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FAMILY AND ECHO ALEXA

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FAMILY AND ECHO ALEXA

Plan

Family

Country

 UK

 

 

My Question or Issue

 

I pay £14.99/month for family subscription. I have 2 Alexas and an Echo Dot. I can't wok out how to have spotify running on each Alexa device, but different music on each through Spotify. We can only seem to access Spotify on one device at a time. Please can soebody advise if we can do this and if so, how. I don't want to play the same music as my sons!

 

Reply
77 Replies

It is because Apple allow multiple streams to happen at any one time. In a way this is good however I love that when I start playing something on my laptop on Spotify I can switch to controlling it on my phone. However on Apple it doesn't show that Im playing something already. I'm not sure how many streams it allows though? 

The only solution I found for me and my family is to switch to Amazon Music (Family Subscription). This is the only way I found to have multiple streams at the same time and still be able to manage all Alexa devices in my Amazon account.

The only drawback is, that I think Spotify (the streaming service and the app) is better than Amazon Music - and that is why the current situation is that frustrating. 

I've been a Spotify subscriber for a LONG time. Now I have teenage family and multiple Echo devices it simply does not provide the multiple streaming service I require.

 

Sad to leave, but leave I must.

This is absolutely ridiculous. It is shameful that Spotify after all these years have not thought of a way round this issue. Clearly they are not willing to solve this issue for Spotify Families with kids.

 

I have been following this thread for over a year and was hoping Spotify will see some common sense. It has been frustrating for my Kids. The only way to get them to listen to their different playlist at the same time is to use Sonos App instead of speaking to their echo device.

 

Suggesting we create Amazon profiles for our kids is unacceptable. It is also currently not possible to create Amazon profiles for Kids in the UK. Even if it were possible, I won’t recommend it for privacy reasons.

 

We have Spotify Family subscription but only using 3 out of the 6 possible accounts. I can see why you would want each member of the family to have distinct accounts but shouldn’t that be for parents to decide. Also we should be able to decide which accounts should contribute to the family mix feature. It is this kind of thinking that will make Spotify experience rich and usable for all subscribers. 


As others have said the only proper solution for now is to switch to Amazon Family plan. It’s a shame if families with kids have to switch from Spotify so as to enjoy seamless voice controls.

 

Spotify, if you are listening, this is a feature request needing urgent attention and not a rant.

Having accounts for children is really stupid !!
With a family subscription I have the right to expect to be able to listen to different music in each room without having multiple accounts.
I have two children, 5 and 7 years old, and do not have a smartphone or tablet but like listening to music in their room.
I go back to Amazon music or it's much simpler, too bad.
Thank you

 

I actually wonder if this is a Spotify or Amazon issue. Amazon might refuse to work with Spotify so people by Amazon Music instead of Spotify. They seem to do the same thing with doorbells. Amazon's doorbell integrates well with the Amazon Echo devices but does not with other doorbells like Skybell. Having said that, Spotify is loosing business and they should do something about it.

Actually manunula , this is absolutely an issue with Amazon, though not for the reasons you stated, the problem is that you can create a child account for amazon, and Spotify only requires you to be able to sign into your account on the device you are listening on, the problem arises in that amazon will not allow the child to sign in to Spotify using their account, until Amazon allows for this technical challenge Spotify can't really do anything.

I'm pretty sure Spotify's not allowing multiple streams seems like them burying their heads in the sand but other companies hacks are exactly that, hacks that bring on their own challenges, for example with Apple Music you can't chose the device you want to listen on if you can't connect to it via airplay, that is a hindrance when you step outside to take out the trash and you get disconnected from the party.

For those coming here to complain, your complaints would be better heard at Amazon as this is an Amazon issue with Amazon child accounts HAVING to use a parent's Spotify account, this works fine where my girlfriend is joined to my family account, she can use the Alexa like its hers and I can have it switch to my account, the same is true for my kids - this is the solution, but is implemented poorly by Amazon, not Spotify.

This !

You'd think there was a solid solution by now.  Not to mention my playlist suggestions are always wacky bc it's my account associated with the echos & my kids really screw with the algorithm.  It's one of the reasons a pay for family. 

@Talisyn, I had exactly the same issue with recommended music. I used my account for the Echos but that messed up the songs Spotify recommended. I ended up using one of the family accounts for the Echos. That way at least the recommended songs on my phone and computer stay untouched. Still, the original problem still exists. You should be able to have different accounts assigned to different Echos.

Can you explain how you make it work with your girlfriend? Do you have to ask alexa to change account each time?

A tutorial video would be nice as it's not that clear what steps you need to take.

Thanks, but you do realise that this isn't a solution?  At best it's a workaround.

Same issues. 5 Echoes in the house (3kids, wife and I). Want to keep the kids Echoes linked to parental Amazon accounts . Have Spotify family. Problem: Kids can't play their own music on their Echoes without it cutting out what I'm listening to, even when I'm listening to Spotify on my smart phone. Kids are too young to have own phones (before someone suggests that again!). Spotify, its time to sort this out. Otherwise you lose not only my subscription but the kids future subscriptions too....

This is not a solution. It is an inappropriate work around that breaks Alexa in the process.

I really cannot believe this.

 

I've had premium (solo) for 2 years (free through phone), and have put up with the kids cutting off my music, because it was free.

 

That has now ended so signed up straight away for 'family'. Only to find that my 6 echo dots (which are obviously under one account to enable the most from them, AND my kids are way too young to have their own amazon accounts) are essentially not compatible and we CANNOT play different songs at the same time in different rooms on different echo dots.

 

THIS, if correct, IS SIMPLY LUDICROUS.

 

Please could I ask for confirmation that this is how it is, and I'm not missing something obvious.

 

And whilst I'm here, does anyone know if the Amazon Music equivalent works any better?

 

Thank you in advance.

 

Neil

Unfortunately this looks like the end of Spotify for me. I originally had amazon music family,  and had no problem with the kids listening to what they want on their alexas,  while I'm listening to my own music on phone,  car or alexa. So halfway through listening to slayer now on Spotify,  suddenly eurovision or some other nonsense starts playing!! It would be funny if it wasn't sooooooooooooo frustrating. 

I didn't like amazon music app,  but it does the job we are all looking for.

Does anyone know if apple music works on different alexas?

Isn't this a simple solution from a development perspective?

 

It's simple:

 

If I pay for a family plan, I should be able to play unlimited streams, from unlimited devices, at the same time, on one user account.

 

Why is music so special compared to every streaming platform that exists? Netflix, Hulu, HBO max, amazon, Disney+... all allow me to have multiple videos going at once throughout my house. 

 

Fix your product. Stop with the excuses. This problem has existed for 4 years. Your delay is pathetic.

 

Edit: from a software or licensing perspective, what is the difference between 6 profiles playing 6 different songs, or 1 profile playing 6 different songs on 6 different devices? Limit it that way. If 3 profiles are playing a song each, then a fourth profile would only have access to 3 streams... Make the total concurrent streams equal to the max amount of profiles.

 

Do you need developers? Pretty sure there's some talented people out there looking for jobs...

 

This is really unacceptable. I will look into Apple Musik since this seems to work as intended.

I agree and have the same problem.
It would be nice to be able to pair specific spotify accounts to specific echo devices, but also be able to do play music "everywhere"

Right now, my 3 boys each have their own device in their room, but they argue a lot because they interrupt each others' music playing because they're each requesting their own device play the song they want.....which stops playing what another brother was listening to. This has become the bane of my existence haha.

Could be worse, while singing along to iron maiden on way home from work,
suddenly cardi B came on my car stereo, I certainly had my eyes opened in
the lyrics, and I'm in no way easily shocked.
My son and friends had tried to play it on his alexa

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