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Drift
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Underground
Full songs from artists nobody has told you about.
Independent musicians on Audius, streamed whole. It keeps playing with the screen locked.
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Artists you have already heard do not come back: every station takes you somewhere new. Nothing is saved until you sign in.
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About
Deriva is an independent discovery engine.
It starts from a song you love and drifts, one hop at a time, toward artists you have never heard, from well-known names to independent musicians just starting out. There is no feed to scroll through: you decide how far to go.
Why Deriva exists
Good music deserves to be found, whoever made it.
Much of what we listen to today is suggested by systems designed to keep us listening. They do it well, and since the safest bet is what is already popular, a small share of artists ends up with most of the attention, while many others, often just as good, are rarely heard.
Deriva is a small attempt to make some room for them. It moves through the connections between artists rather than their play counts, and the further you drift, the more space it gives to people few have heard of. Underground goes one step further, to independent musicians who publish their own songs on Audius, many of them with a few hundred followers.
Deriva makes choices too, so it tries to be open about them: every pick says why it is there, you decide how far it goes, and nobody can pay to be recommended.
If you find someone you love, follow them, buy their music or go to a show. It helps them far more than any recommendation.
How it works
- Pick a starting pointA song, an artist, a mood, or an underground genre.
- Deriva maps the neighboursRelated artists from Deezer and real listening similarity from Last.fm, scored by closeness and novelty, then matched by sound. Underground follows the connections between independent artists on Audius.
- You steer the driftArtists you have heard never come back. Like and Not for me change course, and Drift sets how far it wanders.
Underground
Audius is an open platform where musicians publish their own songs. Underground stations play them in full, even with the screen locked, and drift from one artist to the next through the artists they are connected to, and from one scene to a neighbouring one as Drift grows.
Start one from the Underground card on the home, switch any station to it from the Drift panel, or find two independent tracks in every batch at Open sea. Tap an artist to see their page in Deriva, with a link to follow them on Audius.
A compass, not a mirror
Most music apps are built to learn your taste and keep you close to it, and they do that well. Deriva is not here to replace them. It is for the moments you want to step off your usual path and find something you would never have searched for.
Where it shines
- It points away from what you already play, not back at it.
- Independent artists get a place next to well-known ones.
- You choose how far to go with Drift, from Close to Open sea.
- Every pick says why, like “Close to Sade”.
- It works from a single song, with no account and no history.
- It stays neutral: nobody can pay to be recommended.
Keep in mind
- It knows you only through Like, Not for me and what you have heard.
- Sound matching relies on public audio data that covers about three tracks in four; the others are placed by artist links alone.
- An artist you have heard does not come back, even one you loved.
- It relies on free data from Deezer and Last.fm, so very new or very local artists can be missing.
- Underground comes from Audius, where anyone can upload: the finds are rawer, and matched by genre, mood and connections between artists rather than by listening data.
Free, no ads
Deriva is free, with no ads and nothing to buy. It is an independent project, made and looked after by one person.
It runs entirely on free services:
- Deezer APICatalog, artwork, related artists, charts and 30-second previews.
- Last.fm APIListening similarity, genre and language tags, artist bios.
- ReccoBeatsSound features of tracks, such as energy, mood and tempo, to match what plays next.
- YouTubeFull-length playback through the standard embedded player.
- Audius APIIndependent artists and full-length streams for Underground stations. API terms and privacy policy.
- VercelHosting and serverless functions, on the free plan.
- NeonThe Postgres database for accounts, shares and station counts, on the free plan.
- ResendAccount emails such as welcome and password reset, on the free plan.
Inspired by
Pandora, for the idea that a radio station can learn what you like. Last.fm, for similarity built from what people actually listen to. Shazam's calm discovery cards, Spotify's radio and onboarding, Deezer's Flow and YouTube Music's moods. The interface was shaped with patterns collected on Mobbin.
Deriva is not affiliated with any of these companies. Music, artwork and videos belong to their artists and labels.
Your data
You can listen without an account, and nothing is saved: Deriva remembers what you heard only until you close the page. With an account, your discoveries, memory and artists are saved in a private database, and your password is stored only as a one-way hash. Your email is used only to sign you in and for account emails, like a password reset.
To understand what works, Deriva counts visits and what people start, like and share, anonymously: no cookies, nothing stored on your device, and no third-party trackers. No ads, no data sold. Read the privacy policy.
Feedback
Have feedback, an idea or a song Deriva should know?
Write an email. Every message is read, and the good ideas end up in Deriva.
Credits
Thought, designed and orchestrated by erregi, built with AI.