Chromecast Last FM scrobbling doesn't work

[mupet0000]

I very much welcome the addition of Chromecast support after all these years, unfortunately on iOS where playing tracks normally or streaming via AirPlay wouldn't be a problem sending my scrobbles to last fm, when I stream to a chromecast, no tracks are scrobbled.

Last FM scrobbling is turned on in my settings and works fine other than when using a chromecast.

I have contacted Spotify support but they are about as useful as talking to a lampost, here is my current transcript between me and Spotify Support, I don't have the initial message I sent them but it was very similar to what I typed above.

Spotify:

Hi there,

Thank you for reaching out to us. We're sorry to hear that you're having problems streaming through your Chromecast. Don't worry, we're here for you.

If you’re having trouble with Spotify and your Chromecast, please check the following:

• You have the latest firmware installed on your Chromecast device. The upgrade is now rolling out and will automatically install on your Chromecast within the next few weeks.
• Your device is connected to the same WiFi network as your Chromecast.
• You’re using the app in a country where Spotify is available.
• You have the latest version of Spotify installed.

Let us know how you get on. If you need more help, please don't hesitate to ask.

Cheers,

Ashley

Spotify Customer Support

Me:

Hello,

Please read my initial question. There's no problem streaming to the chromecast, just that the last fm scrobbling doesn't work.

Thanks

Spotify:

Hello Mike,

Thanks for keeping in touch.

Right now we don’t officially support the integration between Spotify and Chromecast.

We're always looking to bring Spotify to new hardware and devices. But we can’t say at this time when or if any specific releases will be out - we'd hate to let you down with promises we can't stick to!

As soon as we've got something to announce we'll let everyone know via the Spotify blog, so keep an eye out.

Let us know if you have further questions.

Gina

What do you think to this? I think it's pretty stupid that they don't support their own feature. Add it to the list of the absolutely stupid practises of Spotify. Crawl through my post history if you want to see how satisfied I've been over the years lol.

UPDATE:

Hi Mike,

Thank you for coming back to us.

While, as you said, Spotify now supports Chromecast, scrobbling to Last.FM of songs played on Chromecast out of Spotify isn't supported yet. Please rest assured our developers are working on it.

We apologize if our previous message wasn't clear. All your questions are welcome.

Cheers,

Andrea

OK so the first reply looked like some kind of generic keyword detection "Chromecast" autoreply. The second reply claimed the feature wasn't even supported. The third reply claims that their developers are working on it. You've got to force the information out of them it seems. Anyway, it's the 14th of November now, let's see how long it takes to get fixed.

[MattSuda]

Hey @mupet0000

I don't have any information to share about it being worked on by developers, but I do know that Spotify uses "Connect" to stream to the Chromecast. Right now Connect does not support Last.fm scrobbling.

Add a kudo to this idea to show your support:

https://community.spotify.com/t5/Live-Ideas/Spotify-Connect-Scrobble-to-Last-fm/idi-p/633074

[mupet0000]

Ah I see, so this is why we got Chromecast support. Google added Connect to Chromecast so Spotify didn't have to do the work.

Shame about Connect not supporting Last FM for some bizzare reason. And it's always nice to get fobbed off by Spotify Support, the old "rest assured we are working on it" line.

I may as well forget about scrobbling all together and go with Apple Music, the free trial is pretty awesome so far and it handles music libraries 100x better than Spotify. I really feel as if Spotify couldn't care less about it's users.

[MattSuda]

Hmmm well I think the Spotify app does support Chromecast in the true way, but the way it is activated is similar to when using Spotify Connect. It is under the "other devices" menu on the now playing screen.

Similar to how the PlayStation app does not support last.fm scrollbing right now. Spotify uses the term "Spotify Connect" to control playback on the PlayStation, so I think using the term "Connect" here is right.

The problem is that the Spotify iOS app only scrobbles to Last.fm if a song is actually playing on your device. Since you are just controlling it from the iOS device, and playing it on the chromecast, it does not scrobble. They should probably make it so that the iOS device that is controlling the chromecast sends all the info to last.fm. The iOS app can detect everything about the playback like how many seconds in and what's coming up next, so I don't see why they couldn't implement that.

[mupet0000]

I'm sure they can implement it and it's just as simple as they forgot about Last FM when it came to Spotify Connect.

At the end of the day the Last FM option sits in the settings and there's no mention that it will not work over Connect, this suggests that it was an oversight.

There's no good reason that it doesn't support Last FM, iOS still has the track info to scrobble as normal like you said.

The official response:
"Hello everyone. Staff here. We don’t have plans to support scrobbling to Last.fm on Connect right now. Please continue to add your Kudos and comments here. We’ll be sure to update this thread when we have more to say."

It's pathetic.

[artemis_clyde]

Actually I'm just replying here to keep this thread going.

I think there's quite a few people wishing for the scrobble feature to be enabled.

So dear Connect Staff - Please do something about it. This is something utterly important to some of us 🙂

[Jarnim]

Please add this.

[groupama3]

It works if you use simple lastfm scrobbler..

[smawuascht]

you install that on your PC?

[raacampbell]

On a mobile device you can install the last.fm app. It can be annoying to get Spotify's built-in scrobbling to stop, however. You might need to clear the apps config settings and set up again. 

[hans-jürgen · Accepted solution]

Just FYI: The new Spotify Scrobbling (Beta) feature by Last.fm also supports Chromecast and Spotify Connect devices besides others like Amazon Echo, Google Home etc. independent from the OS. You can enable it on your Applications settings page of your Last.fm profile. See also the official announcement:

https://getsatisfaction.com/lastfm/topics/spotify-scrobbling-beta