External monitors disconnect when opening Spotify

[jackspencer]

Plan

Premium

Country

United States

Operating System

Windows10

My Question or Issue

Whenever Spotify is active my monitors will constantly disconnect and reconnect (and my bluetooth mouse). This happens with the web player, the desktop app, and on webpages with embedded Spotify songs. 

[jackspencer]

The fix is going to depend on your cabling setup. HDMI to HDMI should be fine, but where you will confuse Widevine is using HDMI adapters to things like USB-c or Display Port. Widevine is not smart enough to tell the difference between this and a video capture device, so it overreacts. Buy a cable that states it is HDCP compliant and you can probably get use of your monitor back. 

Of course Spotify could also just not use Widevine DRM on these short loop video streams, or at least admit they are doing it and prompting for opt-in, or even updating their TOS if using DRM is now required. Like I said, solving this was hard because Spotify made it a mystery, unlike other Widevine using services that are upfront about it. 

[jackspencer]

Got this problem too. In my case with a Lenovo Thunderbolt USB C hub under Windows 10. Also changed from HDMI to DP but didn't fix the issue.
Maybe we are thinking too much about the video stream since we know the monitor is causing the issue. But maybe it's more the audio stream to the monitor that I think spotify wants to protect and if the hub doesn't support it or can't handle it properly, we get these crazy issues.

MY 2 SOLUTIONS (under Windows):

Both solutions aim at the same fix, but 2 ways to get there:

Via sound settings:
Disable all audio playback devices connected to your display. Mostly they are called something like Nvidia High Definition Audio, Intel Display Audio etc. Click the speaker icon in the right corner -> Sounds -> Playback -> [Disable all screen audio devices].
This solution will not work if you need your screen audio somehow, because it disables the screen audio at all.

Via Device Manager:
Open Device Manager -> Go to Sound, Video and Game Controllers -> Disable Nvidia High Definition Audio, Intel Display Audio, etc (any output connected to your display via USB-C, HDMI, DisplayPort, etc.).

After that you can trigger the screen crashes and blinking issues by clicking the home button in the spotify app and then if it doesn't crash just start playing some music. Normally after disabling the screen audio stuff it should stop (in my case)

[rgalbraith80]

did you ever find a sole for this?  I have the same issue with almost the same setup

[Wasaki]

Hi ;

 Like i mention above, whenever i open spotify from my PC (windows 11) my screen goes dark, closing and reopening again and this also happens during listening music on spotify. I bought a new graphic card and motherboard and this starts to happen. I cant fix the problem and i dont know how to contact spotify support. I hope someone can help me. Thank you

[Airawo]

Thank you for taking the time to write in-depth explanation of this issue and its causes.

Is there any way to bump this issue, or contact support about it? I'm using a graphic tablet which takes up the only HDMI slot I have, and I have to use an adapter to connect another monitor (and I don't want to pay for a dongle when mine works fine, this happens exclusively with Spotify). This issue previously only occured on web version, but since it's not been pushed to the app, there is literally no way to avoid static/monitor going off at random, even with canvases turned off. It's geniunely makes the app impossible to use.

[magic5555]

Plan

Free/Premium

Country

United States

Device

Desktop

Operating System

Windows 10

My Question or Issue

I was using Spotify earlier and noticed my second monitor went black and a few seconds later came back. I'm pretty sure this was Spotify because it was the only app open, has anyone else had this happen? It seems to be a rare bug.

[Simitus]

Everyone, I've put a more complete account of my investigation and findings on my blog. Moderator, it might save your support guys some time.

https://adamcoville.com/blog

[PatMathews]

Thanks Adam for this.  So basically for a "band-aid, we need the HDCP compliant cables for external monitors?  this is all making sense now, as I've been to a handful of sites with these "players" embedded and monitors flash off and back on. @spotify, @yordan.. it's all in front of you now.  We're paying for this, so fix it.  ASAP.   it's been long enough.

[BWHun7mdMHUCpeC]

This is something spotify has to fix ASAP. I have 3 monitors connected with USB C through an HP docking station and the 4 monitor connected with hdmi through the same docking station. This docking station is connected with USB C to my laptop. This in only used for work (so i dont care about video**bleep**) but everytime i open spotify, it will cause my 3 USB C monitors to go black, so I either have to disconnect and reconnect the docking station or reboot my computer.

SPOTIFY YOU HAVE TO FIX THIS BUG NOW, YOUR SOFTWARE IS FOR MUSIC AND NOT VIDEO!

[ikkeja]

Same stupid issue here.
Howcome this ticket is set to "solved" anyway.. Buying new equipment just to bypass a bug in spotify does not qualify as a solution imho.

[FacePunch-FU]

It is quite worrying that for a paid service there is actually little to no response and/or progress given on the forum from Spotify's support or perhaps a developer. There has been such a detailed analysis done by the user Simitus and to date I think nothing has been done with it.

[MikesMusicSpot]

I'm an engineer and have been using computers since long before most of you were born, but I have no clue what you're talking about, not even counting the acronyms. All I DO know is that none of the dozens of cabling and port changes suggested across the internet helped my flicker and ghosting problems, but disabling hardware acceleration made my new and up-to-date Mac desktop usable again with zero downside. (BTW, it took Spotify a year to get its product working on my new Android cell phone, and they feign ignorance of the flicker problem. They just don't care about us as long as we accept their price raises.)

[Noxt]

It has been OVER 5 YEARS SINCE THIS HAS BEEN REPORTED and I've seen no updates and a dozen of similar threads on the Spotify support page. The Spotify app and web player have significant issues causing monitors to constantly flicker and even turn off. They do not work until I unplug my dock, plug it back in, then it happens 5 minutes later.

5 years of customer issues and not one solution posted on any thread. Insane....

[Shadow_Worm]

Plan

Premium

Operating System

Windows 10 Pro

My Question or Issue

Spotify can't load any page and it shows "try refreshing". I reinstalled desktop app, checked if firewall isn't blocking, checked 2 AV if they are not blocking it, tried restarting pc but nothing works. My desktop app on top of that from 3 weeks sometimes causes my display to go black for 1-2s on start or on loading homepage.

Update:

Loading issue fixed itself, but black display sometimes still persists

[DoodyWoody]

Hello, I'm having a similar issue.
I have a dual monitor setup, one is an ultra-wide which is my main display, and the display that turns black (Not "OFF") but will not go back unless if i turn off both displays and turn them back on again.

This happens ONLY when spotify is active or recently launched after a system startup or reboot. I have more than enough system resources for spotify to use, I have 48 GB of RAM and my CPU, display, and graphics card are fairly new (both in terms of in the market and since they've been out of the box), so I don't believe it's a hardware issue.

I've already reinstalled spotify through the Microsoft store, the standard download page on Spotify's website, as well as the link to "SpotifyFullSetup" that Alex kindly provided. I also tried adding an exception into my firewall, but i am still having the same issue.

[Neimad_Sleinad]

Hi, I have the exact same issue. Also after re-installing second monitor goes black when song starts playing.

[mwoo22]

Hello, and thanks for this info. I have HDMI to HDMI and just tried a new cable that is HDCP compliant, and unfortunately am still losing my monitor when I open Spotify. 

[nettlesprout]

I have this issue on a computer with a single monitor. It has HDMI to HDMI connection only and not the display port or USB-c adaptation. 

I cannot use any link that goes to the Spotify website without my entire screen glitching out and having what looks like atifacts over the entire screen.

I would never ever ever use Spotify again due to this, because they have done NOTHING to fix it, but it is super annoying when people continue to link to podcasts on Spotify or use the Spotify website for podcasts.

[MikesMusicSpot]

I’ve had many direct correspondences with Spotify about the flicker and the “artifacts” (aka ghosting). I’ve referred them to many global discussions and complaints about the problems. They deny the problems exist, or at most refer me to the same old lists of (ineffective) solutions. I’m in the process of switching to Amazon Music Prime as soon as I permanently download and store the Spotify playlists I spent hundreds of hours selecting.

[Simitus]

Based on the feedback I'm seeing from subscribers and not seeing from Spotify, I've decided to forward my findings to the Electronic Frontier Foundation. I will update this thread if / when I hear any developments. 

[magic5555]

Does it flicker on *just* your second monitor? I had a weird bug where I clicked play and my second monitor flickered.

[fs2015]

With the web player, the cracking and switching off of the external monitor stopped after I deleted the browser cache for the Spotify website.

After restarting the computer, unfortunately the same thing happens again.