Alexa has stopped playing my playlists or individual songs

[scurravogue]

Plan

Unlimited

Country

Ireland

Device

iPad

Operating System

Latest ioS

My Question or Issue

Hi, hope you can help me. I have had a Spotify Unlimited account for many years and have never had any difficulty linking to Alexa. Suddenly yesterday it stopped working:

If I say "Alexa, play [ABC] playlist on Spotify" it replies: "Playing [ABC] Radio" and then goes silent.

If I say "Alexa, play Hotel California by the Eagles" it replies "Playing Hotel California by the Eagles" and then plays a random song from my library.

If I open Spotify on my iPad and select my Alexa as the output device, it works but gives me ads every three songs as though I am on Spotify Free. I'm a paying customer.

Spotify will play seamlessly on my iPad itself, so it's not a wifi issue.

Solutions tried:

YES, I have deleted and reinstalled the Spotify app.

YES, I have checked that Spotify is the default music player on my Alexa app.

YES, my iPad ioS is up to date and wifi is working perfectly.

I hope someone can help me as I was a Spotify early-adaptor and have been singing its praises for years. I have never had any problems before.

Thanks in advance.

[MafeG]

Hi there @scurravogue,

Welcome to the Community and thank you for posting. 

To start, please head to your Alexa app, disconnect your Spotify account and link it again. 

Also, please make sure you're accessing the correct Premium account. When you head to your Account Overview, you'll be able to see your subscription and the username/email related to it, this way you can be certain of your login information.

If you need a hand with anything else, the Community is here for you. 

[scurravogue]

Dear MafeG,

Thank you very much for your prompt reply. I tried what you suggested (disconnecting Spotify on the Alexa app and then linking it again) but unfortunately it made no difference. The problem remains the same.

Regarding the type of account, I have always had a Spotify Unlimited account which has worked perfectly with Alexa up until now. Is it possible that things have changed and that I am no longer allowed to link to Alexa with Unlimited? If so, it seems very unfair that I am paying a monthly fee to be treated exactly the same as a non-paying Free user.

Thanks again for your help, but I hope that you or someone else can help me with this very frustrating problem. 

Best wishes.

[MafeG]

Hey @scurravogue,

Thank you for keeping us in the loop.

Since you have an active subscription you should be able to play music on your Alexa, so there are some things we can try here to narrow this down.

Can you log in with another account, such as a friend's or a family member's to see if the same things happen?

If the issue persists, please make an internet hotspot with your phone, connect your Alexa to it and try to play music again. 

Keep us posted.

[dmosquera]

It seems that "spotify unlimited" have the days numbered till your next bill. I'm from Spain and I have received and email saying that at the end of my paying period my account will be transformed in Spotify Free. It is for that because you can not link your alexa to Spotify at least in Spain, because you have to be "premium". It's a pity but the service it's over.

[scurravogue]

Thanks for your help, MafeG, y gracias por tu ayuda, Dmosquera.

I have identified the problem. It seems that last week, without informing me or notifying me in any way, Spotify abruptly pulled the plug on my fully paid-up Spotify Unlimited account and put me on Spotify Free, which of course features ads and won’t play on Alexa. I wasted many, many hours trying to find out what was wrong, deleting and re-installing apps, before I finally received an email from Spotify dated three days after the event, telling me that they were closing all Spotify Unlimited accounts. (As Dmosquera says.) I have now switched to Premium and the problem has been solved.

I don’t mind the change in terms and conditions: that is understandable. What drives me mad is that they suddenly threw me into “Spotify Free” **bleep** without even telling me, leaving me floundering in the dark looking for solutions. This is appallingly shoddy treatment of a loyal customer of many years’ standing who has never missed paying a bill.

I have always been a Spotify superfan, telling everyone that it is one of the few online services that is simple to use, intuitive and customer-friendly. Not any more. This has been a really bad experience. I’m sorry, but I shall be looking around for alternatives: not because of the fee hike, but because I dislike being treated this way.

(Despite all this, thank you very much for your constructive suggestions, MafeG. They were much appreciated.)  

[scurravogue]

Following up my last post, I notice that Spotify Community has put a "bleep" over one of my words in the phrase "They suddenly threw me into "Spotify Free" [blank]". Just in case anyone thinks I was using an obscenity, this was a harmless English word starting with H that describes the underworld... the netherworld... the inferno...  It was a simple metaphor.

Thanks.

[MafeG]

Hi folks,

Thank you for your replies.

Certainly the Spotify Unlimited subscription was set to stop being supported in the next few weeks.

@scurravogue However, it's odd you didn't receive our notification before being reverted to Free, and for that we sincerely apologize since it brought up this issue with the speaker's playback. 

I'm glad your Alexa is back to normal and you're able to keep streaming music as usual. If anything else comes up, the Community is here for you. 

Cheers!

[scurravogue]

Thanks for that.