Spotify Desktop App Stops Playing Until Force Closed – Multiple Background Processes Detected

[UneccessaryAccount2]

Hi Spotify team,

I've been experiencing a recurring issue on the Spotify Desktop App (Windows) for several years now, and it's persisted across multiple versions and Windows updates. I’m hoping this post can bring more visibility to the problem and possibly help others who are dealing with the same thing.

The Problem:

After using Spotify for a while, the app will suddenly stop playing any audio. When I try to hit play on any song, playlist, or album, absolutely nothing happens—no sound, no playback progress, and no error message. It's as if the play button is completely unresponsive.

What I Discovered:

When this happens, I open Task Manager and notice that multiple instances of Spotify (usually 6 or more) are running simultaneously in the background. I suspect this buildup may be contributing to the playback failure. The only workaround I’ve found is:

1. Manually end all Spotify processes in Task Manager

2. Restart the application

After this, Spotify resumes normal functionality—until the issue randomly occurs again later.

System Info:

• Platform: Windows 10

• Spotify Version: Affected across multiple updates over the past few years

• Premium/Free Account: Premium

What I’ve Tried:

• Fresh install of the app

• Disabling hardware acceleration

• Clearing cache

• Logging out of all devices

• Keeping system drivers up to date

Unfortunately, none of these steps have resolved the problem long term.

Request:

I’d appreciate any insight into what might be causing this issue, or if a fix is being worked on. If anyone else has experienced this and found a reliable solution, please share! And if a Spotify dev sees this, could you investigate how the app is handling background processes and playback on Windows?

Thanks in advance for your help and time.

[Novy]

Hey there @UneccessaryAccount2,

Thanks for reaching out. We moved your post from the Idea Exchange to the help boards where it better fits.

Kudos for all the troubleshooting steps you've tried. In addition to that, we can suggest downloading the app directly from our website if you've downloaded it from the Microsoft Store, or vice-versa, to see if the issue persists.

If that doesn't do the trick, you can also try clearing your host files by following the steps for Windows here. 

Let us know how it goes.