md

This script only works for older versions of Spotify for Linux.

An actively developed admute script for Spotify on Linux can be found here: https://github.com/SecUpwN/Spotify-AdKiller

spotify-admute.sh

#!/bin/bash

#Linux Spotify Ad Mute v2
#Put this script in the directory the "spotify" binary is in (e.g. /usr/share/spotify).
#To open Spotify, run it instead of the "spotify" binary.
#System sound will be muted as soon as an ad plays
#Find updated versions at: http://pcworldsoftware.kilu.net/files/link_spotify-admute.php and/or https://gist.github.com/pcworld
#On Debian, you need the package "pulseaudio-utils" for the command line util "pactl" which used in this script
#
#Update: For newer 0.8.x versions (x>4; such as 0.8.8), use this script: https://gist.github.com/pcworld/3198763/#comment-813440
#For 0.9.x: https://gist.github.com/pcworld/3198763/#comment-857143
#
#Copyright (c) 2012, "pcworld", [email protected]
#All rights reserved.
#
#Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
#modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:
#    * Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
#      notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
#    * Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
#      notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
#      documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
#    * Neither the name of the author nor the
#      names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products
#      derived from this software without specific prior written permission.
#
#THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND
#ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED
#WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE
#DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER BE LIABLE FOR ANY
#DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES
#(INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES;
#LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND
#ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT
#(INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS
#SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

DIR="$( cd "$( dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )" && pwd )" # http://stackoverflow.com/a/246128

dbus-monitor "type='signal',path='/org/mpris/MediaPlayer2',member='PropertiesChanged'" | grep --line-buffered 'string "Metadata"' |
while read -r line ; do
	if ! [[ "`dbus-send --print-reply --dest=org.mpris.MediaPlayer2.spotify / org.freedesktop.MediaPlayer2.GetMetadata`" == *'string "mpris:artUrl"'* ]]
	then
		pactl set-sink-mute 0 yes
	else
		pactl set-sink-mute 0 no
	fi
done &
$DIR/spotify "$@" &
wait $! &&
test -z "`jobs -p`" || kill `jobs -p` # http://stackoverflow.com/a/2618497

I executed this script with the while loop of the first comment and now no sound is coming when I play music! How can I revert what I just did?

Those scripts did not work for me anymore (I use ubuntu 14.04 and spotify 0.9.11.26) with the newest spotify version. So I went and modified them.
You have to start my script parallel to spotify and it will mute every commercial:

#!/bin/bash

# set commercial mute, so we do not neet to listen to them

echo "----------------------------------------------------------"
echo ""
echo "   Mute spotify commercial"
echo ""
echo "----------------------------------------------------------"


WMTITLE="Spotify - Linux Preview"


xprop -spy -name "$WMTITLE" WM_ICON_NAME |
while read -r XPROPOUTPUT; do
        XPROP_TRACKDATA="$(echo "$XPROPOUTPUT" | cut -d \" -f 2 )"
        DBUS_TRACKDATA="$(dbus-send --print-reply --dest=org.mpris.MediaPlayer2.spotify / \
        org.freedesktop.MediaPlayer2.GetMetadata | grep xesam:title -A 1 | grep variant | cut -d \" -f 2)"

        # show something
        echo "XPROP:      $XPROP_TRACKDATA"
        echo "DBUS:       $DBUS_TRACKDATA"

        # first song should not be commerical
        if [ "$OLD_XPROP" != "" ]
        then
            # check if old DBUS is the same as the new, if true then we have a commercial, so mute
            if [ "$OLD_DBUS" = "$DBUS_TRACKDATA" ]
            then
                echo "commercial: yes"
                amixer -D pulse set Master mute >> /dev/null
            else
                echo "commercial: no"
                amixer -D pulse set Master unmute >> /dev/null
            fi
        else
            echo "commercial: we don't know yet"
        fi
        echo "----------------------------------------------------------"
        OLD_XPROP=$XPROP_TRACKDATA
        OLD_DBUS=$DBUS_TRACKDATA

done

exit 0

It is based on the script of Feltzer

@openpaul your script assumes a commercial is playing when pausing and unpausing. I changed your second if statement to get around this.

if [ "$OLD_DBUS" = "$DBUS_TRACKDATA" ] && [ "$OLD_XPROP" != "Spotify" ]

@debrandt it is useful not to mute master volume, when you pause spotify.
i extended the if statement to the following

if [ "$OLD_DBUS" = "$DBUS_TRACKDATA" ] && [ "$OLD_XPROP" != "Spotify" ] && [ "$XPROP_TRACKDATA" != "Spotify" ]

❗ TO EVERYONE: This script has MATURED and MOVED into Spotify-AdKiller!

@SecUpwN i try it, and work perfectly.
thx very much for a comprehensible installation.

Thank you very much for your kind words. Unfortunately mentions are not possible within Gist, so I bet you'll never know how thankful I'm for this. Please join the development in my repository mentioned above. Cheers!

God job.

thanks to @felzer and others who have contributed.
I edited the version 1 to work with nuvolaplayer's spotify app on ubuntu 18.04. enjoy!
be sure to change the Player and Looptrack!

`

flatpak run eu.tiliado.NuvolaAppSpotify 
#!/bin/bash
# spotify-automute-simple
# - automatically mute Spotify when ad comes on and loop short track
# - automatically switch back to Spotify when ad over

# Settings

#PLAYER="mpv --loop=inf"
#PLAYER = "mpv --no-audio" 
PLAYER="mpv"
LOOPTRACK=""

# VAR

WM_NAME="Spotify"
ADMUTE=0
PAUSED=0

# FCT

get_pactl_nr(){
    pactl list | grep -E '(^Sink Input)|(media.name = \"Spotify\"$)' | cut -d \# -f2 \
    | grep -v Spotify
}

# MAIN

xprop -spy -name "$WM_NAME" WM_ICON_NAME |
while read -r XPROPOUTPUT; do
    XPROP_TRACKDATA="$(echo "$XPROPOUTPUT" | cut -d \" -f 2 )"
    DBUS_TRACKDATA="$(dbus-send --print-reply --dest=org.mpris.MediaPlayer2.NuvolaAppSpotify /org/mpris/MediaPlayer2 \
    org.freedesktop.DBus.Properties.Get string:'org.mpris.MediaPlayer2.Player' string:'Metadata' | grep xesam:title -A 1 | grep variant | cut -d \" -f 2)"

    echo "XPROP:    $XPROP_TRACKDATA"
    echo "DBUS:     $DBUS_TRACKDATA"

    if [[ "$DBUS_TRACKDATA" = "Spotify" ]]
      then
          echo "--PAUSED--"
          PAUSED="1"
      else
          PAUSED=0
          echo "--NOTPAUSED--"
    fi

    if [[ "$PAUSED" = 0 ]]
      then
          # || "$XPROP_TRACKDATA" =~ "$DBUS_TRACKDATA" ]]
          echo "--NOAD--"
          echo "ADMUTE: $ADMUTE"
      echo "PAUSED: $PAUSED" 		
          if [[ "$ADMUTE" = "1" ]]
            then
                sleep 0.5
                kill -s TERM "$ALTPID"
                for PACTLNR in $(get_pactl_nr); do
                    pactl set-sink-input-mute "$PACTLNR" no > /dev/null 2>&1
                    echo "Unmuting sink $PACTLNR"
                done
          fi
          ADMUTE=0
      else
          echo "--AD--"
          echo "ADMUTE: $ADMUTE"
          echo "PAUSED: $PAUSED"            
          if [[ "$ADMUTE" != "1" ]]
            then
                for PACTLNR in $(get_pactl_nr); do
                    pactl set-sink-input-mute "$PACTLNR" yes > /dev/null 2>&1
                    echo "Muting sink $PACTLNR"
                done
                $PLAYER "$LOOPTRACK" > /dev/null 2>&1 &
                ALTPID="$!"
          fi
          ADMUTE="1"
    fi
done

echo "Spotify not active. Exiting."
exit 0

`

I did some changes to the script from @vvsarana:

1. Find the window by class instead of a name which changes with a song
2. Follow up the window name change to track "Advertisement"
3. Removed replacement play, just mutes the Spotify

Enjoy :)

#!/bin/bash
# spotify-automute-simple
# - automatically mute Spotify when ad comes on and loop short track
# - automatically switch back to Spotify when ad over

# Settings

# VAR
ADMUTE=0
PAUSED=0

# FCT

get_pactl_nr(){
    pactl list | grep -E '(^Sink Input)|(media.name = \"Spotify\"$)' | cut -d \# -f2 \
    | grep -v Spotify
}

# Find window id
WM_ID=$(xdotool search --class "spotify" | sed -n 2p)

# MAIN

xprop -spy -id "$WM_ID" WM_NAME |
while read -r XPROPOUTPUT; do
    XPROP_TRACKDATA="$(echo "$XPROPOUTPUT" | cut -d \" -f 2 )"
    DBUS_TRACKDATA="$(dbus-send --print-reply --dest=org.mpris.MediaPlayer2.spotify /org/mpris/MediaPlayer2 \
    org.freedesktop.DBus.Properties.Get string:'org.mpris.MediaPlayer2.Player' string:'Metadata' | grep xesam:title -A 1 | grep variant | cut -d \" -f 2)"

    echo "XPROP:    $XPROP_TRACKDATA"
    echo "DBUS:     $DBUS_TRACKDATA"

    if [[ "$DBUS_TRACKDATA" = "Advertisement" ]]
      then
          echo "--PAUSED--"
          PAUSED="1"
      else
          PAUSED=0
          echo "--NOTPAUSED--"
    fi

    if [[ "$PAUSED" = 0 ]]
      then
          # || "$XPROP_TRACKDATA" =~ "$DBUS_TRACKDATA" ]]
          echo "--NOAD--"
          echo "ADMUTE: $ADMUTE"
      echo "PAUSED: $PAUSED" 		
          if [[ "$ADMUTE" = "1" ]]
            then
                sleep 0.5
                for PACTLNR in $(get_pactl_nr); do
                    pactl set-sink-input-mute "$PACTLNR" no > /dev/null 2>&1
                    echo "Unmuting sink $PACTLNR"
                done
          fi
          ADMUTE=0
      else
          echo "--AD--"
          echo "ADMUTE: $ADMUTE"
          echo "PAUSED: $PAUSED"            
          if [[ "$ADMUTE" != "1" ]]
            then
                for PACTLNR in $(get_pactl_nr); do
                    pactl set-sink-input-mute "$PACTLNR" yes > /dev/null 2>&1
                    echo "Muting sink $PACTLNR"
                done
          fi
          ADMUTE="1"
    fi
done

echo "Spotify not active. Exiting."
exit 0

Does anybody here have version 0.8.4 of Spotify for AMD64? I can only find i386 versions.

Hey, @maximvl!
Could you please help me out with your code? I'm new to linux, though I hate commercials.
So, I'm running Xubuntu 18.04.4 and when I try to run your script with spotify already running I get the following mesange:

./spotify-admute.sh: line 20: xdotool: command not found
xprop: error: Invalid window id format: .
Spotify not active. Exiting.

Will be supper grateful for your help.
Maksym

hey, @bim9262
I used the piece of code you suggested in script.
Somehow I ran this script in wrong directory and now spotify has no sound. It does not matter how I launch spotify or how many times I remove and reinstall it.I appreciate any idea that might help.

Try:

num=$(pactl list | grep -E '(^Sink Input)|(media.name = \"Spotify\"$)' | awk '/Spotify/ {print a} {a = $0}' | cut -c 13-)
pactl set-sink-input-mute $num no

Otherwise if you use something gui to control your volume, look at the per application volumes and set Spotify back to a non-zero value.

I add changed some parts of your script @vvsarana and @maximvl.
It captures more ads

#!/bin/bash
# Based on https://gist.github.com/pcworld/3198763
# Mute spotify when it starts advertisement
# Run like this
# nohup bash ~/bin/spotify/mute.sh  > /tmp/spotify_mute.log & 

# Settings

# VAR
ADMUTE=0
PAUSED=0

# FCT

get_pactl_nr(){
    pactl list | grep -E '(^Sink Input)|(media.name = \"Spotify\"$)' | cut -d \# -f2 \
    | grep -v Spotify
}

# Find window id
WM_ID=$(xdotool search --class "spotify" | sed -n 2p)

# MAIN

xprop -spy -id "$WM_ID" WM_NAME |
while read -r XPROPOUTPUT; do
    XPROP_TRACKDATA="$(echo "$XPROPOUTPUT" | cut -d \" -f 2 )"
    DBUS_TRACKDATA="$(dbus-send --print-reply --dest=org.mpris.MediaPlayer2.spotify /org/mpris/MediaPlayer2 \
    org.freedesktop.DBus.Properties.Get string:'org.mpris.MediaPlayer2.Player' string:'Metadata' | grep xesam:title -A 1 | grep variant | cut -d \" -f 2)"

    echo "XPROP:    $XPROP_TRACKDATA"
    echo "DBUS:     $DBUS_TRACKDATA"

    if [[ "$DBUS_TRACKDATA" =~ ^(Advertisement|Spotify)$ ]]
      then
          echo "--PAUSED--"
          PAUSED="1"
      else
          PAUSED=0
          echo "--NOTPAUSED--"
    fi


    if [[ "$PAUSED" = 0 ]]
      then
          # || "$XPROP_TRACKDATA" =~ "$DBUS_TRACKDATA" ]]
          echo "--NO ADS--"
          echo "ADMUTE: $ADMUTE"
          echo "PAUSED: $PAUSED" 		
          if [[ "$ADMUTE" = "1" ]]
            then
                sleep 0.5
                num=$(pactl list | grep -E '(^Sink Input)|(media.name = \"Spotify\"$)' | awk '/Spotify/ {print a} {a = $0}' | cut -c 13-)
                pactl set-sink-input-mute $num no
                echo "UnMuting"
          fi
          ADMUTE=0
      else
          echo "--ADS--"
          echo "ADMUTE: $ADMUTE"
          echo "PAUSED: $PAUSED"            
          if [[ "$ADMUTE" != "1" ]]
            then
              num=$(pactl list | grep -E '(^Sink Input)|(media.name = \"Spotify\"$)' | awk '/Spotify/ {print a} {a = $0}' | cut -c 13-)
              pactl set-sink-input-mute $num yes
              echo "Muting"
          fi
          ADMUTE="1"
    fi
done

echo "Spotify not active. Exiting."
exit 0

Hey guys, thanks for the useful script. As per good open source tradition, I've improved the script and pasting here.

Improvements

• Automatically attaches to Spotify when the player is open. So now you can run this script on system startup and once Spotify is open it attaches to it. When close - detaches. When restarted - attaches to new instance!
• Pause when unmuting (configurable, default = 2 sec)
• New logging (with time, not that verbose)
• Code refactored a little bit

Bugfixes

• Mute didn't work after spotify restart (there were two Spotify sinks)
• When the script was crashed / killed and Spotify was muted, it didn't unmute the Spotify

#!/bin/bash
# Based on https://gist.github.com/pcworld/3198763
# Mute spotify when it starts advertisement
# Run like this
# nohup bash ~/bin/spotify/mute.sh  > /tmp/spotify_mute.log &
# Link: https://gist.github.com/pcworld/3198763/af2a4981c6f26075c0a16a261f5294f2cf5e5da5#gistcomment-3384837

# Settings
PAUSE_BEFORE_UNMUTE=2
PAUSE_NOT_ACTIVE=5

# VAR
AD_MUTED=0
AD_DETECTED=0

# FCT

get_pactl_nr() {
    pactl list | grep -E '(^Sink Input)|(media.name = \"Spotify\"$)' | cut -d \# -f2 \
    | grep -v Spotify
}

mute_player() {
  num=$(pactl list | grep -E '(^Sink Input)|(media.name = \"Spotify\"$)' | awk '/Spotify/ {print a} {a = $0}' | cut -c 13- | tail -n 1)
  pactl set-sink-input-mute $num yes
}

unmute_player() {
  num=$(pactl list | grep -E '(^Sink Input)|(media.name = \"Spotify\"$)' | awk '/Spotify/ {print a} {a = $0}' | cut -c 13- | tail -n 1)
  pactl set-sink-input-mute $num no
}

log() {
  local line=${1}
  echo \[$( date "+%H:%M:%S" )\] $line
}

# Unmute just in case this script crashed the previous time
unmute_player

# Endless loop, sort of service
while [ 1 ]; do

  # Find window id
  WM_ID=$(xdotool search --class "spotify" | sed -n 2p)

  if [ -z "$WM_ID" ]; then
    log "Spotify not active"
    sleep $PAUSE_NOT_ACTIVE
    continue
  fi

  # MAIN
  xprop -spy -id "$WM_ID" WM_NAME |
  while read -r XPROPOUTPUT; do
      XPROP_TRACKDATA="$(echo "$XPROPOUTPUT" | cut -d \" -f 2 )"
      DBUS_TRACKDATA="$(dbus-send --print-reply --dest=org.mpris.MediaPlayer2.spotify /org/mpris/MediaPlayer2 \
      org.freedesktop.DBus.Properties.Get string:'org.mpris.MediaPlayer2.Player' string:'Metadata' | grep xesam:title -A 1 | grep variant | cut -d \" -f 2)"

      if [[ "$DBUS_TRACKDATA" =~ ^(Advertisement|Spotify)$ ]]; then
          log "AD detected"
          AD_DETECTED="1"
      else
          AD_DETECTED="0"
          log "No AD detected"
      fi

      # Debug (uncomment if you need to debug the script)
      # echo "XPROP: \"$XPROP_TRACKDATA\""
      # echo "DBUS: \"$DBUS_TRACKDATA\""
      # echo "Debug: AD_MUTED = $AD_MUTED, AD_DETECTED = $AD_DETECTED"

      if [[ "$AD_DETECTED" = "0" ]] && [[ "$AD_MUTED" = "1" ]]; then
        log "Unmuting (AD_MUTED = $AD_MUTED, AD_DETECTED = $AD_DETECTED)"
        sleep $PAUSE_BEFORE_UNMUTE
        unmute_player
        AD_MUTED="0"
        log "Unmuted"
      elif [[ "$AD_DETECTED" = "1" ]] && [[ "$AD_MUTED" = "0" ]]; then
        log "Muting (AD_MUTED = $AD_MUTED, AD_DETECTED = $AD_DETECTED)"
        mute_player
        AD_MUTED="1"
        log "Muted"
      fi
  done

  log "Spotify is not active, unmuting"
  unmute_player
  AD_MUTED="1"

done

log "Something went wrong. Exiting."
exit 1

I've put this to my space too - https://gist.github.com/logical-and/825bab160d604d82bf6ad9ebd3a6410d. Will update there when needed (bugfixes, incompatibilities with Spotify updates)

#!/bin/bash

    # spotify-automute-simple
    # - automatically mute Spotify when ad comes on and loop short track
    # - automatically switch back to Spotify when ad over


    # Settings

    PLAYER="mpv --loop=inf"
    LOOPTRACK="$HOME/Music/Alerts/Jeopardy_loop.mp3"

    # VAR

    WMTITLE="Spotify - Linux Preview"
    ADMUTE=0
    PAUSED=0

    # FCT

    get_pactl_nr(){
        pactl list | grep -E '(^Sink Input)|(media.name = \"Spotify\"$)' | cut -d \# -f2 \
        | grep -v Spotify
    }

    # MAIN

    xprop -spy -name "$WMTITLE" WM_ICON_NAME |
    while read -r XPROPOUTPUT; do
        XPROP_TRACKDATA="$(echo "$XPROPOUTPUT" | cut -d \" -f 2 )"
        DBUS_TRACKDATA="$(dbus-send --print-reply --dest=org.mpris.MediaPlayer2.spotify / \
        org.freedesktop.MediaPlayer2.GetMetadata | grep xesam:title -A 1 | grep variant | cut -d \" -f 2)"

        echo "XPROP:    $XPROP_TRACKDATA"
        echo "DBUS:     $DBUS_TRACKDATA"

        if [[ "$XPROP_TRACKDATA" = "Spotify" ]]
          then
              echo "--PAUSED--"
              PAUSED="1"
          else
              PAUSED=0
              echo "--NOTPAUSED--"
        fi

        if [[ "$PAUSED" = "1" || "$XPROP_TRACKDATA" =~ "$DBUS_TRACKDATA" ]]
          then
              echo "--NOAD--"
              if [[ "$ADMUTE" = "1" ]]
                then
                    sleep 0.5
                    kill -s TERM "$ALTPID"
                    for PACTLNR in $(get_pactl_nr); do
                        pactl set-sink-input-mute "$PACTLNR" no > /dev/null 2>&1
                        echo "Unmuting sink $PACTLNR"
                    done
              fi
              ADMUTE=0
          else
              echo "--AD--"
              if [[ "$ADMUTE" != "1" ]]
                then
                    for PACTLNR in $(get_pactl_nr); do
                        pactl set-sink-input-mute "$PACTLNR" yes > /dev/null 2>&1
                        echo "Muting sink $PACTLNR"
                    done
                    $PLAYER "$LOOPTRACK" > /dev/null 2>&1 &
                    ALTPID="$!"
              fi
              ADMUTE=1
        fi
    done

    echo "Spotify not active. Exiting."
    exit 0

I'm getting this error Error org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.UnknownMethod: Object does not exist at path “/”