Stream Monitoring API — Know What's Playing on Any Broadcast

Register a stream URL

POST the direct URL of any internet radio or broadcast stream. Monitoring starts immediately — no setup, no audio to upload.

We monitor it continuously

We pull the audio around the clock and recognise each track as it plays, against an acoustic index spanning 90M+ tracks.

Poll the now-playing log

Read the current track, or the full timestamped history — each entry a plain track object with ISRC, release, genre, and platform IDs.

Register a stream

One call with the stream URL. You get back a stream idyou'll poll for results. Keep your API key on the server.

# Register a live stream URL — we start monitoring it immediately
curl -X POST https://api.sonovault.now/v1/streams \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"url":"https://stream.example.com/radio.mp3","name":"My Station"}'

# -> { "id": "9f2c...", "url": "...", "name": "My Station", "status": "active" }

Poll for what's playing

Get the current now-playing track, or the full timestamped log. Use ?since= to fetch only what's new since your last poll.

# What's playing right now
curl https://api.sonovault.now/v1/streams/9f2c... \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY"

# The timestamped recognition log (newest first; ?since= for incremental polling)
curl "https://api.sonovault.now/v1/streams/9f2c.../history?since=2026-06-14T18:00:00Z" \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY"

const API = "https://api.sonovault.now";
const headers = { "x-api-key": process.env.SONOVAULT_API_KEY };

// 1. Register the stream once
const { id } = await fetch(`${API}/v1/streams`, {
  method: "POST",
  headers: { ...headers, "Content-Type": "application/json" },
  body: JSON.stringify({ url: "https://stream.example.com/radio.mp3", name: "My Station" }),
}).then((r) => r.json());

// 2. Poll the now-playing track (e.g. every 30s)
setInterval(async () => {
  const { now_playing } = await fetch(`${API}/v1/streams/${id}`, { headers }).then((r) => r.json());
  if (now_playing) {
    const t = now_playing.track;
    console.log(`${t.artists[0].name} — ${t.title} (since ${now_playing.started_at})`);
  }
}, 30_000);

The response

now_playing.track and each history entry are plain track objects — the same shape returned by track search. now_playing is null during ad breaks, talk, or unrecognised audio.

{
  "id": "9f2c8e1a-...",
  "url": "https://stream.example.com/radio.mp3",
  "name": "My Station",
  "status": "active",
  "runtime_status": "running",
  "now_playing": {
    "track": {
      "id": 121217540,
      "title": "One More Time",
      "artists": [{ "id": 9001, "name": "Daft Punk", "is_primary": true }],
      "releases": [{ "id": 4242, "title": "Discovery", "release_date": "2001-03-12" }],
      "isrc": "GBDUW0000054",
      "duration": 320,
      "genre": ["Electronic"],
      "subgenre": ["French House"]
    },
    "started_at": "2026-06-14T18:42:11Z"
  },
  "last_recognized_at": "2026-06-14T18:43:02Z"
}

{
  "plays": [
    {
      "track": { "id": 121217540, "title": "One More Time", "artists": [{ "id": 9001, "name": "Daft Punk", "is_primary": true }], "isrc": "GBDUW0000054" },
      "started_at": "2026-06-14T18:42:11Z",
      "ended_at": null
    },
    {
      "track": { "id": 988213, "title": "Strangest Thing", "artists": [{ "id": 7720, "name": "The War On Drugs", "is_primary": true }], "isrc": "USAT21703012" },
      "started_at": "2026-06-14T18:37:40Z",
      "ended_at": "2026-06-14T18:42:11Z"
    }
  ]
}

No code needed

Monitor a stream from your dashboard

Logged-in users get a Stream Monitoring tool in the dashboard — paste a stream URL, watch the live now-playing track and recognition history, and stop monitoring with a click. Same recognition as the API.

Open the tool →Get a free API key

Stream monitoring is billed €29 per active stream / month, on top of your API plan — you're billed only while a stream is being monitored. Polling the now-playing and history endpoints doesn't use any API credits. See pricing and the full API reference.

Frequently asked questions

You register the URL of a live audio stream (an internet radio station, a broadcast simulcast, your own feed). SonoVault pulls the audio continuously, fingerprints it in a rolling window, and recognises each track as it airs against an acoustic index spanning 90M+ tracks. You read the result by polling: the current now-playing track, or the full timestamped history. It's the continuous counterpart to the one-shot Identify endpoint.

Plain HTTP/Icecast/Shoutcast audio streams — the kind you can play directly in a media player (mp3 or AAC). Give us the direct stream URL, not a webpage or playlist page. Streams that require login, DRM, or are HLS/DASH-only aren't supported in this version.

Recognition is high-precision — a track is only reported once the audio agrees across several consecutive windows, so you don't get spurious entries. Recall depends on catalogue coverage: well-known commercial music (pop, rock, dance, jazz) recognises reliably; very new, underground, or unreleased tracks may not be in the fingerprint index. Every reported track is a real catalogue match with full metadata.

Detection lags real-time by roughly the length of the analysis window plus a short confirmation — typically under a minute after a track starts. Poll the endpoint on whatever interval suits you (every 15–60 seconds is plenty); each track also carries the timestamp it started, so your log stays accurate even if you poll infrequently.

Stream monitoring is billed per active stream: €29 per stream per month, on top of your API plan. You're billed for streams that are actively being monitored — stop a stream and billing stops at the end of the period. Polling the now-playing and history endpoints doesn't use any API credits — it's included with the stream. Contact us for high-volume / multi-channel broadcaster pricing.

Yes. Logged-in users get a Stream Monitoring tool in the dashboard — paste a stream URL, see the live now-playing track and the recognition history, and stop monitoring with a click. It runs the same recognition as the API.

Know what's playingon any stream