Connection issues with car stereo receivers

[MafeG]

Hi everyone,

We've received reports about car receivers (mainly Pioneer) having connectivity issues. Bluetooth connection usually works fine, but when trying to use Connect it fails. 

The team in charge is already looking into this, so we've merged a few threads here to keep you all in the loop.

[Mick46]

Those headunits are still being sold with spotify connectivity as a selling point. This is pretty **bleep**ed. An announcement on your socials to tell the people unaware of this tiny corner of the internet would be good.

[Russbmw]

No,  no, no, that's not how these things work.

You can't update and app and kill 3rd party manfucturer integration on the sly without giving people or manufacturers notice.

I specifically bought my kenwood head unit 2 weeks ago, still advertised as Spotify enabled, for purely that reason. So that would've been after the date Spotify decided to kill it off (no doubt in favour of their own car thing).

I have the email confirmations of order etc.

If you want to reimburse me for my headunit, that's fine. Otherwise, this is utter**bleep**.

Ignoring my situation, you can't just **bleep** off something that other manufacturers are selling upon. There's nothing on the packaging nor website that says "by the way, Spotify might sack this all off at any minute.... Soz... Sucks to be you"

**bleep**ing**bleep** Spotify**bleep**.

[NoSurrender]

Ah, at last the real truth breaks the surface.

What wrong? Kenwood not paying you enough. Are Kenwood happy with the millions of headunits with Spotify integration that no one will buy now?

Who else are you going to drop? Garmin? Apple? Android?

Maybe Garmin will just switch off Satellites next!

I doubt many will but the Car Thing - just in case you might just switch it off. 

This kind of support does not bring custom - it reduces it.

At least put back Car mode. Or is that too difficult?

At least we know the truth now 😞

[pipeflo06]

I can understand why because is easy let the option on, i pay a premiun subscription and paid for a radio that support spotify

I am very offset withvthis

[VaTreefarmer]

There is some hope for Kenwood users!! In addition to the "spotify" "Sirius" "Pandora" app icons on your touchscreen, you might also notice a icon for "Bluetooth Audio." If you launch Spotify on your phone and select the Bluetooth Audio button, complete onscreen navigation returns to your headunit. FF, Rew, Next, etc buttons work just like they did before Spotify took away the interface. So before you cancel your subscription and install Pandora instead, maybe this function can allow you to keep your libraries at your fingertips until Spotify and Kenwood learn how to play together.

[Al_Nik]

@Yordan

@MafeG 

This is unacceptable. How do you release updates without regression testing?  Why don't you roll back the changes that broke the functionality until you can fix the problem that you caused?  If you're saying that Spotify is not even trying to fix this, I will cancel my premium membership and get my music from another source.

Al_Nik

[Miraas]

This Is your investigation over the month @MafeG @???? Are you kidding..... Maybe Its time to change music membreship 😂 maybe YouTube or your favorite Tidal !!!! 

[NoSurrender]

Why did spotify raise this thread saying it was an issue you were looking at?

That was just a lie. 

You switched it off. 

[-tomb]

This is not only unacceptable, but unprofessional. You clearly killed 3rd party connectivity support, which has been a selling point for years through multiple aftermarket car audio manufacturers, in conjunction with the release of your Car Thing. It's transparent and obvious attempted manipulation of your, to this point, faithful consumers. I cannot imagine the conversation in some marketing boardroom that assumed we are actually dumb enough to lose support on our sometimes in excess of $1000 head units and purchase your silly little stick-on module for 90 bucks just to maintain the functionality that we all already enjoyed. 

I sincerely hope you enjoy the backlash and criticism you receive from this action and I look forward to the future update where you realize your mistake and post a "sorry guys we fixed it" status to Twitter.  

@MafeG 

@Yordan 

[user-removed]

Well folks I reached out to Spotify customer service (ha ha) and told them my thoughts on this and gave them the link to this forum and told them maybe they have your ear and maybe they don't and explained how this is gonna bite them in the rear. He responded and said yes they are not working with pioneer units anymore which I explained if this is the case that's not fair to those who have bought or are buying one with those links installed. If you guys aren't getting along with pioneer or whoever then why should we be punished for your guys feud. He said he has passed everything to his higher ups and understood this is frustrating. I did try to understand it's not his fault but this is just pure and simple unacceptable. Especially if your paying for it. Maybe after they lose a few thousand subscribers they will think twice. Also I know I can listen through Bluetooth but you don't get all the options you do on the Spotify Icon. Again. Not acceptable. I also started blasting their Facebook site with the same message over and over. May get blocked but don't care.