Ads interrupt songs and/or freeze playlist

[how1er]

I'm having issues sporadically where an ad will interrupt a song. The latest happened about 5 minutes ago. It played about a minute and a half of a song, then interrupted it for an ad (the images and information on the playlist switched to info for the ad). After this happens, the playlist either freezes - required a refresh where it forgets what playlist it was on - or it moves on to the next song without playing the remaining part of the one it interrupted.

I'm also occasionally having issues where an ad will run, or the playlist will pause for an ad, but it freezes after that. The info just says "advertisement," with no details, the timer is blank, and I cannot play or select and music without refreshing/restarting.

I have adblockers disabled when using the browser version so that's not a cause with the browser version. These are intermittent issues, so I can't do anything to replicate them or tell when they will happen.

I use Spotify on 2 different systems:

Windows 10, using the latest version of Firefox on web

Spotify app on a Windows 10 computer

[Alex]

Hey @how1er,

Thanks for reaching out about this in the Community!

It's odd that the app cuts for ads in the middle of a song.

We'd recommend the following:

1. Run a clean reinstall of the Desktop app. Make sure to clear all app data and cache before reinstalling, like it's described. This is just to make sure that you're running the latest version of the app.
2. Check if the PC networking and sound drivers are updated. You can check this on the motherboard manufacturers website.
3. Allow Spotify through any Firewall in place and do not use VPN. Note that a company/ school network might have restrictions in place which could cause this behaviour.
4. Try a different network, like a mobile hotspot WiFi. A networking issue is a likely cause, since this is happening on two PCs both on Web and the Desktop app.
5. Check your host files and remove any entries containing Spotify. 

There are quite a few things that can go wrong for Spotify to crash and freeze like this on multiple device, but running through all these troubleshooting steps will help us narrow down what might be causing the issue.

Keep us posted on how you get on.

[how1er]

1. I can try this, though it seems the issue is more common on the web browser version than the desktop app.

2. All networking/drivers are updated and were updated for both computers at the time the issue started up most recently.

3. I don't have any control with firewalls in the one location that is at work. My uses are on 2 different internet networks (one work + Ethernet, one home/wi-fi). I was not accessing through a VPN at any time.

4. See above. This was happening over two different systems in two different locations. No other hotspots etc. available.

5. Would this still be an issue on computers that do not save internet browsing? I typically have the browser for the computer using browser access to delete saved data/logins etc. when closing the browser. I followed your instructions on the computer using the desktop app and did not find anything in host files.

I'll keep posted if it pops up again. Unfortunately it seems sporadic and unpredictable. I can be fine for weeks and then run into it multiple times in a day.

[MafeG]

Hi @how1er,

Thank you for keeping in touch and sharing that information. 

In order to get this reported, could you let us know the name of the ad or describe what it was about? Also, could you also let us know a rough time/date you heard/saw it, the device you were using, and the version of Spotify you’re running? We’ll pass your feedback to the ads team.

Keep us posted.

[how1er]

The last two issues I had were around February 10th (or whatever day I first started this thread - unfortunately now it just gives me "a week ago" as the posting date). One was around 9:00 AM and another probably around 10:30 AM EST. I was using a Windows 10 computer and accessing through Firefox browser. I'm not currently at that location, so I can't confirm what version. Somewhere around 96.0.2 or so.

The first issue was when the entire thing went blank, so I can't tell what ad was supposed to play. In between songs, it switched to "advertisement," and the image in the corner that usually shows an album cover or advertiser logo went blank. No ad played, and there was no timing on the thing to indicate it was counting down. It stayed like that until I refreshed the page and started the playlist over.

The second issue was a Liberty Insurance ad, which interrupted a song about 1.5 minutes in. The song cut out, the cover image changed to a Liberty Insurance image, and their jingle played for a few seconds. Then the playlist continued on, skipping the remainder of the interrupted song and skipping to another.

[Kiril]

Hey @how1er,

Thanks for your reply and your detailed info!
 

We appreciate your time and effort to flag this situation with the ads on your free Spotify experience. We'll get those details reported, but as our advertisement platform is open to the advertisers it can be difficult to identify any specific ad issues, unless we can verify it reoccurs on every ad of that type.

Hope it gets sorted out soon. If you need anything else, the Community is here for you.

[Fazz33]

Same issue just now, ad is for Spirit of Tasmania played 29 of 30 seconds and has frozen app.