diff --git a/BUILD.md b/BUILD.md
index 1d3022f..4c2dd6c 100644
--- a/BUILD.md
+++ b/BUILD.md
@@ -78,6 +78,9 @@ Or alternatively you can install QtCreator and then open the pianobooster.pro.
 
 **INSTALL_ALL_LANGS**: install all languages; disabled by default for cmake and always enabled for qmake.
 
+**USE_BUNDLED_RTMIDI**: build with bundled (not system) rtmidi. This is only required
+for older distributions that do not include the system rtmidi; disabled by default.
+
 **USE_SYSTEM_FONT**: do not use and do not install bundled font, use system font instead; enabled by default.
 
 **USE_FONT**: build with specified font; null by default.
diff --git a/pianobooster.pro b/pianobooster.pro
index 6826e1f..8057437 100644
--- a/pianobooster.pro
+++ b/pianobooster.pro
@@ -72,9 +72,15 @@ SOURCES   = src/QtMain.cpp  \
             src/Settings.cpp \
             src/Merge.cpp
 
-
-INCLUDEPATH += src/3rdparty
-SOURCES+= src/3rdparty/rtmidi/RtMidi.cpp
+contains(USE_BUNDLED_RTMIDI, ON){
+    message(building using bundled rtmidi)
+    DEFINES += USE_BUNDLED_RTMIDI
+    INCLUDEPATH += src/3rdparty
+    SOURCES += src/3rdparty/rtmidi/RtMidi.cpp
+}else{
+    message(building using system rtmidi)
+    PKGCONFIG += rtmidi
+}
 
 contains(USE_FTGL, ON){
     message(building using ftgl)
diff --git a/src/CMakeLists.txt b/src/CMakeLists.txt
index ea9cd6f..4fb5cc1 100644
--- a/src/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 option(USE_FTGL "build with ftgl" ON)
 option(USE_JACK "build with Jack (Only required of BSD Unix)" OFF)
+option(USE_BUNDLED_RTMIDI "build with bundled rtmidi (for older distributions only)" OFF)
 option(USE_SYSTEM_FONT "build with system font" OFF)
 
 cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 2.4)
@@ -110,7 +111,7 @@ endif(EXPERIMENTAL_USE_FLUIDSYNTH)
 
 # we need this to be able to include headers produced by uic in our code
 # (CMAKE_BINARY_DIR holds a path to the build directory, while INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES() works just like INCLUDEPATH from qmake)
-INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES( ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR} ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR} ${OPENGL_INCLUDE_DIR} ${FTGL_INCLUDE_DIR} ${RTMIDI_INCLUDE_DIR})
+INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES(${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR} ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR} ${OPENGL_INCLUDE_DIR} ${FTGL_INCLUDE_DIR})
 
 SET(PB_BASE_SRCS MidiFile.cpp MidiTrack.cpp Song.cpp Conductor.cpp Util.cpp
     Chord.cpp Tempo.cpp MidiDevice.cpp MidiDeviceRt.cpp ${PB_BASE_SRCS})
@@ -133,9 +134,17 @@ if(USE_JACK)
     endif(JACK_FOUND)
 endif(USE_JACK)
 
-INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES("3rdparty")
-SET (PB_BASE_SRCS ${PB_BASE_SRCS} 3rdparty/rtmidi/RtMidi.cpp)
-SET (PB_BASE_HDR ${PB_BASE_HDR} 3rdparty/rtmidi/RtMidi.h)
+if(USE_BUNDLED_RTMIDI)
+    message(STATUS "Building using bundled rtmidi")
+    add_compile_options("-DUSE_BUNDLED_RTMIDI")
+    include_directories("3rdparty")
+    set(PB_BASE_SRCS ${PB_BASE_SRCS} 3rdparty/rtmidi/RtMidi.cpp)
+    set(PB_BASE_HDR ${PB_BASE_HDR} 3rdparty/rtmidi/RtMidi.h)
+else()
+    pkg_check_modules(RTMIDI REQUIRED rtmidi)
+    include_directories(${RTMIDI_INCLUDE_DIRS})
+    link_directories(${RTMIDI_LIBRARY_DIRS})
+endif()
 
 # with SET() command you can change variables or define new ones
 # here we define PIANOBOOSTER_SRCS variable that contains a list of all .cpp files
@@ -229,7 +238,7 @@ if(${CMAKE_VERSION} VERSION_LESS "3.13.0")
 else()
     target_link_directories(pianobooster PUBLIC ${FTGL_LIBRARY_DIRS} ${JACK_LIBRARY_DIRS})
 endif()
-target_link_libraries (pianobooster Qt5::Widgets Qt5::Xml Qt5::OpenGL ${OPENGL_LIBRARIES} ${FTGL_LIBRARY} ${JACK_LIBRARY})
+target_link_libraries (pianobooster Qt5::Widgets Qt5::Xml Qt5::OpenGL ${OPENGL_LIBRARIES} ${FTGL_LIBRARY} ${RTMIDI_LIBRARIES} ${JACK_LIBRARY})
 
 INSTALL( FILES ../pianobooster.desktop DESTINATION share/applications )
 INSTALL(TARGETS pianobooster RUNTIME DESTINATION ${CMAKE_INSTALL_BINDIR})
diff --git a/src/QtWindow.cpp b/src/QtWindow.cpp
index 8b530da..82beb19 100644
--- a/src/QtWindow.cpp
+++ b/src/QtWindow.cpp
@@ -601,10 +601,11 @@ void QtWindow::about()
                 "under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 3 as published by "
                 "the Free Software Foundation.<br><br>"
             )
+            #ifdef USE_BUNDLED_RTMIDI
              +
             tr("This program also contains RtMIDI: realtime MIDI i/o C++ classes<br>") +
             tr("Copyright(c) Gary P. Scavone, 2003-2019; All rights reserved.")
-
+            #endif
     );
     msgBox.setMinimumWidth(600);
     msgBox.exec();