MusicBrainz plugin ignores custom API URL (still calling musicbrainz.emby.tv)

[TDriver 53]

Hi,

I’m running into an issue with the MusicBrainz plugin where the new “custom API URL” option seems to be ignored and Emby still calls the Emby MusicBrainz mirror https://musicbrainz.emby.tv, which is currently timing out for me.

Environment

• Emby Server: 4.9.1.90 (Linux, Debian-based UGREEN NAS)

• MusicBrainz plugin: 1.0.27.0

• Default music metadata options enabled for my music library

• No reverse proxy in front of Emby

As far as I understand from the plugin thread and changelog, version 1.0.23 of the MusicBrainz plugin added support for specifying your own MusicBrainz server URL. By default the plugin uses the Emby MusicBrainz mirror https://musicbrainz.emby.tv for lookups. The official MusicBrainz API root is https://musicbrainz.org/ws/2/ .
 

What I did

• Installed MusicBrainz plugin 1.0.27.0.

• In Plugins → MusicBrainz, I entered the following into “MusicBrainz API URL” (German UI: Eigene MusicBrainz-API-URL) :

  https://musicbrainz.org/ws/2/

• Clicked Save.

• Restarted the Emby server.

• Triggered a metadata refresh on my music library / individual albums.
  

Expected behavior

• All MusicBrainz lookups should use the custom URL I configured, i.e. calls should go to:

  https://musicbrainz.org/ws/2/...

This would also allow me to work around current availability problems of musicbrainz.emby.tv, which has been returning 502/timeout errors for several users recently.
 

Actual behavior

Even after setting the custom URL and restarting the server, Emby still calls the Emby mirror:

2025-11-26 11:32:00.853 Error App: Error in MusicBrainz
*** Error Report ***
Version: 4.9.1.90
Command line: /system/EmbyServer.dll -programdata /config -ffdetect /bin/ffdetect -ffmpeg /bin/ffmpeg -ffprobe /bin/ffprobe -restartexitcode 3
Operating system: Linux version 6.12.30+ (ugreen@debian) (gcc-12 (Debian 12.2.0-14) 12.2.0, GNU ld (GNU Binutils for Debian) 2.40)
Framework: .NET 8.0.11
Data path: /config
Application path: /system

MediaBrowser.Model.Net.HttpException: MediaBrowser.Model.Net.HttpException: Cancelling connection to https://musicbrainz.emby.tv/ws/2/release/?query="BRAVO Super Show 2000 CD 1" AND artist:"Steps" due to a previous timeout.
   at Emby.Server.Implementations.HttpClientManager.CoreHttpClientManager.SendAsyncInternal(HttpRequestOptions options, String httpMethod)
   at Emby.Server.Implementations.HttpClientManager.CoreHttpClientManager.SendAsync(HttpRequestOptions options, String httpMethod)
   at MusicBrainz.MusicBrainzAlbumProvider.GetMusicBrainzResponse(String url, Boolean forceMusicBrainzProper, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
   at MusicBrainz.MusicBrainzAlbumProvider.GetSearchResultsByName(AlbumInfo searchInfo, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
   at MusicBrainz.MusicBrainzAlbumProvider.GetSearchResults(AlbumInfo searchInfo, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
   at MusicBrainz.MusicBrainzAlbumProvider.GetMetadata(AlbumInfo searchInfo, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
   at Emby.Providers.Manager.MetadataService`2.ExecuteRemoteProviders(...)
Source: Emby.Server.Implementations
TargetSite: Void MoveNext()

The Info HttpClient lines also still show:

Info HttpClient: GET https://musicbrainz.emby.tv/ws/2/release/?query="BRAVO Super Show 2000 CD 1" AND artist:"Eurythmics"

There are no requests to https://musicbrainz.org/ws/2/ in the log at all, so it looks like the custom API URL is not being honored (or only used in some code paths).

Question

Is this a known issue with the current MusicBrainz plugin (1.0.27.0) or with 4.9.1.90, or am I misunderstanding how the “MusicBrainz API URL” setting is supposed to work?

I’m happy to provide full logs and a screenshot of my plugin settings page if that helps.

Thanks in advance!

 

 

Edited November 26, 2025 by TDriver

[TDriver 53]

@Lukeany news here? 

[Luke 42077]

You can't configure it to the stock musicbrainz url. It will ignore that. You have to actually setup your own mirror and use that if that is what you wish to do.

[Lessaj 467]

5 hours ago, Luke said:

You can't configure it to the stock musicbrainz url. It will ignore that. You have to actually setup your own mirror and use that if that is what you wish to do.

Out of curiosity, would a reverse proxy address work? I did look a little bit into setting up my own musicbrainz mirror based on the information they have, it doesn't look that hard overall, but I can set up a reverse proxy much faster.

[Luke 42077]

49 minutes ago, Lessaj said:

Out of curiosity, would a reverse proxy address work? I did look a little bit into setting up my own musicbrainz mirror based on the information they have, it doesn't look that hard overall, but I can set up a reverse proxy much faster.

Probably, yes.

[Lessaj 467]

For the record, it does.

[TDriver 53]

@Luke

Thanks, Luke, for the clarification.

I think the confusing part here is the wording in the plugin UI. In my (German) interface it says something like:

“Specify your own MusicBrainz mirror URL. Leave empty to use the default URL.”

From that description it sounds as if you can simply point Emby to another public MusicBrainz endpoint (for example https://musicbrainz.org/ws/2/) and that this URL will then actually be used. There is no indication that the field is only meant for a self-hosted mirror or reverse proxy and that the stock MusicBrainz URL will be ignored.

Given that the Emby mirror has recently been throwing 502/timeout errors, I’m probably not the only one who tried to use this setting as a workaround.

Maybe it would help future users if:

• the help text explicitly said something like “Only for your own self-hosted MusicBrainz mirror / reverse proxy (not the public musicbrainz.org service). Leave empty to use Emby’s default mirror.”

• and/or Emby logged a warning when someone enters musicbrainz.org but the value is being ignored.

That would make the behaviour much clearer and avoid misunderstandings like mine.

[Luke 42077]

Hi, this should be performing much better now. Thanks.

[Happy2Play 9780]

18 hours ago, Luke said:

Hi, this should be performing much better now. Thanks.

Should the site url work?  As I get 404 Not Found

But yes api queries are working.

 

Edited December 7, 2025 by Happy2Play

[Lessaj 467]

Looks like a lot of the site pages got stripped out, which is fine as long as the API works.

[Luke 42077]

The web interface is disabled now to ensure all available resources are allocated to the api.