Spotify stops playing after an ad

[Yordan]

We've received reports that Spotify pauses after an ad and the playback cannot be resumed. This seems to affect multiple platforms including desktop, mobile, and TV.

The behavior is currently being investigated.

[Yordan]

Hey everyone,

Thank you again for sharing the requested details.

All reports have been forwarded to the team investigating this, however, they're still having difficulties tracing the root cause and need your help. 

For this you'll just need to confirm you're willing to participate and share your device details if you haven't already. If you have, just share your current Spotify app version so we have the most up-to-date info.

Once you've done so, we'll post a confirmation in the thread that your account is being monitored by the devs and you'll need to reproduce the issue again giving us the timestamp of its last occurrence.

Hopefully, this will allow the team to spot the error and fix it.

Looking forward to your replies 🙏

[Lostcowboy]

So I have a OnePlus GN2200, and I am using the Spotify app, I think this has Android 12 on it. I have it open with the screen on, most ads play just fine then every once in a while the song ends, and an ad is displayed but it's not playing. the current ad is from PIE Insurance, and it's just sitting there on my phone waiting for me to hit play. It's like some programmer forgot to code autoplay on this ad, all ads should be autoplay because I normally only play Spotify while driving in my car. You don't want me to take my eyes off the road while driving, trying to get my phone to play music again. It turns out that this time I am at home so I can see what is happening. I am leaving it alone to see if there is a countdown counter, that will start the music playing again. While I am waiting, I will play Amazon Music on my computer. Any good programmer knows you need countdown counters to start things back up when things don't work the way they are supposed to.

[Malonedogg5]

Today marks 18 months since this issue was originally reported. Dozens of people experiencing the exact same issue have provided the information you’ve asked for. I’ll even include mine below again in case you’ve lost it. You’ve said that the issue was fixed months ago but clearly it isn’t. What is being done to fix this????

Xbox One: (OS 10.0.25398.1762)

Free Plan

Spotify Version: 2.26.35.70

I've logged out and back into my Spotify account. I’ve deleted and redownloaded the Spotify app. I’ve power cycled my console. I’ve deleted files from my Xbox and then redownloaded the Spotify app thinking it could be a memory problem. The only way I’ve been able to avoid this problem even some of the time is to open the Spotify app on my phone while it streams through my Xbox and the second an add comes I pause my game, open the iPhone app and actively keep it open as the ads play. IF the music resumes (only about 50% of the time), I’m able to close the iPhone app and resume my game until the next ad begins, then it’s another pause and back to keeping my iPhone awake while the ads play. If I don’t open the app on my iPhone within 5-10 seconds of an ad starting, there’s zero chance that my music will resume once the ad is finished. If the ad freezes playback, then I have to restart both the Xbox app and iPhone app to resume playback on either device 

[jooliaho]

Hey fellow Spotifiers.

This thread is ridiculous. Here's why:

• This issue has existed since the spring.
• This thread has existed since August with no resolution.
• This issue is easy to reproduce and almost always relates to the interruption of music to play ads on external speakers.
• Requiring users to provide detailed specs on their particular setup is ridiculous. Based on the mountain of details provided by users it is quite clear that Spotify has a technical issue and the onus is on your DEV team to do the troubleshooting and testing on various devices, configs and platforms. 
• Those who feel that this thread is not really important because many are free users (and therefore haven't paid for the service so can't complain) are not correct. Although free users aren't paying for the services, advertisers ARE. And ironically, the advertisers are paying for ads that consistently aren't being played and the technical difficulties are actually driving users away from the platform. I wonder if the advertisers realize that Spotify has had an issue for MONTHS that impedes the playing of ads?

I reached out to your tech team, completed a multitude of troubleshooting steps and was directed to this forum months ago as a means of creating a ticket, when the support staff had nothing else to suggest. After several months with no resolution, it appears the forum is just a place where bugs can live forever and users can spend valuable time trying to help Spotify resolve their technical issues. It's important to note that the majority of end users don't actually take the time to even report an issue, much less join a forum to create or add to a thread with technical details. 

For those who would like to take their carefully curated playlists to another platform I found an app called SongShift. I have no affiliation with this app, just found it very helpful to move all my playlists to another streaming service. 

I apologize for the rant, but I have been part of this thread for a while now and have spent way too much time trying to 'help' Spotify resolve this obvious bug. I would hazard a guess that not a single user in this thread has been contacted by the Spotify support team for a troubleshooting call to validate the steps to reproduce the issue. That's SAAS tech support 101. Easy peasy. You've got lots of users who have been willing to share the details of the issue, now it's up to Spotify to reproduce the issue on their end and fix the problem.

Continuing to require users to document a known, obvious and reproducible bug is a waste of everyone's time and only highlights Spotify's lack of accountability and/or ability to resolve the issue. 

[Malonedogg5]

@jooliaho To further validate everything you said, this thread has actually been going since May 2022, making the fact that Spotify hasn’t done a god damn thing about it that much more ridiculous. 

[Fixspottifyonsonos]

Fix Spotify on Sonos.

All spotify music pauses when ads are played on sonos

It no longer works on Sonos alarms

Sponsored companies are paying for non existent adverts

[suousbakery]

update : it seems spotify is no longer playing any of my liked music on my tv. it says there's an error and to try again. i've tried again atleast 6 times, including turning the tv off, connecting my phone's spotify to it, and going on youtube then back on spotify. im starting to seriously consider going to a new app, which is sad, because i enjoy spotify's unique playlists, the wrapped, and the fact that it has music i enjoy that other platforms don't. 

[pmetro]

Just an update, streamed  Spotify on TV via Amazon Firestick several hours with no stops, ads and all. I can't confirm this on any other device for long term yet. Seems to work so far with short times on Android phone while checking some  headphones.

[DennisYYC]

In very rare cases it will play for an extended time - I can assure you this
problem has not been resolved. Moreso, if they had resolved it, they would
post it to this thread!

[JimInAZ]

It first failed on my NVidia Shield Pro. I blamed the Shield. since then it also fails on my Roku Ultra. Pandora works. That has been my solution. 

[Malonedogg5]

Alternative music streaming services seem to be the only solution here, since the Spotify mods apparently don’t care about offering any other sort of assistance.