Playing from Alexa causes Liked Songs to misbehave

[TheGooseMafia]

Spotify Premium Plan, based in USA

My Question or Issue

Spotify works as expected when I am playing from my phone or desktop, but when I attempt to play it from my Alexa speaker (from the devices menu in Spotify), my Liked Songs playlist attempts to play recommendations instead of my actual Liked Songs.

For instance, I can shuffle my liked songs from my phone and check the queue, revealing that it is drawing from my liked songs as intended. However, the second I change my audio device to my Alexa speaker, the queue shows that it is instead playing recommendations based on the song currently playing.

I have Autoplay disabled and a premium subscription, so I am not sure why it would be playing recommendations instead of my Liked Songs. Any suggestions?

[Maria]

Hey @TheGooseMafia,

Thanks for reaching out on the Community!

Just to make sure we cover all bases, as you mention using Shuffle, could you double-check so Smart Shuffle is switched off on your phone when you're using the speaker?

Another thing which comes to mind, do you notice the same behavior if you start playback using Alexa voice commands? Feel free to have a look at List of voice commands on this page for more details.

Should this issue persist, however, would you mind letting us know the make, model & OS version of the devices you're using?

Let us know how you get on!

[TheGooseMafia]

Thank you for the response!

I can confirm that Smart Shuffle is not turned on when connected to the speaker.

When I use voice commands, Alexa is able to play songs, albums, and playlists as expected, but the Liked Songs does not work. The speaker will respond "Playing Liked Songs from Spotify" correctly, but then doesn't play anything.

This is happening on both my phone (iPhone 13, iOS) and laptop (running Windows 11), and the speaker itself is an Amazon Echo Dot 3rd Generation with built-in clock.

[OscarDC]

Hey @TheGooseMafia,

Thank you for keeping in contact.

Just to make sure we're on the same page, since in the original message you mentioned that the speaker was playing recommendations based on the currently playing song, but in the latest one the tracks were not playing, would you mind confirming if you've a different behaviors depending if you use a voice command or the device picker of the app?

Also, since this could be related to a different account linked to your Alexa, would you mind re-linking your Alexa with your Spotify account to see if it makes any difference? You can do this by following the steps mentioned here?

We'll be waiting for your response.

[TheGooseMafia]

Hi!

Yes, the behavior seems to be different depending on whether I switch from the app or use the voice commands. To be clear, if the music is already playing from my phone and I switch the device to my speaker from the app, the queue of liked songs changes to recommendations. By contrast, if nothing is playing and I verbally ask the speaker to play Liked Songs from Spotify, it will respond to the request but not play anything. In either case, the playback seems to function incorrectly.

I’ve attempted to disable and re-enable the Spotify skill from the Alexa app, as well as disconnecting and reconnecting my account; I’ve gotten the same results each time.

[Vasil]

Hey @TheGooseMafia,

Thanks for the reply! We'll get to the bottom of this 🙂

Could you try the following on the Alexa app please - go to More > Music and More > Settings > Autoplay and disable it. 

The Autoplay option (on both Spotify and Amazon's ends) is designed to play recommendations/ similar content only after the playlist ends, so I'm thinking that you may be affected by this issue, which reverses the playlist order, after which the playlist ends and Autoplay kicks in. If this is the case, disabling it from the Amazon app should simply make the playlist stop after the first song finishes.

Much appreciated! We'll be on the lookout for your reply 🙌🏼

[TheGooseMafia]

Hi! Thank you for the continued support!

Checking the Alexa app, the autoplay setting was already disabled. I tried re-enabling it and then disabling it again, but the issue persists and doesn't seem to be caused by that setting.

[TheGooseMafia]

Upon closer examination, after restarting and reconnecting the devices multiple times, it seems that the autoplay did cause it to play recommendations after one song had elapsed. This being said, when I finally got the disabling to function properly, it no longer plays recommendations after one song but instead stops entirely, meaning that if I shuffle my Liked Songs, it will only play one song and then give up. Attached is a screen recording showing how the queue of music disappears once connected to the device.

I would hazard a guess that the heart of the issue is how it erases the queue once connected to the Alexa, which then causes it to play recommendations with autoplay or stop entirely without. Ideally, it would maintain the queue and allow me to play more than one Liked Song at a time; Do you know if this is possible?

[Susan_GP]

Hi @TheGooseMafia,

Thanks for keeping us updated and for the video and detailed info you've shared.

Just to make sure we've tried every possible step to fix this, try the following:

1. Go to your Account Overview page and 'Remove access' to Alexa. You might need to re-add the Spotify Skill from the Alexa app.
2. Restart your Alexa by unplugging the device's power cable for 10-20 seconds, then plugging it back in.
3. Make sure your Echo Dot is updated. You can ask Alexa is there are any software updates available or check the Alexa app.

On another note, would it be possible for someone else with a Premium account to link to Alexa and check if they have the same issue? It can be a relative or friend's account?

Lastly, what is the exact model of your Echo Dot?

We'll be on the lookout!