utility to control media players via MPRIS

 Playerctl is a command-line utility and library for controlling media players
 that implement the MPRIS D-Bus Interface Specification. Compatible players
 include audacious, cmus, mopidy, mpd, mpv, quod libet, rhythmbox, spotify,
 and vlc.
 .
 Playerctl makes it easy to bind player actions, such as play and pause,
 to media keys. Playerctl also provides an introspectable library accessible
 in many popular scripting languages that allows more detailed control like
 the ability to subscribe to media player events or get metadata such as
 artist and title for the playing track.