Podcast Won't Play

[cbeer86]

Plan

Free

Country

USA

Device

Multiple

Operating System

Multiple

My Question or Issue

A podcast I have been listening to for months, Behind the Bastards, suddenly won't play on any device.  I've tried both the web player and app on two different Windows 10 computers and on my Android phone (Samsung Note 9).  The progress bar shows up as if the podcast is playing (shows the episode title and "Play" button turns to "Pause" button as if playing), but it never actually plays.  I've tried multiple different episodes.  Other podcasts and music play just fine, but I suddenly can't keep listening to this podcast that has become a big part of my office routine at all.  Extremely frustrating.  Does anyone have any idea how to fix this issue?  I have seen a couple old posts with similar problems, but no solutions on any of them, and the latest one was nearly a year old.  Thank you.

[Alex]

Hey there @jwilder24,

Thanks for letting us know that everything is working fine again.

Sometimes there are backstage issues which get fixed over time or with an update.

If you ever need help with anything, we're one click away!

Have an awesome day!

[casualhi]

I had this problem too. Only one podcast wouldn't play. I cleared my cache in the app and everything was fine after that.

[Caykart]

THANK YOU! That just worked for me and I tried everything else! So bizarre. Thank you so much for sharing!

[Caykart]

Thank you so much for sharing!! This worked perfectly for me! So bizarre...

[bb8818]

currently having this issue. It has to be tied to using VPNs Bc I never encountered this before installing one. Anyone else here experiencing the glitch “podcast not available in your area” while connected toVPN? 

I maneuver this by disconnecting the VPN, hit play in Spotify and then reconnect - podcasts usually continue to play once they’ve started even once I’ve reconnected VPN. This is a Spotify issue. Can y’all look into it? My VPN is always set to a location in the US. It’d be great to just be able to play podcasts with my VPN on Bc it’s always on and this is annoying 🤨

[Ver]

Hey @bb8818,

Thanks for getting in touch with us 🙂

In case you're using a VPN, it's a good idea to turn it off. We don't recommend using a VPN with Spotify as that might affect the functions.

If you have questions, don't hesitate to reach out to us. We'll be happy to help.

Stay safe!
 

[Jong1]

Just encountered this problem on Android. Both new podcasts and ones I have previously listened to will not play. Regular music plays Just fine.

Force stopped the app. Deleted cache. Restarted phone. None of this helped sadly. Very happy to do diagnostics if it helps, but really don't want to create a new account!

Switching to Google Podcasts for now!!

[Eni]

Hey there @Jong1, 

Thanks for getting in touch about this. 

First up, it's well worth running a clean reinstall to get rid of any cached files that might be causing trouble. This one is more thorough than the usual one. 

If this doesn't do the trick, can you send us the URI of the podcasts you mentioned? To get them, open the Spotify desktop app > click the three dots next to the content > Share > Copy Spotify URI.

We'll be waiting for your reply 🙂

[Jong1]

Hey Eni,

Thanks for the very swift offer of help.

This morning, what do you know, all is fixed!

There was an Android system update overnight which forced a (2nd) restart, so maybe it was that, or maybe there was a temporary problem at your end.

Anyway, all is good now and I can go back to Spotify for all my podcast needs! 😀

Thanks again for responding.

Jon

[Mihail]

Hey @Jong1,

Thanks for keeping us in the loop.

We're happy to hear that the issue has been resolved for you. Don't hesitate to let us know if you have anything else comes up or you have further questions!

Cheers!

[janetbeautiful]

It starts with one podcast and quickly spreads to all of them. Still waiting to see if they gave us premium users. An acceptable work around

[janetbeautiful]

This is going on for over a year? I think I'm going to kill my premium and just go elsewhere

[Elena]

Hey @janetbeautiful!

Thanks for reaching out to us on the Community!

We currently don't have any major reports for podcasts not working on the app and the issues mentioned in this thread seem to get resolved with some troubleshooting, so we'll be happy to help you out with some investigation around what might be going wrong.

Can you let us know if you've already tried to log out > restart your device > log back in? It's also a good idea to try a clean reinstall to clear any old files that might be causing issues.

If that doesn't do it for you, we'll need to know if this happens on all your devices and their models and OS versions.

You could also give us more info on what exactly happens when you try playing a podcast - for example does the app crash, does the process bar keep going but no sund is coming out, etc?

Keep us in the loop here.

[bb8818]

I’m no longer having this issue! It continued for a few weeks after my initial post but I haven’t had any difficulty streaming podcasts with my VPN connected recently. I figured there was an update?! Whatever the reason, it’s no longer a problem.

Appreciate the follow up tho!

[BobS12]

I haven't been able to play IDK About That with Jim Jeffries about 50% of the time.  PC's, tablets, phones, with or without SD cards, both cellular and WLAN, no VPN.  I love how your answers here are all "It's your problem", and then when the issue is temporarily resolved on the spotify side of things, it's "Hooray!  We were right!  Your phone was the problem after all!"  And then you have the nerve to come on this thread and state that there are no reported mass issues with podcasts.  What do you think we're here reporting exactly?  There's a reason your stock just tanked by $20+ today...  Inability to bring on new users I hear...  must be because the free users have issues like this, don't bother reporting them, and decide spotify is buggy and not worth the money.

[ctots]

I am having the same problem with the NYT The Daily podcast. The web player either won't play the podcast or it will send me to a totally different episode and start playing. I have managed to get it to work on my phone app.

[CarlosE]

Hi there @ctots,

Thanks for reaching out.

Just to confirm, is this only happening in the web player? If so, try using an incognito/private window and let us know is the issue persists.

Also, try clearing the browser's cache and cookies to see if that does the trick.

Keep us posted. We'll be on the lookout.

[Gotflores]

I am also experiencing this issue as well on my lgv30 with android version 9. I cannot play or hear music or podcasts. When I select play, the time is just stuck at 00:00. I have no issues on my windows pc, only my phone.

I have deleted and reinstalled the app 3 times, cleared cache, reset my device, and the app does not work.  Won't do a factory reset as all my other apps work without issue. Is there any fixes or a previous app version I can download and try? 

[Novy]

Hey @Gotflores, 

Thanks for reaching out to the Community, and welcome 🙂

Since your issue seems to be a bit different than the one described by other users in this thread, we'd recommend starting a new topic in the relevant board. 

We'll be happy to continue with the help there.

Cheers.

[TheGreatWolf]

Same problem here!

Tried from the app (on Note 9), computer app and web but I can't listen to the Distractible podcast. The first 2 episodes worked in the past and show up as played, but I can't even relisten to those.

Clicking the play button does absolutely nothing. I don't have this problem with music.

I tried logging in again, erasing cache and cookies, nothing worked for me.