Alexa won't play Spotify

[Preset]

A few days ago, my Alexa (Echo 3rd gen) stopped playing Spotify. I say, play tunes. She goes, Tunes from Spotify. Like she normally does. Then... A beautiful playlist of silence errupts in my room i.e she doesn't actually play it. This is really annoying because I am an addict to Spotify (yes that's a thing) so please fix.

[Preset]

Hey everyone!

We have gone over this thread and summarized all the different issues that we have seen reported here. The main one which seems to be discussed is that Alexa won't play playlist with voice command. Quite a few users report solving this with a few troubleshooting steps like:

• Unlinking & relinking the Spotify skill on Alexa. You can check how to do it on this page.
• Making sure Spotify is set as the default player.
• Clearing cache of your Spotify app by following the steps here.
• Removing the app permission for Alexa on Spotify through the account page > Manage apps. To re-add it, simply log back in to Alexa.
• Trying to use a different voice commands to start the playlist - for example - Play Spotify on ... name of speaker. And you can also try to tap on the Alexa to start playback.

Another issue we have spotted is that when using the Connect feature users cannot see their Alexa devices. For this we would also recommend checking the Spotify skill and the network connection. Your router may support 2 different channels for the same network (2.4 Ghz or 5.0 Ghz). You should check if both devices are connected to the same exact channel.

Some users in here are also reporting that the app keeps shutting down. In that case we'd recommend making sure both the Spotify and Alexa apps are up-to-date and that you clear cache for both.

With this said, we'll be locking this thread. If you're still experiencing issues, please try the steps above. If none of that helps, you can also create a new thread, where you let us know your exact behavior and the troubleshooting steps you've tried.

[Wayne-o]

Sorry I have the same problem - can’t play Spotify on Amy of my Amazon Alexa speakers (it used to work about a week ago, now I only get silence).  Everything (apps, speakers) are up to date, Spotify skill has been unlinked and re-linked, only get silence.

[AlejaR]

Hey folks, 

Thanks for posting in the Community and welcome. 

@Ctjeke, would you mind being a bit more specific in the troubleshooting you've tried so far? That way, we can avoid repeating any steps. If you haven't yet, we'd recommend connecting your speakers to a different internet connection to see if you notice any difference. If possible, you can create a hotspot on your phone and connect to it.

@eeelll404, thanks for all the detailed info, it helped us a lot. As mentioned above, would you mind checking if this is happening with, for example, a hotspot? If possible, you can create it on your phone and connect your speakers to it.

@Wayne-o, thanks for letting us know about this. Please make sure to check the thread and try some of the other suggestions here. It'll help us if you can send us what you exactly tried, so we can continue offering new steps to try.

Folks, in order to better understand what's happening, it's important that you send us some additional info, so we can forward it to the right team. Be aware that we'll need all of the following details to continue investigating:

• The exact make/model and OS of the speakers in which you noticed this behavior
• Is this happening when the playback comes from a different device? Does it happen only when trying to play music on the speakers?
• Did you notice if this started to happen after a specific event, such as an OS update? If yes, please send us the details.
• The exact Spotify version you're running on the device linked to the speaker (check for possible updates there).
• Does it happen when connected to a different internet connection, e.g., a hotspot?
• The exact troubleshooting steps you've tried so far
• A video recording of this behavior. You can attach the videos in your next reply in mp4 format, or you can also upload them to YouTube or Google Drive and make them public so we can visualize them.

Keep us in the loop!

[Degray]

Any solutions? I can’t play Spotify on echo’s anymore either, says the skill no king exists 

[Alex]

Hi there @Degray,

We're currently investigating this issue and gathering data from listeners who are affected. Could you please provide the info requested by @AlejaR in the previous post?

Cheers.

[Colewall49]

This is my first comment but I am having same issue. Typically I just say “Alexa play Spotify” and she plays it, but the past few days I’ve tried she says “okay here’s Spotify”……. Then nothing. I have unplugged device for a minute and plugged back in, it is an echo show 5 updated to latest, I have an iPhone 14 pro max updated to latest iOS 16.5. Spotify is updated to latest version. I have disabled and re-added the skill in the Alexa app on my phone. I couldn’t tell you when it started as I don’t regularly use the device for music it’s more so every few weeks. Nothing with my internet has changed. It doesn’t matter if I start Spotify on my phone and ask Alexa to switch, or if it’s not open and I ask her to play it, she does nothing. She acts like she wants to.

[irlluke]

Having same issue. Any fix? 

[pressleresther]

Same problem here.  Tried your suggestions, but Alexa still says "sorry, something went wrong."

[Ctjeke]

I have tried every suggestion/fix I’ve been able to find online for the last year. Didn’t solve a thing. The issue is both with Google home and Alexa, so it’s clearly a Spotify bug. I have given up on Spotify at this point as I haven’t been able to play anything on both my home devices… 

[Ctjeke]

I have 5 speakers (google & Alexa) throughout my house, all on different WiFi, all same problem . Google a solution online and I’ve tried it, so too many to put down here… yes, I deleted all devices and apps on my phone etc and reinstalled all, … nothing

[Samirk]

I had similar issue. When I used to say "Alexa play music on Spotify", it did not play anything. I tried with Amazon Music as well, still it just used say "Playing music from Amazon Music" but did not play anything.

I tried resetting Echo dot (4th Generation). Be aware that it will/may remove all connected devices and settings. To reset press Microphone off (-) button and Volume down button at the same time for 20 seconds. After 20 seconds  it will go in setup mode. Then follow the instructions on Alexa app.

After resetting I re-enabled the Spotify skill and asked Alexa to play music on Spotify. And she did 😊

[Speedo07]

I have tried this and I’m still unable to connect to Spotify. 

I have an echo plus 3rd generation and my phone is iPhone XR which is operating on iOS 16.5 

I have done a factory reset on my Echo plus, deleted the Alexa and Spotify apps reinstalled them and started from new and still it won’t connect. 

I am able to use other music skills without any issues. 

It’s been like this since February and I’m getting to the stage where I’m going to give up.

[ampapier1]

The unplug and plug back in works fine, but is only temporary, itll work for about a day and then break again and require a restart. Very annoying issue. This didn't used to happen.

[cocteau]

I likewise am having this issue. Everything was working a week ago and then all of a sudden it stopped working. All of my apps are up-to-date. I’m using an iPhone 14 Pro. I have multiple echo units and none of them seem to be working.

honestly, with this many reports here, and some across the Internet, it really seems like Spotify should be able to do more troubleshooting than ask each individual person for all of their specs. something clearly has changed with how Spotify connects to Alexa, and that needs to be examined on Spotify’s end, not ours. 

[Tamas_Szaszi]

Access to Amazon must be revoked in the Spotify menu (Spotify - Account - Apps),

then the authorization must be set again in Alexa menu. 

https://www.spotify.com/us/account/apps/

[Scottmck80]

I'm having the same problems... fix it fprna day and then some speakers work and so e don't, so so frustrating!

[Querismatic]

I started experiencing this after updating my phone to Android OS 13.

• Disable Spotify
• Uninstall the Alexa app from your phone
• Disconnect Echo for 30 sec
• Plug it back in
• Re-install the Alexa app on your phone
• Re-link Spotify
• I think it was at this point that I got a notification in the app that permissions on Android 12 or higher need you to allow permissions for Alexa to control Spotify. Click yes, and they will reconnect.

[avviano]

I cannot and never was able to play any of my public Spotify playlists on Amazon Echo devices (I have Gen 1, Gen 2 and Gen 5 plus Cube and a Spotify pro account).

I always assumed there was a fundamental issue with communication between Spotify and Amazon Echo and vice versa and hoping these two companies would get together and finally fix these constant issues.

In any case, installing and re-install Alexa and the Skill did not help, but it did but a lot of burden on me as it does on other consumers who just loose time following advise that doesn't really solve anything.

I am therefor inclined to assume that there still is some fundamental API connection issues between the two companies?!?

Even though my playlist is public, when I search for my playlists on someone elses PC I cannot find my playlists. Spotify search does not show them, even if I add my spotify name and playlist name. I am thinking if a search on Spotify cannot even turn up the playlist in the results, how then should the Amazon Echo find it? 

I am pretty happy with Spotify (working inside the app), but the search never really worked for me and connecting to anything inside Spotify from the outside is a real nightmare. And Spotify support is also extremely slow, but that is nothing new. 

[OnlyAlex22]

I am experiencing the same issue now and it’s very frustrating. Spotify, please could you update us all as I’m thinking of moving across to Amazon Music? Many thanks.

[OnlyAlex22]

As a further update to my previous post, I managed to resolve the issue by unplugging my Echo Shows for around a minute and then plugging them back in. Alexa would play Spotify songs, but didn’t recognise my playlists. I deactivated and reactivated the Spotify skill on Alexa and this then allowed my playlists to work. Unfortunately whenever the music played on one of my Echo Shows the screen was black, so I had to reset it and touch wood both devices now play and display Spotify perfectly. Fingers crossed it continues to function properly! 🤞 

[Tempest13]

I have just received a brand new echo dot for the bedroom to add to our other one in the kitchen. The new one linked ( cast) with Spotify for the 1st night. A list of several blue tooth connected options came up under 'devices available '.

Next night - nothing.

No available devices. No Spotify. If i ask the new echo to play something from Spotify, she announces it , but nothing follows. Just silence. 

What happened?