AppleTV: Songs constantly pausing/skipping

[kd86]

Spotify on my AppleTV constantly pauses for a few seconds in every song, whether I'm streaming over Airplay or playing from the AppleTV app directly. Wondering if anyone else has this issue and knows how to fix it—rebooting my AppleTV didn't work, my internet is (currently) fine, and I don't have issues with any other streaming app.

[1284392272]

I'm having similar issues to the above.  At about 20 seconds before the song ends, it pauses for about 2 seconds and continues, just like in @kd86's video. This is my first time installing the app so there's no previous settings.

Device: Apple TV 4K (Second Gen)

TvOS: 15.4.1 (Latest)

App Version: 2022.04.25_7-eeadcb5.........(Latest according to App Store)

Troubleshooting steps performed:

- Power-cycled Router (With a few minutes between power)

- Used Other Network

- Used Wifi and Ethernet

- Power-cycled Apple TV (With a few minutes between power)

- Uninstalled Spotify and Reinstalled.

- Different Songs from Different artists

Edit: I created a new account and the time it pauses at has increased from 20 seconds before the song ends to 40 seconds before the song ends.

[Jeremy]

Hi there @1284392272 and @NoisyFlake ,

Thank you for your replies in this thread and for providing good information.

We've now passed this on to the right team that will take a closer look into this.

@NoisyFlake - can you log in with a different account on the device in the meantime to see if the issue persists?

We'll be on the lookout for your replies.

Take care 🙂 

[Ormeroda]

Hi guys, 

Experiencing sound drop out when playing on Apple TV. 

Plan

Premium

Country

Australia

Device

Apple TV - A1842

Operating System

IOS 15.4.1

My Question or Issue

This issue occurs using different AppleTV's but doesn't seem to happen if the source is another device. 

Whenever the "next track" popups first pops, approx 2 seconds later the sound pauses for around 2-3 seconds - before resuming.  It doesn't appear to skip and the timer also stops counting during the "pause". 

I have tried 4 different apple tv's, slightly different models, but same IOS version. 

All running Spotify 2022.04.25.7 (the latest available from apple store). 

I have logged out of spotify, removed and reinstalled, factory reset the apple tv. 
The issue has been occurring since around mid-late april, maybe, when the last spotify update was released?

[Ormeroda]

Thanks for the reply, I did notice that others had suggested similar. Yes, it is set to Auto and I did try forcing it to Stereo - but will try again now (EDIT: Can confirm forcing to Stereo and/or leaving on auto - the issue remains).

However, this isn't really a solution as other apps are then forced other to Stereo, rather than "Dolby".  Noting other applications, like Netflix and Kayo work correctly. 

It's just an issue using Spotify, and only occurs when the "next track popup" is initiated - however, there seems no way to disable that (to test the theory). Also only an issue from the Apple TV Spotify version, smart tv, amazon fire stick, etc, work fine.

[1284392272]

Hey! Could I get you to confirm something that I noticed? Would you try logging in using a free account as well? Everyone who has reported this so far has had a premium account (myself included) and it always pauses at exactly 20 seconds before the end of the song. (The up next appears about 22 seconds before the end of the song) When I created and switched to a free account, it suddenly changed from 20 seconds before to 40 seconds before. Could you confirm this?

(Now to the devs)

If the above is true and the devs aren’t able to replicate this, it seems to me that there is some mapping to account types. 0 would be a dev account, 1 is a premium account, and 2 is a free account. Then the account type int is multiplied by 20 for some reason, which would mean that dev accounts experience it 0 seconds before the end of the song (aka not at all). 

[Ormeroda]

Hey, thanks for the reply. 

Yes, I did try a free account and yes, I did notice it seemed to occur just prior to or just as the "next song" popup, but didn't notice a specific time, however, definitely occurred prior to my premium account.

I also tried hooking up a second account to my duo service and the behaviour is the same on premium, irrespective of primary or otherwise account.

Few other observations:

It occurs on:  AppleTV, Fire Stick, LG smart app etc.

Doesn't Occur on: PC (web or app), iPhone, TCL Smart app.

Same behaviour whether wifi or ethernet. DHCP or static etc. etc.

On those with the behaviour, the video never drops and the progress bar continues to run - however the sound pauses for literally 1-2 seconds. When plugged into a receiver you can see the signal drop and try to re-stablish the sound type (not the video). Behaviour occurs irrespective of setup - direct to tv, via receiver, optical pass through, hdmi etc, etc. 

The difference appears to be some app, have that next track popup. Perhaps co-incidental, but only occurs about when that pops.

I've also found that... If I take a fire stick, for example, hot spot to my 4G iPhone, the issue does NOT occur. So I figured it was network or router related (whilst I don't have another to try) - I have tried disable/enable every combination of things I could.

The other variable here, maybe, and perhaps related to your "account type" scenario is... I recently changed my account from duo to single, this DOESN'T take affect until 19/May. 

I'm going a little crazy now, as not 100% sure what I have/have not tested, but this issue didn't always occur or I would have deleted my account a year ago.

I will note, on the devices that the pause occurs, other services such as Apple Music, Netflix, Kayo and alike all work perfectly at, at least 1080p.

I had wondered what might happen if you could download songs to the devices that the issue occurs, to remove any network glitches, but could only do this on the iPhone version. Maybe I missed something?

[AlejaR]

Hey folks,

Thanks for your replies in this thread 🙂

We really appreciate the details you kindly sent us. It’d be awesome if you share with us a video recording of what is happening. This would help our tech folks continue looking into the inconvenience.

Rest assured this is being investigated by the right team.

Keep us in the loop and don't hesitate to get back to us if you have any other questions.

Take care!

[Ormeroda]

Hey AlejaR, 

Thanks for coming back. 

I got increasingly frustrated with the glitch, so went and bought a new VDSL modem. This has resolve the issue. It's 100% unclear exactly what the issue was, or why this solved the problem - as for whatever reason it was only Spotify on that modem that experienced the issue. 

I can try later today to plug the old one back in and replicate the issue again, recording a demo.

Not sure how replacing the modem, ultimately, linked to the Spotify issue being experienced.

[Kiril]

Hi Ormeroda,

Thanks for keeping us in the loop here.

We're glad that the issue has been resolved with the change of your modem device. This actually makes sense, as your previous device probably did not have integrated support for all the networking protocols that Apple devices are using. One such is the the Bonjour protocol for example. Some older router/modem devices are not fully fit to use this protocol and thus performance issues are to be expected. There’s no good way to check this, but if the router was made before 2005, it will likely miss this protocol. To be sure you can try Google some more tech information about your previous device, however we believe that now it's more important to enjoy the undisturbed flow of music from Spotify 🙂

Hope this helps clarify things. Don't hesitate to give us a shout if there's anything else we can help with.
 

[Ormeroda]

To add to this, the modem works fine for every other product that runs on it - just not Spotify. 

It use to work fine, and hasn't been updated - never the less, it no longer does, so seemed to fix the issue - but the entire process hasn't made a great deal of sense to me. Why just spotify? Does that use different protocols to Kayo, Apple Music, You Tube, Netflix etc. As they all work perfectly at 1080p or higher.

[Kiril]

Hey again @Ormeroda,

Thanks for your swift reply.

We're glad that the situation is actually resolved for you at the moment. Unfortunately we can't give you further information on how various manufacturers decide to develop their products in relation to the Spotify app. We provide them with our API which they then utilize in different ways and so differences in the user experience across devices and platforms is to expected.

Hope this clears things up. If you have any questions or need anything else, the Community is here for you.

[1284392272]

Hey, long time, no update! I was signed out of Spotify on my Apple TV 4k until now (admittedly, it's because I was lazy). The app auto-updated and is now on 2020.08.01_1 and the issue is gone.

There was no action that caused it to fix it. No networking changes have occurred (same router--a RT-AX56U, same ISP, same settings on router), the Apple TV was not factory Reset, the app was not removed and reinstalled (after the other times I did that didn't help), etc.

It just disappeared. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[kd86]

Same—eventually it just stopped happening eventually. Weird, but good!

[Alex]

Hi folks,

Glad to hear that the issue is gone after the latest update. 

Don't hesitate to reach out again if you have questions or if the issue returns.

Cheers.

[Sandemann01]

Hi,
I also have this issue, and have had this for a long time. First I had Apple TV 4K (1st Gen), and it was always updated. Very often, but not always the songs stops for 1 - 2 seconds at the end of songs (20 - 40 seconds before the end). It is very annoying and specially when you listen with high volume 🙂

I purchased Apple TV 4K (2nd Gen) for some months ago, and sat it up from scratch, and still have the same issues, that songs stops for 1 - 2 seconds at the end of songs. Still not every time.

This Apple TV is also updated (TVOS 15.6)

I have the Apple TV connected to the internet with cable and good internet speed.

I use Netflix, Youtube, Plex and other streaming services on the same Apple TV without any issues.

I uses Spotify on my iPhone in my car both with bluetooth and Apple Carplay, without any issues.

Spotify app is deleted and reinstalled, router is restarted several times.

My son have Apple TV 4K (1st Gen) in the same house, connected with WIFI, and he says he hasn´t these issues.

Please fix this issues, and maybe develop and make the Spotify app for Apply TV better 🙂

Thanks

[Eni]

Hey there @Sandemann01, 

Thanks for getting in touch about this. 

Would you mind asking your son to log in to his account on your Apple TV to check if the same happens with his account? Also, could you log in to your account on his Apple TV with your own account to check the same?

If the issue persists, could you give a different internet connection a go to see if that makes the difference?

We'll be on the lookout. 

[Sandemann01]

Hi,
My son logged into spotify on my Apple TV, and we are experience the same issues then. It stops for 1 - 2 seconds on random songs.

I haven't tested to log into his Apply TV spotify, because he doesn't experience this issue on his Apple TV, but for some reason gets it on mine. I am 99 % sure that I had same issues on the Apple TV 4K  (1st gen) I don't have any more, so that's indicate that it isn't the Apple TV?

Unfortunately, I only have this internet connection, so it will be difficult to test with another connection, but my son have his Apple TV on the same connection.

[OscarDC]

Hey @Sandemann01,

Thank you for keeping in contact.

If your son was having the same issue when connecting to your Apple TV, it could be device-related as it doesn't happen on his own TV. To make sure about this, we'd recommend checking if your account has the same issue if you login to your son's Apple TV. This will give us a better look at the issue.

Also, since you mentioned you don't have another network to doublecheck, you can use a mobile data hotspot from your cellular data to test it.

Lastly, include in your next response the OS version of your TV, along with the Spotify version you're currently running.

We'll be on the lookout.

[1284392272]

> Also, since you mentioned you don't have another network to doublecheck, you can use a mobile data hotspot from your cellular data to test it.

This is what I had done previously and it didn't help. To be honest, I'm not sure what information you're looking to gain from troubleshooting the internet connection because it's a consistent problem with 20 seconds before the end of the song. The only thing I can think of is if it has to do with the using the LAN instead of the Wifi and the drivers causing an issue. I experienced the same with both Gigabit LAN and 802.11ax Wi-Fi, which also gets gigabit. Perhaps you're just running through the troubleshooting diagnostic for "Pauses sometimes". If it paused at random times, then it could be an internet issue in that your downpipe isn't providing enough bandwidth to download the entire song and the buffer is exhausted. Such things are not happening here. It is exactly 20 seconds before the end of the song for Premium accounts and 40 seconds before the end of the song for Free accounts. Unless you can confirm that the Song Buffer Structure is set up like below, and that Spotify does not load the next buffer until it completely finished and Spotify doesn't want to provide the last 2 buffers until riiiiiight before the buffer is needed, then internet speed has nothing to do with this issue. After all, slow internet doesn't care _where_ you are in the song, it will be slow everywhere.

|-----------------------------------------Some amount of Song------|----20 sec----|----20 sec----| End of Song

Hot take on this internet issue, can you download the song and then play it? This will prove whether or not network has _anything_ to do with it.

[AlejaR]

Hey folks.

Thanks for your replies in this thread and for the info shared.

We've gone ahead and passed this detailed info to our tech team.

For those who haven't shared it yet and are experiencing this inconvenience at the moment, it'd be awesome if you could send us the following:

• A video recording of this inconvenience. This would help us visualize better what you're mentioning.
• Exact model and OS of your device along with the Spotify version you have installed.

We'll keep an eye on your responses.

Cheers!