Webplayer cannot play content / stops playing after 10 seconds

[orangekitty]

Plan

Premium

Operating System

Windows 11

My Question or Issue

For about 10 days now, everytime I try to play songs through the webplayer, a "Spotify cannot play this now" error appears. It then loops through all the songs in the playlist until it latches onto one, plays it for about 10 seconds, then goes silent. The same song won't play again if "play" is clicked directly.

I know the error has occurred and was fixed in the past but it seems to keep coming back. Very irritating.

No issues with the Android app.

[Obitwo]

same problem for since 10 days

I tried a lot of things but nothing to do.

The advertising car be heard without problem and that even if they are 30 seconds long

[Joan]

Hi there folks,

Thanks for reaching out. We'll be glad to help you get the web player working in order again.

We haven't encountered anything like this recently, but the fact that both of you reported this starting around the same time means this definitely warrants a deeper look. Could you please provide us the following:

• Is this on the web player across all devices or only on specific one(s)? Test on different ones if possible.
• Does this happen across all browsers?
• Does this happen in an incognito window?
• Screenshots or a video of the behaviour. If the files are too large to attach here in the Community, you can send them to us via Google Drive or as unlisted YouTube videos.

With this information, we’d be happy to investigate.

Keep us posted.

[The_Metal_Mom]

I posted about this the other day as well. I also am having this issue, it happened a few months ago as well and it was something on Spotify's end. I took all the measures that we went through last time to try to fix it, but it hasn't helped at all.

[Joan]

Hi @The_Metal_Mom,

Thanks for the reply. 

Can you confirm if this happens on all networks? If it's only on a work network or one with notable restrictions, then that's likely the explanation.

@orangekitty @Obitwo check that for yourself as well, please. Test if the behaviour is the same across all kinds of networks and if you have any VPNs or proxy servers, disable those. Let us know how that goes in addition to the questions from my previous comment.

Keep us posted.

[Obitwo]

Hi.

i have this problem on my work station.

it always worked without any trouble.

I m on edge. dont have access to another webbrowser

i m really disapointed because i wanted to take a premium account for my family....so i wait and i have to listen music on deezer...deezer work....

[SGSP]

I had not noticed this post, just posted a similar one - exactly same behaviou but I don ot even get 10 seconds... Only happening on my desktop, iOS works fine. I have a Premium account

[anonymous1232]

I've also experienced issues with webplayer. As you mentioned, something similar happens to me where the audio goes silent after a few seconds, regardless of the content, whether it's songs or podcasts. I've noticed this issue more often when I pause the audio, and try resuming. It fees like half of the time the audio cuts off. The volume bar also doesn't work properly. The website overall has just been more buggy for me for like the last month. 

[OscarDC]

Hey @anonymous1232,

Welcome to the Community and thank you for joining the conversation.

Would you mind confirming if you've any VPN connected to your computer? If so, we'd recommend turning it off while using the app to see if it makes any difference. 

Also, keep in mind that if you're using a work network, a restricted one or a work computer, since it may have some restrictions applied by the administrator it's possible that this could cause the issue. In that case, we'd recommend checking on a different device using a different network to see if it persists.

Lastly, could you check if this also happens using the Spotify Desktop app? 

We'll be on the lookout for your response.

[orangekitty]

Hi, I experience the problem with MS Edge via a VPN, both with and without incognito window. No problems with the very same VPN setup when using Firefox. I can't install the Spotify Desktop app on this laptop.

[Joan]

Hi @orangekitty,

Thanks for the reply. 

Going back to our previous questions, can you please test if the same happens across different networks? If you're using Spotify in a work network or on a work device, there are likely restrictions there preventing its functionality.

Let us know how it goes.

[orangekitty]

Hi, unfortunately I cannot test that, but I would assume that the different people who reported the same issue all have somewhat different work network security policies. Moreover, isn't it strange that two different browsers on the same workstation would behave differently? Anyway, this is where it seems to catch an error: POST https://gew4-spclient.spotify.com/widevine-license/v1/audio/license 400 (Bad Request)

[Ivelina]

Thanks for the response @orangekitty.

Spotify cannot guarantee that the service will run as expected with a VPN. We understand it's behaving as expected on your Firefox browser, so the issue sounds isolated on Edge. We're currently not receiving other reports from users on that browser using open public networks, so it sounds like your particular browser and network setting are causing the trouble here. 

We recommend making sure that the browser is up to date and it has no settings blocking Spotify from playing, but we're not able to provide specific troubleshooting or set a time line for when this will get fixed for you.

Should you need help with anything else, the Community's here.

[czspot]

Same issue, using Chrome on Windows 10, no VPN.

[The_Metal_Mom]

It's not just her browser having issues, I'm having issues (not on a VPN) and there are other posts about this happening to several people lately for a few weeks now. We had this issue previously as well months ago, when enough people complained, then Spotify noticed and did something on their end that corrected the problem one day. Now I'm not only having that problem as well with playback (doesn't matter if I go to another network or not, or another browser too) but I'm being logged out every night and have to log back in daily.

[OscarDC]

Hey @The_Metal_Mom,

Thank you for keeping in contact and for the shared info.

Would you mind confirming if you're using the Web Player on a work/school computer or if it is a personal one? We ask this since it may have some streaming restrictions set by the administrator.

In case it's your personal PC, have you tried to clear its host files? If not, we'd recommend following the steps mentioned here.

If the issue persists after clearing those files, make sure you're not using any Ad-blocker as it may affect the proper behavior of the page. If you're using one, turn it off to see if it makes any difference.

Lastly, could you confirm if using the Web Player on an incognito/private window has the same behavior?

We'll be waiting for your response. 

[Obitwo]

i find it strange that people all over the world, and who work in different companies, can no longer listen to the webplayer overnight when it used to work very well. I asked my IT department, and they told me that no changes had been made to them recently. The problem is not with us.

In any case DEEZER works very well and they will be happy to take my 20€ monthly for the premium family. it is absurd that nothing happens....

[The_Metal_Mom]

I'm using my work computer usually when playing on the browser, however I have tried on my personal computer and it does the same. I don't have any restrictions on the site or playing anything. It's done this before and nothing has worked. I've tried clearing what I can and don't have an ad blocker. I cannot do private mode here at work though. 

Like I mentioned before and someone else mentioned in another comment, this is not just a particular browser issue, nor is this something that I believe will be corrected with anything on our end. It's happening just like last time (months ago) to people all over the world. So it's not an individual thing. There is something that Spotify needs to look at on their end, why don't you all look back at whatever the solution was before that ended up correcting it?

[The_Metal_Mom]

This is something many people keep trying to reiterate to Spotify but they always want to go through all the "fixes" that they had before for something similar instead of looking internally at something on their end. It's so frustrating. It takes weeks of people all over the globe to comment and get upset for them to finally do something. I agree with you, this isn't just a personal computer/work computer issue, it's something on their end. This happened months ago and it lasted for like a month then suddenly worked again one day.

Now the site keeps logging me out nightly, which it never did before, I swear the issues are just piling up.

[uu_u-eo2zere]

Hello!

@orangekitty pointed to the right direction. The bad request on the widevine endpoint was a solid clue.

4xx errors usually means that's client's fault (also mean that Spotify won't worry much if some people experience it: it's not on their side).

Widevine is the library responsible for DRM (Digital Right Management), tldr: the stuff responsible to control if you're allowed to play a song or not.

In this case your client (browser) is not able to get a license from widevine, this is why the songs are skipped. And the fact you get a bad request means that you have widevine (if not you wouldn't make any queries to widevine endpoint), but your client don't know how to speak correctly to Spotify's backend.

Reason is: you library is out of date. You have to go to `chrome://components` locate widevine, update it and restart your browser. It will fix your issue.