Latest album on Spotify + Alexa = not so smart as Apple Music

[user-removed]

Premium Plan

Italy 

iPhone 12 Pro

iOS 14.5

Hello everyone, Luca here from Italy, first post in this Community 😀

I've searched for others with similar issue but I couldn't find anyone with this precise topic. So, the thing is that before becoming Spotify Premium, I was under Apple Music and my Apple Music account was connected with my Echo devices (as now is Spotify). But the behaviour was really really better. I'm talking about ALBUMS. With Apple Music I always said to my Alexa devices:

Alexa play the latest album by [NAME OF THE ARTIST]

And Alexa did precisely that. That's because many times we want to play the latest album by an artist but we don't rememeber or we don't know the name. Spotify instead just plays the "This is" playlist. Of course I don't want to hear a best of playlist. I want that precise album without knowing it. And if the title is not precise or not correct, like:

Alexa play The Battle at Garden's Gate by Greta Van Fleet

Alexa plays again the "This is" playlist.

Is there a way to make this happen also in Spotify? It doesn't seem to be so impossible, I mean: Apple Music has it, why Spotify not? Thank you! 🤗

[Alex]

Hi @user-removed,

Welcome to the Community!

In general the app will play the "This is" playlist if it doesn't understand what album/ playlist exactly you'd like to play. This can happen if the album name is not pronounced fully or correctly.

Just to be on the safe side, we'd recommend you try to reinstall both the Alexa and Spotify apps and relink your Spotify account anew. You can follow these steps:

1. Unlink your Spotify account from the Alexa app.

2. Perform a clean reinstall of both the Spotify and Alexa apps. You can find instructions on how to do this for Spotify here. 

3. Link both accounts anew. This Support page can help.

This will assure that the issue is not caused by and cache problem, or because one of the devices is running an older version of the software.

Hope this helps.

[user-removed]

Hello Alex and thank you for your reply. It is fine that Spotify plays the "This is" playlist if it doesn't understand what album or playlist I'd like to play. I'm talking about a different thing.

Spotify knows what album is the latest by an artist due to the year of pubblication, so it would be really really fine, as Apple Music does, if Spotify would know what to do here:

Alexa play the latest album by [NAME OF THE ARTIST]

You see? Playing the latest album by an artist. But not the "This is" playlist. I'm not pronouncing bad a title (and so Spotify will play the "This is" playlist): I'm precisely saying Spotify to play the latest album. Spotify knows it.

Hope that is now more clear what I was saying 😊 Thank you again for your reply!

[Alex]

Hey @user-removed,

Thanks for the clarification.

Can you let us know what language you're using when speaking to Alexa?

If it a language different than English, try suing English commands and see if you get the same results.

Also, did you try the troubleshooting steps from my previous post?

Cheers.

[user-removed]

Hello Alex and thank you for your reply. Yes, I already tried the troubleshooting without any positive feedback regarding this issue. I'm using Alexa in italian and I also tried speaking in english, but she still plays the "This is" playlist. My main question is: is Alexa for Spotify able to play the latest album by an artist if asked? Thank you!

[Xenia]

Hello @user-removed,

We've been looking into this a bit more and can confirm that, right now, Alexa will always play the 'This is...' playlist unless you name the specific album by an artist you'd like to listen to.

We’re sorry if this means you’re not able to use Spotify like you wish to do at the moment. However, we’re open to including additional commands like this in the future. While we’re not able to confirm if or when your specific request will be resolved, we recommend keeping your Spotify app up-to-date to guarantee you get the latest features and fixes.

Hope you'll find this clarification useful - We’ll be here for you if there's anything else you'd like to ask 🙂

[user-removed]

Thank you Xenia. Well, that's unexpected... The behaviour with Alexa is by far better with Apple Music (a competitor) than with Spotify itself... It's really a pity, because many times I don't know the name of the album but I simply want to listen THE LATEST album. You already know it, you have the release dates/years, so it's not difficult to implement. It's a real pity 😞

[Jeremy · Accepted solution]

Hi there @user-removed,

Thank you for your reply and feedback.

We're always testing things by adding or removing features to make Spotify better overall and we’re constantly aiming to improve our features. We’re sorry that this means you’re not able to use Spotify like you wish to do at the moment.

If you think this feature will appeal to other users you can always create an idea on the relevant idea board. We always take new ideas and feedback into consideration to improve the app. 

You can read more about how your feedback reaches Spotify here.

Once again - thanks for the feedback, we appreciate it. Let us know if we can help you with anything else. 

Take care!