u/DaemonXHUN

Hi everyone,

I’m building a web-based music discovery platform for a specific genre.

The core idea is a curated music database built from Discogs data, where users can browse and filter tracks using a fairly advanced multi-dimensional filtering system (genre, style, year, release metadata, etc.).

Discogs is used purely as the metadata / catalog source, while actual playback is handled through YouTube embeds.

When a user selects a track:

• I load the corresponding YouTube video via the IFrame Player API
• The app uses a single global player instance
• The UI is designed as a minimal “now playing” bar
• The actual YouTube iframe is visually hidden
• Users only interact with my custom UI (play/pause, track info, YouTube source badge)

So the experience is effectively:

Discogs-based music database + filtering + YouTube playback backend

My question is:

Is it acceptable under YouTube’s embed/API terms to keep the iframe hidden while still controlling playback, as long as:

• the content is clearly attributed as YouTube
• the player is still technically active in the DOM
• users understand the source of the audio

Or does hiding the embedded player UI go against intended usage, even in a metadata-driven discovery context like this?

I want to make sure I design this correctly before building further.

Thanks!