My collaborator can't search songs and add those songs to the shared playlist

[rickytj]

My Question or Issue

We both are premium users. So i created a playlist and invited my friend to be the collaborator. The problem is, she can't search songs and then add those songs into the playlist, i.e. the playlist won't appear in her list of playlist. The only way for her to add songs is only from the "recommended songs" that appear when opening that playlist.

I thought this is a pretty basic feature but apparently Spotify missed it? Can anyone help? Thanks a bunch

[MattSuda]

Hey @rickytj

Have them go into the playlist and make sure they've tapped on the + plus icon at the top to save the playlist to their Your Library. It is possible to accept the collaboration invite but not add the playlist to Your Library, so make sure they've added the playlist to their library as well. When they've tapped on the + plus icon, it should turn green and appear in their library.

Let me know if this helps or if you still have trouble.

[LordXaras]

I have this same issue, and judging by other support topics it looks like others have it too. Collaborative playlists seem to be completely broken for some users.

At my office we like to create collaborative playlists every month. It's gone fine up until this month, where we currently have a collaborative playlist that only one user has been able to join, and we have like 6 people who report that they can't join.

They can add the playlist to their library but they don't get added as collaborators even if they click the invite link or paste it into the Spotify app and go to the playlist that way. They simply do not get added as collaborators - that is why the playlist doesn't appear in the "add to playlist" options, and if dragging and dropping a track the playlist is simply greyed out as they don't have the rights to add tracks to it.

We've even tried making a new collaborative playlist and those users are unable to join that one as well.

These same users did not have any issues joining last month's playlist.

So something is clearly broken.

[MattSuda]

@LordXaras

Have you and your coworkers tried joining the collab playlist using personal devices on your own personal cellular or WiFi networks?

You mentioned having this issue at work and that it just now started happening, and I'm wondering if it could be an issue with a recent change with the work devices / work network. I know sometimes work networks interfere with certain traffic.

Also note that when you create a collab playlist link to share, it expires after 7 days, and then a new link will need to be created and shared to allow people to start joining again. The Web Player in the web browser at (open.spotify.com) does not support collab playlists, so you will need to open (or paste the link into search field in the app) in the mobile or desktop app.

[LordXaras]

The issue persists no matter what network the affected users are on.

And the issue persists even if we make a new shared playlist and share it among the community the same day. Again, it seems very much as if some users can't join playlists as collaborators.

[Yordan]

Hey, @LordXaras,

Have the affected users tried accepting the invite from another device, if available? Also, if you're generating the invite link from your PC, could you give it a try from your mobile phone for example to see if that makes a difference?

Cheers 🤘

[kasper_s]

Hi Yordan,

Question: Why did Spotify change/break this feature, that worked so well before? Can you please re-roll it back to how it was before, where we simply could create a "collaborative playlist" and every shared link worked for everyone who got it. No issues what so ever. Now it seems like only the 1 special link (which also expires after some days, why?) "works" (kinda, maybe), and the users also need to "add the playlist to library" (I think? not very intuitive), and even that doesn't seem to always work.

My point is, this new way of creating and sharing playlists now only seems to work for tech-savvy people, where the owner needs to be careful to send the correct link, not just copy/share the playlist-link itself (the most intivitive way). Also all collaborators should get access to invite others to the playlist as well (not only the owner), as it was before.

A friend of me created a list like this now this week (for a biannual dinner we're having tomorrow), and sent to our group of friends asking everyone to add songs, and like only 5/10 of us have managed to make it work as per now. Hard to know why exactly some make it work and some not, and instead of us getting exicted about everyone's picks, the whole chat is now "I can't make it work, could you try to send the link again" killing the whole excitement / collaboration / point. Not liking this shittification going on in the tech world at the moment, I must say.