Spotify podcasts won't play on Amazon Echo

[discozen]

Plan

Premium

Country

UK 

Device

Amazon Echo

My Question or Issue

However I try to play spotify podcasts on my Echo, it won't work.

When I'm playing a podcast on Spotify on my phone/ mac, and ask Alexa to open Spotify, nothing happens. If I'm playing music, it continues from the same place. 

When I'm playing a podcast on Spotify on my iphone or mac and try to Spotify connect to my echo, nothing happens.

I'm trying to use Spotify for all my music and podcasts so this would be really good to fix. 

Does anyone have any ideas?

thank you 

[discozen]

Update: this is not all podcasts. I've worked out that it is only BBC podcasts that don't work. For example: 

- BBC Radio 4 Thinking Allowed

- BBC Radio 4 Money Box 

- BBC Radio 1's screen time

Any ideas? Is this something that Spotify needs to speak to the BBC about?

Thank you 

[Peter]

Hey @discozen.

Thanks for reaching out on the Community, and sorry for the slow response! We'll be glad to help you out 🙂

Could you try playing the podcasts in question from another Spotify account? This will determine whether there is an issue with the account itself.

Would you also mind performing a clean reinstall on both devices by following the steps outlined here? This can solve many common problems that our users experience.

Let us know how you get on. We'll be here in case you need any further help 🙂

[discozen]

Hi

Thanks for the reply and apologies for my delay in responding. 

I don't have another spotify account to use, so I'm not sure how I can try it on a different account? 

Do you mean reinstall spotify on my phone and mac? That seems a lot of work when the fact that they are both not working, to me, suggests that they are not the problem? the common denominator is the Echo - should I reinstall the Spotify skills on that? 

Has Spotify been able to replicate this issue, or do you know if other users have reported it?  

Many thanks

[abcdavis]

Hello,

This same exact scenario is happening to me too. I can play any and all music from the Spotify app to Alexa. But when try playing Harmontown it grays out all devices and says "Can't play this right now" 

Additionally, I can not command Alexa to play select titles from the same podcast.

spotify:show:4xdoysfv0ztl97lrj8Sg4W

I have done a clean install, closed and logged out of all devices. Phone, PC or Alexa, same outcome.

[discozen]

Weirdly, I can play Harmontown via my Echo (I've just tested it). 

Spotify - there's something strange going on where certain podcasts don't play through Spotify connect as they should, but it doesn't seem to be the same for all users on all devices. 

[georgepotts]

Yes. I have the same problem. Can play music via Spotify app through echo but not BBC podcast. Do you have any comment Spotify? I'm a premium subscriber.

Thanks 

[Peter]

Hey folks,

Thanks for raising this with us on the Community.

This is currently expected behaviour, since not all podcasts are available for playback on all devices. However, we're always working to improve the app, and we'll let you know if we have any updates on this in the future.

Thanks again!

[discozen]

Thanks Peter

Can I ask what the rationale is for this? It seems like an obvious thing to
prioritise fixing. The BBC is one of the biggest media organisations in the
world.

Thanks

[georgepotts]

Yes.

This is a cut-and-paste answer and it depresses me (possibly more than it should but there it is). I am a paying customer, and this response, two months after I raised the issue and many more months after others raised it, is a brush off. Spotify may "expect" this behaviour but why should we? "We're always working to improve the app..." has no meaning. You should at least take the time to tell us why some podcasts are not available to be played on some devices. You are not a free service anymore at least not to me. As a paying customer, I should get a properly considered answer and proper customer service. Not good enough spotify.

[almundo]

"This is currently expected behaviour, since not all podcasts are available for playback on all devices."

This is not an answer. Why is this expected behaviour? It is not expected by users like me and the people who have reported this. Is this is a technical limitation of Spotify. ( Which sounds more like a known bug than designed behaviour) or is it due to rights or legal reasons. Which at least would be an explanation? Which is it Spotify. ? V