How is the Spotify App for Roku so bad?

[Rattlemebones]

Let's check off the train wreck here.

You can't just see a list of all of your songs and play them. They have to be in a Playlist to play them.

But when you click on a Playlist, it just says loading but never loads forcing you to restart Roku.

Then when you restart and Spotify decides it wants to load, the songs keep freezing and skipping like an old 90s CD.

Oh, and if you downloaded new songs and saved them to your playlist during that session, the next time you log on and go through the above **bleep** show. they will ALL be gone.

Honestly they should just pull this god awful app until they can get a halfway working product. But I wouldn't hold my breath as a quick Google search shows these same issues going back 4 years.

[TheDWeinstein]

Funny - I just looked to see if there was another APP with the same kind of stuff - NOPE!  spotify WAS the best game in town but now PANDORA is better since you at least get a playlist going.

[pjdeiter]

Well I sure as heck would not buy stock in a company that handles their customer in such a sad manner. More and more people are cord cutting and going to devices like Roku. They will continue to loose customers when they experience Spotify on Roku. Every other app has their act together to get on Roku, what's up with them? Do they want to run the business into the ground once they get shareholders on board?

[TheDWeinstein]

Whole-heartedly agree.  SPOTIFY on ROKU is an abysmal failure - more than that - it's the middle finger to anyone who pays for it because it has less functionality than even YOUTUBE or PADORA.  In fact, RDIO, now defunct, is a better app!  

Truly and utterly pathetic. 

July/2017.  (UPDATES KEEP HAPPENING AND THEY KEEP TAKING AWAY FEATURES WITH ZERO PLAN TO EVER BRING THEM BACK)

[sarhai06]

Spotify Search on the Roku doesn't find all the songs and artists available on Spotify.  Spotfiy Search on the PC works fine, but Search on the Roku can't find stuff that is clear available.  And the whole search interface is poorly designed!!

[joltdude]

Iv given up on Roku + Spotify.. They keep blaming each other.. and noone wants to fix or update it.. Moved on to Chromecast Audio... and other devices that should be supporting it natively if they dont already....  Spotify sort of still works on Logitech Squeezeboxes... Works fine over Chromecast, and iv used it with PS4 as well as Amazon TV (first gen).. and Echo devices... Actually its supposed to be avalible to my Grace Digital Mondo + shortly..  I used to like roku but there doesn't seem to be much improvement with their ecosystem and i dont have 4k tvs and such devices... or the bandwidth to support 4k.. only 1.5-2 mb DSL here

[dalewisely]

Just don't get this. It's the middle of 2017. Roku is not going away. The app is ridiculous. No access to one's albums, artists, playlists. I don't believe for a minute this is due to "technical" reasons. What gives? The Amazon Music app for Roku is so, so much better.

[luvsyoumor]

I just joined Spotify Premium after noticing they were the only large library streaming service I could operate from my TV using ROKU. Well obviously my motive was wrong. It looks like Spotify can join the ranks of Napster et.al., for having nothing viable on a television set. To find your music, you have nothing but the abysmal one finger search field (no library access or interface). But really the final nail in the coffin is the stream will repeatedly cut out. In other words the music will just STOP despite of all signals your connection is excellent.

[menelothiel]

Screen mirroring on my Android phone is my workaround. I have the full Spotify controls and access to my library. But it's a pity there isn't a good native app - there's really no reason why not. Even the utterly crappy Amazon FireStick has a better app. 

[HammSilv]

I resolved to just use one of my small tablets and repurpose it for music streaming. Connect it to our Soundbar vía BT and simply bypass the TV.

[SBLocalGal]

I do the same with my mobile phone to my new soundbar, which has BT capability. But what about the Spotify subscribers that don't have an audio system that has BT? I had a surround sound system that sounded great, but didn't have BT and it frustrated me that I couldn't listen to Spotify through them (via Roku).

[menelothiel]

If you use screen mirroring, that uses Wifi Direct, not BT.

But we shouldn't have to come up with these workarounds. That's the kicker.

[TheDWeinstein]

What's weird is that SPOTIFY is the most successful streaming company in the United States - maybe the world.  So I don't know why they won't spend a few bucks to give the streaming TV used the same experience espeically when they USED to have it - such a slap in the face.

[Sid_Emory]

I too find myself faced with the same complaints with Spotify on the ROKU platform and find that they are ignoring this issue.  

It seems that both Roku and Spotify are to "blame".

The best course of action is to call out Spotify and Roku on Social media.  

The official Roku twitter account is @rokuplayer.  Spotify's is @Spotify.

We should tweet often and tweet loudly.  If we let the know our frustration publically maybe they will stop making excuses and both sides correct the problem.  

Honestly, the ROKU is embarrassing! 

[joltdude]

In the past i have tried this (dealing with roku and spotify on SM, and Roku either 1. Doesn't Respond.. and 2. Shifts blame on Spotify for the Software... they are just a venue defense... when in fact its pretty clear they had their hand in building the Spotify app on the roku... And spotify says.. Gee its Rokus fault.... its their app..Should use a different device...  I gave up playing the Whose on First between Spotiy and Roku.... Its an exercise in futility..... 

Also realize Roku has forums and they too will say.. Well Spotify is responsible for the app so its not our problem.... 

-J

[scottypie123]

Blaming Roku for the failure of the Spotify app is like blaming Dell for the failure of Quicken to work properly on a Dell computer. Spotify sells hardware. The only software Spotify writes is firmware for its hardware devices.

I'm sure Spotify has some input into its biggest partners' apps (Netflix, Amazon, etc.). But at the end of the day, the Spotify app is a Spotify product. It is obvious that Spotify has abandoned Roku for whatever reason.

My guess is that a Roku firmware update at some point was incompatible with the existing Spotify app, and that Spotify would have to start from scratch -- which Spotify chose not to do. There was probably some disagreement and Spotify took its ball and went home.

[joltdude]

If thats the case then the app should have been pulled months ago...

If spotify took its ball and went home then Roku should have removed the app...

And stop saying it supports Roku...

Roku BUILDS some of the apps for its partners ...But when Spotify blames Roku and Roku blames Spotify its in nobodys best interest...

And spotify making hardware... Uh no.. Its software not hardware...

Roku is primarily a hardware vendor...

-J

[scottypie123]

My mistake: I meant to say Roku sells hardware. Roku is strictly a hardware provider, not primarily.

"Stop saying it supports Roku ..." What is "it," and when did I say "it" supports Roku?

If you have some iinformation, please tell us which apps Roku builds for its partners.

[joltdude]

Spotify is not supported on Roku and Roku does not support Spotify.. Can I be any clearer..... And yes Roku does whitelabel some of its apps... 

Love how your being such a fanboy for a company thats pulling or breaking support for hardware I intentionally purchased to use with its service...  Regrets...  Frankly Spotify just wants to be an app that runs on a smartphone.. just like Pandora is trying to do..

[menelothiel]

I think Joltdude meant Spotify should stop saying they support Roku and vice versa.

[scottypie123]

Specifically, which apps does Roku whiteboard? Please educate me. If you can't give me any specifics, then I'm inclined to believe it's not true.

Not a fanboy, I'm not all that pleased with Roku these days. Just wanting to get to the facts of the matter.