When are Spotify stopping supporting Pioneer Receivers which support Spotify Connect?

[bradavon]

Hi,

I received an email yesterday to say Spotify are stopping support for my Pioneer Speaker soon.

- When is soon?

- Does stopping support mean Spotify just won't support it or it will stop working?
Stopping support means a company won't address issues but I believe Spotify are going to actually stop the feature from working.

- Why? There's no reason given why this is necessary.

The email rather bizzaely says:

"We want to make playing Spotify on your speaker and other devices better and easier"

How is stopping support better or easier? Why not just stop supporting it? So if it breaks too bad.

I only bought my receiver 2 years ago specifically as it supported Spotifty Connect. Spotify is in part more popular over rivals as Spotify works on so many devices, or did.

I guess like everyone else I'll need to buy a Chromecast Audio 😕

[nasd]

this absolutely sucks donkey **bleep**. I've been a member since day 1 (ok maybe 2) but this is really disappointing. 

I'm really happy with my Pioneer receiver, which I bought in part because of the Spotify Connect support. 

[HSKonnection]

Here is another angry Spotify premium user with a Pioneer SC-1224. It's very frustrating that you stop the support on three years old devices which costs many hundreds of Euros or even more.

This feature was one of the main reasons of my buying decision. An AV-Receiver isn't a device which you change every two years like a mobile.

Your suggestion to buy "easily" a new device is a darned cheek! I hope you think about your decision seriously and give us this feature back!! It works very well for me for three years.

[sambojc]

Hello,

I just started the petition "Spotify: Bring back Spotify supported for speakers" and wanted to see if you could help by adding your name.

My goal is to reach 100 signatures and I need more support. You can read more and sign the petition here:

http://chn.ge/2osTF3b

Thanks!

[Bakersdozen]

I have signed the petition.

What are you going to do with the results? Who are you going to target and how?

[sambojc]

Hello,

I just started the petition "Spotify: Bring back Spotify supported for speakers" and wanted to see if you could help by adding your name.

My goal is to reach 100 signatures and I need more support. You can read more and sign the petition here:

http://chn.ge/2osTF3b

Thanks!
Jose

[sambojc]

I want to see the numbers we get, then if some one wants to get in touch I
could use some help on how to proceed.

[Cmvdk]

Signed petition

[megadro]

Signed the petition. Still couldn't contact Pioneer on the issue 😕

[deechtewber]

Signed it too.

I haven't heard from Pioneer yet after two tries.

[Steffen114]

Everybody should write a E-Mail to the Support. Maybe then will comes a Firmware update.

Where can i signup the petition?

[ivanolenny]

The answer given to me by Pioneer is that everything depends exclusively on spotify

[5tratocaster1]

This is how I have contacted Pioneer UK through their Customer Services page.

I will post again if and when I get a reply.

CUSTOMER CONTACT FORM

Your message has been sent to the Pioneer Customer Relations team. You can expect a response by email within the next 3 business days. 

Title:
Spotify Compatibility 

Question:
As you are aware, recent changes by Spotify have meant that my SC-LX57 Receiver no longer works as advertised when I bought it. I can no longer use my android phone to control the receiver to stream music from Spotify directly, even though I have a Spotify Premium account. Alternative work-rounds have been suggested, but these are, at the very least, inconvenient, require additional equipment and at worst, result in far lower quality sound reproduction.
My receiver is only a little over 3 years old (late 2014) and was purchased primarily for its Spotify integration. Considering the purchase price, this is not an 'old' piece of equipment.
I am aware of the disclaimer regarding third-party software in the manual, but this was not evident at the time of purchase, nor would it necessarily have alerted potential buyers that a major feature of the equipment might suddenly stop working at any time.
My question is this.
Of the five major names in the Home Cinema market, Yamaha, Denon and Marantz have all agreed to support their customers by issuing firmware updates to maintain the full advertised functionality of their equipment. By contrast, Pioneer and Onkyo (now linked companies) have not. Why is this? Is it not technically possible, or have Pioneer/Onkyo taken the decision not to invest resources in producing the necessary firmware, or is it a licensing issue?
At first, I was inclined to blame Spotify for failing to ensure backwards compatibility when upgrading their software, but since the other major companies seem to be coping with this change, it leaves me wondering why Pioneer can't do the same. You have customers out there who have been loyal to your brand. You should be supporting them and I think we deserve an explanation why you are not.
Please let me have a full and reasoned reply from somebody who knows the answer and not just a rehash by your PR department of some standard response to what must, by now, have been several thousand complaints.
Thank you.

Incidentally, although feelings are obviously running high, I don't think it's constructive to use bad language on this site. Not only does the site remove swear words, making it more difficult to read the entry, but it also makes the user appear immature and therefore less likely to be taken seriously. Just my opinion.

[Musicuriousity]

Just browsed Pioneer's website and newer products. Noticed there were no
Spotify labels in sight anymore. Description about Spotify Connect support
on Pioneer devices was removed from product sites.

[ivanolenny]

Can you tell me the Spotify support email?

[megadro]

I finally emailed Pioneer and told them it is their responsibility to update firmware to keep the functionality of their devices.

Here is what I received:

"
We are sorry but due to the sudden change in Spotify this receiver will no longer support the ability to play Spotify through it.

Thank you
Bryan

"

Do we have legal options to report this? Pioneer lost me as a future customer for sure.

[5tratocaster1]

You should go back to 'Bryan' and tell him that this wasn't a 'sudden change' by Spotify. It has been on the cards since at least last June and Yamaha, Marantz and Denon have all managed to respond to the change in that time by developing new firmware for their equipment. Why hasn't Pioneer done the same?

[Steffen114]

Everybody should write them.

It can not be, then without Spotify - my receiver is su#s.

[ybouckaert]

Hello,

I too discovered the hard way my Pioneer SC-LX58 receiver does not longer work with Spotify Connect. This was one of the major reasons why I decided to go with this receiver. I have bought it exactly three years ago for 1530 Euro.

I've contacted Pioneer Belgium, and they too said that 'it is because Spotify has stopped support for these devices'. My reply to ask for a firmware update like Denon etc. remains unanswered. It's a disgrace.

Regards,

Yann

[hss]

Solved this with raspberry pi + volumio.

No need to upgrade avr. Buy 30€ raspberry pi, hdmi cable, sd-card and install volumio linux distro to it. There is spotify connect plugin for volumio, its not perfect, but its working.

Still, pioneer should fix firmware issue, but atleast there is way to use spotify connect.

[5tratocaster1]

Yes, there are work arounds, including Chromecast or Chromecast Audio, Amazon Fire TV Stick or any of a number of other attachments, but that isn't the point.

Not all users are tech-savvy, not do they want to invest in more hardware when they had a perfectly working system until a few weeks ago.

If Yamaha, Denon and Marantz can issue firmware to keep their equipment up to date, why can't Pioneer?

I have emailed Mr. Kotani Susumu, CEO of Pioneer Japan to ask him to look into this. I haven't had a reply yet and going by Pioneer's recent behaviour, I don't expect to.

However, if enough people start to pester him, perhaps something will happen.

His email address is:

susumu_kotani.post.pioneer.co.jp

If you email him, keep it polite and to the point - no swearing as it won't go down well in Japan. The main point is that Pioneer can't keep blaming Spotify. If the other companies have come to an arrangement, Pioneer should be able to do the same or at least tell us honestly why they can't. Telling us our equipment no longer works with Spotify isn't good enough. Some of our equipment is relatively recent - 3 or 4 years old. That isn't 'old' in hifi terms and considering the prices paid, we haven't had full value yet.