Building My Own Music Player: A Custom WordPress Audio Plugin

If you are a regular visitor here, you probably know that I’ve released a fair share of albums over the last couple of years under the AI personas AERIALIS K. and Aerialyn.

You can find these releases across Spotify and a whole bunch of other streaming services. A few selections are even available on physical vinyl via Elastic Stage! An overview of all albums and singles is always right here on the site, and you can jump straight to them on Spotify simply by clicking the album art on the front page.

Behind the Music: Detailed Breakdowns and Direct Links

Right now, I am also working on putting together comprehensive presentations for every single album, diving deep into both the music and the lyrics. These pages feature direct listening links to both Spotify and Suno so you can experience the tracks however you prefer.

However, I’ve spent some recent development time working on a bit of a side project: building a custom music player tailored specifically for these album presentations.

Direct On-Site Playback via a Custom WordPress Plugin

Instead of forcing you to jump through hoops via Spotify, other streaming platforms, or Suno, I wanted a way to let you play the music right here on the site.

To make that happen, I’ve been developing my own custom WordPress plugin.

  • Current Status: It is not quite finished yet. It works functionally on the front end, but there are still things I want to polish behind the scenes to make it easier to manage as an administrator.
  • Rollout: The player isn’t wired up to every single album just yet, but integration is rolling out gradually.

If you want to take a look at how the player works in action right now, you can hop over to these album pages:

Feedback and Sharing the Code

I’d love to hear your thoughts. If you have ideas for improvements or features you’d like to see added to the player, feel free to reach out.

Even better: If you run a WordPress site and want to try out the plugin yourself, get in touch! Drop me a message, and I’ll gladly send over the installation file for you to test out on your own (WordPress) site.

Click the images below for screenshots: