diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 7a70c1bfb..677b0e133 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ ver 0.22 (not yet released)
   - volume: convert S16 to S24 to preserve quality and reduce dithering noise
 * output
   - jack: add option "auto_destination_ports"
+  - pulse: add option "media_role"
 * switch to C++17
   - GCC 7 or clang 4 (or newer) recommended
 
diff --git a/doc/mpdconf.example b/doc/mpdconf.example
index 11ef55887..36a26a828 100644
--- a/doc/mpdconf.example
+++ b/doc/mpdconf.example
@@ -280,6 +280,7 @@ input {
 #	name		"My Pulse Output"
 ##	server		"remote_server"		# optional
 ##	sink		"remote_server_sink"	# optional
+##	media_role	"media_role"		#optional
 #}
 #
 # An example of a winmm output (Windows multimedia API).
diff --git a/doc/plugins.rst b/doc/plugins.rst
index 55a914011..d5815585e 100644
--- a/doc/plugins.rst
+++ b/doc/plugins.rst
@@ -1002,6 +1002,8 @@ The pulse plugin connects to a `PulseAudio <http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Soft
      - Sets the host name of the PulseAudio server. By default, :program:`MPD` connects to the local PulseAudio server.
    * - **sink NAME**
      - Specifies the name of the PulseAudio sink :program:`MPD` should play on.
+   * - **media_role ROLE**
+     - Specifies a custom media role that :program:`MPD` reports to PulseAudio. Default is "music". (optional).
    * - **scale_volume FACTOR**
      - Specifies a linear scaling coefficient (ranging from 0.5 to 5.0) to apply when adjusting volume through :program:`MPD`.  For example, chosing a factor equal to ``"0.7"`` means that setting the volume to 100 in :program:`MPD` will set the PulseAudio volume to 70%, and a factor equal to ``"3.5"`` means that volume 100 in :program:`MPD` corresponds to a 350% PulseAudio volume.
 
diff --git a/src/output/plugins/PulseOutputPlugin.cxx b/src/output/plugins/PulseOutputPlugin.cxx
index 1fbcd17bf..527736b22 100644
--- a/src/output/plugins/PulseOutputPlugin.cxx
+++ b/src/output/plugins/PulseOutputPlugin.cxx
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ class PulseOutput final : AudioOutput {
 	const char *name;
 	const char *server;
 	const char *sink;
+	const char *const media_role;
 
 	PulseMixer *mixer = nullptr;
 
@@ -177,7 +178,8 @@ PulseOutput::PulseOutput(const ConfigBlock &block)
 	:AudioOutput(FLAG_ENABLE_DISABLE|FLAG_PAUSE),
 	 name(block.GetBlockValue("name", "mpd_pulse")),
 	 server(block.GetBlockValue("server")),
-	 sink(block.GetBlockValue("sink"))
+	 sink(block.GetBlockValue("sink")),
+	 media_role(block.GetBlockValue("media_role"))
 {
 	setenv("PULSE_PROP_media.role", "music", true);
 	setenv("PULSE_PROP_application.icon_name", "mpd", true);
@@ -393,8 +395,16 @@ PulseOutput::SetupContext()
 {
 	assert(mainloop != nullptr);
 
-	context = pa_context_new(pa_threaded_mainloop_get_api(mainloop),
-				 MPD_PULSE_NAME);
+	pa_proplist *proplist = pa_proplist_new();
+	if (media_role)
+		pa_proplist_sets(proplist, PA_PROP_MEDIA_ROLE, media_role);
+
+	context = pa_context_new_with_proplist(pa_threaded_mainloop_get_api(mainloop),
+					       MPD_PULSE_NAME,
+					       proplist);
+
+	pa_proplist_free(proplist);
+
 	if (context == nullptr)
 		throw std::runtime_error("pa_context_new() has failed");