Playlist Lifespan on Inactive Account

[fraiz_82]

I follow a number of playlists created by other users - but what happens if those users accounts become inactive?

Does there come a point when the account has been inactive for so long that the users playlists are wiped?

Or do they remain in the Spotify ether indefinitely for existing users to follow & listen?

I'd like to know in case one day the playlists I follow are gone forever.

Thanks!

[Flinty1]

Hi there,
Just like you I follow a variety of other users playlists and as far as I'm concerned they won't remove them if they are inactive (as the ones I follow haven't been updated in a long time and I still listen to them)!

Hopefully this puts your mind at ease!

[fraiz_82]

Hi thanks for your reply,

I was thinking more about the user account being inactive rather than the playlist itself.

The reason for my question is somewhat morbid - one of my good friends is terminally ill and has created a number of great playlists that I follow.  I just wanted to know if his playlists will live on in the Spotify ether even if the user account becomes inactive.

Hope that makes sense!

[Flinty1]

Firstly, i'm very sorry to hear about your friend, and secondly, I'm not 100% sure but I don't think it will matter.

If you would like you can send me the names of the songs in the playlist(s) and I'll make a copy of the playlist for you on my account and you can follow them there if you are worried about losing them (I'm active on Spotify everyday so you wouldn't have to worry about losing them if being inactive does remove playlists)!

No worries if you don't want to, I'd just like for you to be happy (seeing that I can't guarantee the PL will always be available) and be able to access the music!

[fraiz_82]

Thanks for the offer but I think to make sure I'll just copy the playlists and make them my own. Probably quite time consuming maybe worth it if there's even a small chance they are deleted as a result of an inactive user account.

Appreciate your advice and help 🙂

[Flinty1]

Glad to be of some help at least! Hopefully it doesn't take you too long and hopefully your friend gets better soon 🙂

[victimofemotion]

Hello,

I have a similar issue. My father passed away last year and I've noticed his account name is no longer his chosen name, just his back-end user name (I assume - attached). He's still on my family plan because I don't want to lose his playlists. I have copied my favourite playlist to my profile, but I still would like to keep his account. I know my mom finds it comforting having his profile as a friend, and he was the tech-savvy one of the two so it's all a bit distressing and overwhelming. 

I really just want to know if Spotify will eventually delete his account and can't find info anywhere. I don't know that I will keep him on my paid plan forever, as my husband and I do plan fostering kids in the next few years. For now it seems to be a solution, but I worry about the future.

Thank you in advance.

[Dian]

Hey @victimofemotion,

Thanks for posting in the Community. 

We'd like to express our deepest condolences on your loss and assure you, that the account of your father will not get deleted automatically due to inactivity.

The change you've mentioned seeing on the screenshot is probably due to the lack of activity on the account and the account not getting synced up with the servers, nothing else.

Hope this clears things a bit,

Cheers!

[victimofemotion]

Thank you so much Dian. I really appreciate it.

Warm Regards,
Erin

[victimofemotion]

Thank you so much, Dian. I really appreciate your help.

[ThirtyApes]

Hello there, I've encountered a situation where a friend's profile has disappeared from the platform. They passed away in 2013 and I can't find any of their playlists or their profile any more. I have their profile ID and a link to one of the playlist I'm trying to access. Is there any support mechanism to help find their profile or determine if/when it was deleted?

[Joan]

Hi there @ThirtyApes,

Thanks for reaching out. What happens when you open the direct link to the playlist? Send us a screenshot of what you see.Does it open on any device? Try different ones if you haven't, including the webplayer. Also, can other people open this link?

Let us know how it goes and we'd be happy to investigate.

[ThirtyApes]

Hello Joan, 

Thank you for following up with this. Here are some links that I have stored that no longer link to the profile in question. 

User Profile: https://open.spotify.com/user/129593913
Some of the Playlists:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1ap6HhH4XfBvC475nkTT2v 

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1ap6HhH4XfBvC475nkTT2v

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0bzfCqmhZO4rH6dQ4x0inG 

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0bzfCqmhZO4rH6dQ4x0inG

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3zHFya7Ouyp22AS3X2Qdi9 

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3zHFya7Ouyp22AS3X2Qdi9

I was able to get these from the API years ago when I was tinkering with your available documentation at the time. I have more JSON metadata about those playlists if you'd like the info. 

Thanks for the help!

[Maria]

Hey @ThirtyApes,

Thanks for the additional info!

We had a look at the screenshots and links you sent over, and in this case, it seems like the account they were created on might have been closed, which is why the playlists are no longer available. Unless copies of the playlists has been saved in Your Library on your own account (before your friend's account was removed), we're afraid you'll no longer be able to access them.

We understand that this might not be the news you were hoping for, but we this clears things up.

Feel free to let us know if anything else appears!