Music services combine audio catalogs with a visual environment the listener does not fully control. PSALM explored whether someone could keep the usefulness of a mainstream catalog while filtering cover art that violated a personal visual-content boundary.
The project takes the form of a music application and backend that identify unwanted cover art and replace or obscure it while maintaining an Apple Music-style browsing experience. Its purpose is to make a mainstream music catalog more usable for people with personal visual-content boundaries.
The question behind PSALM
The idea is narrower than building a new streaming service and broader than hiding a single image. It requires consistent catalog processing, clear behavior when classification is uncertain, and an interface that does not make the filter more distracting than the artwork it replaces. Listeners who want control over displayed artwork may benefit. Artists and catalog providers are affected by classification and presentation choices, so labeling and platform terms matter.
How PSALM took shape
The project paired an Apple Music-style iOS experience with an Elitedesk-hosted backend and an automated artwork-classification pipeline. Roughly 100,000 covers were processed at low cost, establishing technical plausibility without establishing a user market. Josiah identified the unmet need, designed the filter experience and system direction, and directed implementation and large-scale processing with AI assistance.
What the evidence supports
The technical pipeline and interface worked, and the cover-processing experiment demonstrated plausible operating cost. The project did not secure meaningful testers. PSALM's unresolved questions are mostly product and platform questions: whether the integration is permitted and maintainable, how mistakes should be reviewed, and whether enough listeners share the need. A successful pipeline is evidence of feasibility, not evidence of product fit.
Classification errors, catalog rights, Apple platform integration, and weak user validation remain. It is not currently maintained as a live service. A technical audit of the surviving code will determine whether PSALM is best preserved as a case study or revived around a platform-supported integration.