Playlists Default to Radio of Playlist Instead of Playing

[ConnRed]

Plan

Premium

Country

USA

Device

PC - an old school tower (issue does not happen on my Android Phone)

Operating System

Windows 10

My Question or Issue

Nearly every time I hit play on a playlist when using my desktop, it automatically plays the "playlist radio" instead of the playlist. I like having the radio option turned on for playing new songs AFTER my playlist has ended, but this jumps straight into the radio - often not even playing more than one song from my actual playlist. 

If I go back in to the playlist (the same way I selected it the first time) and hit play again on the first song in my playlist, usually it will then play the actual playlist instead of the radio version, but not always. 

When I hit play on a playlist on my phone, it works fine. My playlist is played in the order I arranged it every time. 

What setting do I need to change to get this to stop? Or is it a bug?

Granted, I haven't listened on my desktop in awhile now, but I remember it working just fine last year or the year before. What has changed?

[agw2011]

This has been happening to me constantly but yet seemingly randomly for months across my Android phone and on multiple Windows 10 PCs. I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one!

I am a heavy user and will frequently leave playlists on through the workday, so it's not uncommon for me to finish them and end up on the auto-play Playlist Radio that occurs after it's done. Is it possible that when I hit "Shuffle Play" on either a playlist that I previously played to completion or a new playlist immediately following a different one that I played that it doesn't reset to the beginning of the playlist? It seems like maybe when I hit that button it is "resuming" my playlist at the end of the nth out of n songs, seeing that the playlist is completed, and therefore immediately launching into playlist radio.

[Julian]

Hi @agw2011,

Thank you for sharing this with the Community, and welcome 🙂

When you select "Shuffle Play" the playlist should start playing randomly, even if you already completed it. If the playlist launches you into the radio, then it may be related to the thread's issue. 

First off, make sure to follow the steps shared by @Xenia to reinstall the app in all your devices. We also suggest you try logging in to a friend or family member's account to see if the issue repeats. 

If that doesn't do the trick, please share us a video showing exactly what happens. Also, let us know if this happens in specific playlists or across all of them. This will help us keep investigating.

We'll be on the lookout!

[Ewokzinho]

Very similar scenario here.  Premium member as well.

I'm a person who listens to playlists in shuffle most of the time and I have identified this happening both in Windows 10 and Android app. 

And it's been happening for a while, more than a year for sure.

It's not a big deal for me in most cases, but it's clearly a bug that turns on the radio feature randomly when you are trying to play a playlist in shuffle. 

[Novy]

Hey @Ewokzinho,

Thank you for sharing your post on this thread. 

Let us know if you've already tried performing a clean reinstall of the app. This is often an overlooked step, but it’s more thorough than a regular one and can be helpful to get rid of any cache that might be causing trouble. 

If it keeps happening, please check @Julian's post and try the steps there. If they don't work, send us the info he requested in the post, along with a video showing the issue, it will definitely help us keep investigating this. 

We'll be on the lookout. 

[bfgdfgfgnghndtj]

This happens to me too. Clean reinstall does not help. I even got a new phone and it keeps happening. Not every time though.

I don't use Spotify on any other devices.

[CarlosE]

Hey @bfgdfgfgnghndtj,

Thanks for reaching out to the Community.

Could you let us know if this happens with any playlist or just with one/some in particular?

Additionally, we'd like to know if this happens when you're using an external device, like Bluetooth speakers or headphones, when using Connect, the phone's speakers, or in every case.

Keep us posted.

[bfgdfgfgnghndtj]

I basically only listen to a single Playlist, with some 1000 songs in it, and I only use Spotify when my phone's connected to either my car or my Bluetooth headset.

It definitely happens in the car but I'm a bit unsure if it happens with the headset because I don't use that as often but I think so.

[CarlosE]

Hi again @bfgdfgfgnghndtj,

Thanks for your reply.

To be able to further look into this, it would help us if you tried with other playlists the see if this behavior persists and confirm if this also happens when using your Bluetooth headphones, and also the phone's speaker without any external connection. This way we can try and narrow down the possible root cause of this behavior, as we haven't been able to replicate it.

We'll be on the lookout for your reply.

[Haltwo]

Same issue on my Galaxy s10+. I connect to my car or work truck Bluetooth, play a desired song from whatever Playlist, it'll play for a couple of seconds and then jump to Playlist radio(even when the screen is locked). I never use shuffle and it happens on all my Playlists. 

[Elena]

Hey @Haltwo,

Thanks for reaching out on the Community!

In case you experience any flaws in your app behavior, it is always a good idea to start everything off with a clean reinstall. This usually helps to resolve possible issues and ensures you are running with the latest supported version of the Spotify app. 

If the issue persists after the reinstall, we would appreciate if you send us a short screen recording so we can advise you better!

Let us know how it goes for you.

[Artrucho]

Hello, I've been testing this problem for a few weeks now, and for me, it only happens when my phone is connected via Bluetooth to my car. I did a clean install of the app a while ago, but the problem persists.

When I follow these steps, 4 out of 5 times it will trigger the problem:
1. I'm listening to Playlist A when I turn the car off.
2. I don't touch the app on my phone until I return to the car and start it.
3. As soon as the phone connects to the car and the music from Playlist A starts, I switch to Playlist B on Shuffle mode.

4. After 5 seconds or so, it switches from Playlist B to "radio based on your playlist".

This is a real annoyance, because I turn on the car, switch to a playlist I want to listen to, and then drive off. So when it switches to the playlist radio, I'm already driving and can't change it. Help!

Plan Premium

Country Peru

Device Huawei P20 Pro, Android version 10

Spotify version 8.6.54.818

[Alex]

Hey @Artrucho,

Thanks for the detailed description of the issue.

Could you try running a clean reinstall of the app again, following this guide. Also, let us know if this happens when Offline mode is switched on. You can turn it on from Settings in the app.

We'll be on the lookout for your reply.

Cheers.

[bfgdfgfgnghndtj]

I've tried recreating this on other devices but haven't been able to do so. It only happens in my car. A 2018 Volvo.

[CarlosE]

Hi @bfgdfgfgnghndtj,

Thanks for keeping in touch.

Can you let us know what type of connection you're using to connect your phone to your car? Could you try using a different connection (AUX cable, Bluetooth, USB cable, etc.) to see if this behavior persists?

We'll be on the lookout.

[bfgdfgfgnghndtj]

I'm using Bluetooth. Aux won't work since there's no headphone out on the phones nowadays, and I think the car only supports playing MP3 off of USB storage, not streaming audio over it.

[Artrucho]

Hello Alex, thanks for the suggestions. I did a clean install on tuesday, left it alone for a couple days, tried to replicate the issue today, and it happened again. I haven't tried using Offline mode yet, I'll do that later today when I'm in the car again.

The strange thing is, it doesn't even register the song I play from Playlist B (see step 3 from my previous post). When I switched playlists, a White Zombie song started playing, and then it automatically switched to a Radio Based on Playlist song (the Accept one). But the W. Zombie song doesn't appear on my listening history, as shown in the picture below.

I'll let you know how it goes with Offline mode, but I hope that's not the way to solve this issue.

[CarlosE]

Hey folks,

Thanks for keeping in touch.

@bfgdfgfgnghndtj, could you confirm if this happens with other playlists apart from the one you regularly listen to? We'd also like to confirm if you could try with a different device. If you did and the issue was still there, can you send us the make, model and OS version of the other affected device(s)?

We'd also like to know if this only happens when the Shuffle mode is enabled or if it also happens when is disabled.

A video of the issue or some screenshots of the Queue would also come in handy.

Keep in mind that the more extensive the info we have about the setup where this happens, the easier it would be for us to locate the problem or report it to the right folks.

We'll be on the lookout.

[bfgdfgfgnghndtj]

I've only been able to recreate it with the one playlist, but on the other hand when I was trying with other playlists I couldn't reproduce the issue at all. I'll try playing some other playlists a while and see if the issue comes.

Anyway, I don't have any other phone to try with. It did happen with my old phone too though (Pixel 3 XL).

If I can make an educated guess I think it has to do with the fact that the car doesn't have a play button, so I think it immediately sends a "play" signal as soon as BT is connected since Spotify does indeed autoplay as long as its running, something that does NOT happen with BT headphones.
Maybe the car even spams the play signal? I'm thinking that Spotify somehow misinterprets the signal from the car since it's already started playing.

Is there any intended functionality where a playlist radio can be triggered from a bluetooth device? I'd look into that part of the code stack to see if it can be triggered by accident somehow.

[MafeG]

Hi @bfgdfgfgnghndtj,

Thank you for replying with this info. 

Since this issue seems to be isolated on your car, please confirm what's the make, model and OS version of your phone. This will help us investigate further and understand what's the functionality that's causing this. 

Keep us posted. 

[bfgdfgfgnghndtj]

The phone is a Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra. Android 11. But like I mentioned, I've had the issue before on other phones on other versions of Android. It just happened to come back recently. Not when I changed phones, but randomly out of the blue. I don't know if there was any Spotify update when it started happening since updates happen in the background.