Spotify Alexa skill does not work on Echo devices at all

[ninjinskie]

For months I have been using Spotify as my default music provider for my Echo/Alexa devices using the Spotify skill, and whilst it was pretty tempramental (such as sometimes not playing songs, playing the wrong song occasionally etc.) it was at least functional.

However, as of today I have acquired an Echo Dot and linked it to my Amazon account, and the Spotify skill seems to have completely stopped working. Asking the echo to play any song just ignores my settings and plays it through Amazon Music instead, and if I specify "on spotify" at the end it will just say that it can't find the song on Spotify. I have also tried relinking my Spotify account to no avail.

[CDogster]

it is not the same issue.  The music in Spotify continues to track as if it is playing but it is not.  If you pause and unpause, that track reverts back to WHEN IT PAUSED, as if Spotify knows about the issue.  Also, I have no bluetooth devices assigned to this echo device.

[cades1]

I agree. This is definitely a Spotify issue where Spotify thinks it is playing on the Echo device (app shows playing) but no media stream is going to the Echo (no sound). In some cases skipping of multiple songs on the playlist can occur (no sound) and then suddenly the media stream seems to catch up and sound can be heard. It is NOT a general network issue as this only happens on all of my three Echo 4th gen devices (strong WiFi connection) but not on all of my older 2nd/3rd gen echo dots nor on my two Echo Flex devices. I have a tech background and have systematically reset all devices and networking kit to try and isolate. The Echo 4th gen stream all other media apart from Spotify with no problem.

it would be great to have some transparency from Spotify on the status of this issue!

[MrBrabbel]

Oh, I see - I must have hit the wrong topic by accident, read through it earlier and thought I found the right one. Sorry for the mix up!

Hope this will be revolved, though!

[xcession]

@Maria are you able to give us an update on what is actually happening about this at Spotify's end? It seems you're gathering information, but what happens next and when? Right now my Spotify Family account is basically useless as the Echo devices are bought are unable to integrate with Spotify at all.

Have you had any success in replicating the issue?

Do you think you've identified where the problem could be?

Have you been in touch with Amazon's teams?

[cades1]

@Maria

Hi all admins

Please can you give us any update (with useful info rather than “we are looking into this” or no response). I realise that the admins here are customer services people who may not have any answers themselves. But someone in tech support must have something useful to update us with? Unless very limited (or no) tech resources are assigned to this? Please remember that paying customers are affected here. Simply going silent is not an option.

I hope someone in Spotify responds.

Thanks.

[Lan99]

I came here because I am having the same EXACT issue. I’ve done ALL of the things, including contacting Amazon and having them replace my echo show 8 device, thinking it was a hardware / software issue with the Alexa device. Spotify will work on my echo dot; and it worked on the show 24 hours after I initially plugged it in, but less than a week later it will NOT play Spotify. It will play Amazon music, but not Spotify. I am a heavy Spotify user and have been for almost 20 years and to say I am disappointed and frustrated with this issue would be an extreme understatement. I work from home and the main reason I purchased the device was to be able to have music via Alexa in the background and be able to control it hands free. 

[Lan99]

I have the echo show 8 third generation. I have been back and forth with Amazon several times and my device has been replaced three times. I have figured out that when there is a power failure or the device is unplugged, I lose the capability of using Spotify and there is no getting it back. I’ve tried everything that has been recommended by tech support through Amazon as well as the suggestions made on this forum as well. It definitely seems to be a Spotify issue. Amazon music plays with no issues. And my echo dot devices and my daughter’s echo show 5 has no issues either. It’s extremely frustrating. 

[BullSpencer]

I'm sure, maybe the solution is move to Amazon music. Is incredible that Spotify didn't anything to star an investigation of the problem, 

[cades1]

@Maria

Hi all admins

Well… one month after my last request for feedback… no admin has bothered to respond. I have to say that is not great customer service.

By way of update, the skipping of tracks and the silent playing of tracks also happens on Amazon Firestick 4K Max.

Anyway, I have been a loyal Spotify Premium paying customer for 13 years now but I’ve had enough. I have been testing Amazon Music. The Amazon Music app is not as nice visually and has fewer features than Spotify. But the music listening experience is high quality. And for me, this is all about the music. I hope Spotify sorts this out.

Goodbye and good luck all!

[Mmc2]

I am also about to jump on the amazon music wagon.  Support is terrible.  Even if you don’t have an immediate fix at least provide some kind of update instead of keeping your customers in the dark!

[Mike232]

Agree, I moved to Amazon Music, no issues.

[xcession]

My spotify issues on my Echo Show 10 have resolved themselves, and I posted about this yesterday, comparing the versions of software I had before to those I have now. But the message has been removed? Wouldn't you want people to know that upgrading software solves it?

[AlejaR]

Hey folks

Thanks for posting in this thread and for all the info shared.

If you continue having issues, it'd be great if you could send us the details we've asked for earlier. Would you mind letting us know the following (if you haven't already):

• Make/model and exact OS version of the affected Echo devices.
• The day, time and time zone this has occurred in.

This will help our tech team to continue isolating this behavior.

Cheers!

[S4mmy3]

Same issue for many months. Magically started working again for a day.

Done everything suggested - still doesn't work.

[BullSpencer]

Yes work for one day , two days ago... And no more 

[Lan99]

I have learned that the one thing that works is resetting my router when a loss of power happens. It’s a pain and takes a few minutes; and I was skeptical. But it worked for me. 

[DaJackel]

Plan

Premium

Country

Germany

Device

[NOT WORKING]
Echo Show 8 (2nd Gen 2021) Firmware: 31240328324
Echo Show 5 firmware: 11040834436

[Working]
Echo Dot (4th Gen) Firmware: 11040834436
Echo Dot (3rd gen) firmware: 11040834436
Echo Plus Firmware: 689859620
Echo Dot (2nd Gen? dont know) Firmware: 11040830340

Operating System

Android

My Question or Issue

Hello!
I have been having problems with Spotify on my Amazon Echo Show devices for some time. They have not been playing music from Spotify for a few months. The Alexa says that it is now playing music, but it just doesn't do it. Even if I play music via my smartphone and then select an Echo Show as the speaker, no music comes out. I have other Amazon Echo devices and they play music without any problems. I can play music there either by voice command or smartphone. I have already tried various things, but so far without success. Just today, for example, I did a factory reset on my Echo Show 8 and reset everything and it still doesn't work. I can't quite pinpoint when they stopped working. But I would think roughly until Spotify started showing music videos on the TV.

I have the devices. As you can see, only the ones with a display are affected.

[NOT WORKING]
Echo Show 8 (2nd Gen 2021) Firmware: 31240328324
Echo Show 5 firmware: 11040834436

[Working]
Echo Dot (4th Gen) Firmware: 11040834436
Echo Dot (3rd gen) firmware: 11040834436
Echo Plus Firmware: 689859620
Echo Dot (2nd Gen? dont know) Firmware: 11040830340

I found this old post in the forum, but it hasn't been solved. The hints from the moderator there make no sense at all, because the Spotify skill is developed by Spotify itself and not by Amazon, as you can see very clearly in the skill list. So why should Amazon care about the skill?

https://community.spotify.com/t5/Other-Podcasts-Partners-etc/Alexa-echo-show-and-fire-tv-no-Work/m-p...

Amazon Music and Apple work, but I don't have a proper subscription there.

[Samuel777]

Hi,

I had the same problem with the Spotify skill not working : no sound and songs skipping every 5 seconds. Amazon Music was working. I did a reset of my Echo Studio, reinstalled Spotify and Alexa App (iPhone), removed and added back the skill, etc... but nothing changed.

After multiple attempts (!), I set the Echo to use my iPhone shared Wifi and it worked flawlessly, which indicated there was a problem with the LAN configuration. So I think it is THE one test to do if reinstalling doesn't help.

In my case, I had to disable IPV6 on my router. It seems the other music streaming services are less demanding on network requirerements and do work when Spotify can't.

I hope it helps !

Samuel

[cades1]

I agree. I think the Spotify streaming service now needs a rock solid network or there will be issues.  It used to be very robust in the past but now does not perform well under some unpublished network conditions.  It has some great functionality but unfortunately the Spotify developers are not paying enough attention to robustness. Unfortunately that makes the overall system unusable to some users. My guess is cost cutting to improve corporate profitability. But losing customers is not a sustainable strategy. I cancelled my Spotify subs and now subscribe to Amazon. Works perfectly even though it has less functionality than Spotify.

[BullSpencer]

Working for the last two days... And this morning didn't working again, this is embarrassing