Cannot access Spotify free

[Pottering]

Have been using Spotify Free but now cannot, "Get Spotify Premium to listen" message and cannot connect to outputs. Have uninstalled and reinstalled to no avail.

[Jose_M]

Hello there!

Can you let me know which device this is happening on? Also, is this a popup message that you can discard or a screen that blocks you from using Spotify Free? It would be very helpful if you could include any screenshots of the message.

Keep me posted!

[Pottering]

I have just purchased a Yamaha receiver and a Yamaha MusicCast 200. Both units have built in streaming via the MusicCast app. For the first week I was accessing Spotify free as well as Amazon Music (already an Amazon Prime member, so free access). I will also trial Tidal and Qobuz to determine which paid streaming service is best for me.

Unfortunately after the initial week Spotify is now telling I can only listen through Spotify Premium. This message appears when after I open Spotify and then try to choose an output, in this case either of the two Yamaha units. I have cleared the Spotify App cache to no effect and uninstalled and reinstalled it with no change.

I have no idea what is happening and this is not endearing me to consider Spotify Premium as an option given Amazon Music is working fine and Tidal and Qobuz both have a free trial month to assess their services.

Any help gratefully accepted.

[Pottering]

[Jose_M · Accepted solution]

Hello @Pottering!

Thanks for the screenshot. You may need a Premium subscription in order to use Spotify Connect on certain devices. I'd recommend checking out the Connect page to see which devices are compatible with this feature, as well as more details.

On another note, in case you'd like to try Spotify on your devices, you should be able to redeem a Premium trial here if you haven't used it in the past.

Hope this helps and make sure to let me know if you have any questions!

[Pottering]

Jose, thanks for that. I can't find my particular Yamaha receiver on the Spotify list, but the nearest one specifies it requires Spotify Premium. The odd thing is that I was using Spotify Free for a week before it changed to needing Spotify Premium to work. I'll try the free trial to see how well it suits my needs and how well it compares with other streaming services.