Spotify is a music streaming service that allows users to listen to their favorite music online and has millions of tracks to enjoy. However, like all technology, sometimes it doesn’t work. One of the most common issues reported is Spotify not playing songs. In this blog post, investigate why this might be happening, and provide you with the best solutions. Stay tuned!
Why are Spotify songs not playing?
The truth is that there are many different things that could be causing your Spotify songs not to play. One is that you may be connected to a poor Wi-Fi network. If Spotify is trying to stream music over a weak connection, it may have trouble playing your songs.
Another possibility is that there’s an issue with the Spotify app itself. Spotify could be having trouble loading information or connecting to its servers. It’s also possible that the problem lies with your device. If your phone or tablet is low on storage, for example, it may not be able to load and play Spotify songs.
These are just some of the reasons for Spotify not playing music, we cover more possibilities below. Now let’s get into each individual problem that could be causing Spotify issues and explain how to rectify them.
Check Your Internet Connection
To check whether or not your internet is causing problems with the Spotify app, the easiest way is to load up a different app. If your Facebook, Instagram, or other online apps are working fine, then it isn’t your network.
If these other apps are not working, then Spotify is not playing songs because it is not connected to the internet. This means you will need to reboot your router.
Here’s how to restart your router:
- Unplug your router from the power at the wall
- Leave the device unplugged for one minute
- Plug the router back in and wait for the connection to establish
- Restart Spotify on your device and try to play a song
- You should find that your internet is restored and Spotify not playing songs is resolved
If Spotify isn’t playing your downloading music in offline mode, it may be that the song or files didn’t download properly before you disconnected from the internet. Unfortunately, there is no solution for this other than adding the songs to your account again when you’re next online.
Check The Spotify System Status
Unfortunately, even the biggest tech companies in the world can have problems, and Spotify is no exception. They could be having a server outage or system problems that are impacting all users and preventing you from playing music.
You can check for any issues with Spotify on the official website, or even follow the official Twitter account @SpotifyStatus to keep up to date at all times.
Update the Spotify App
It doesn’t matter whether you’re using Spotify on Apple, Android, Windows, or Mac, you need to keep the software updated. The good news is that the App Store or Google Play Store will usually inform you when your app becomes out of date. However, if you’re using a desktop computer or laptop, it becomes less obvious when you need to download a new version.
You can check the latest version of Spotify by visiting the website, and comparing it to the version that you’re running on your device. If they don’t match, download and install the newest version. Note that this will not delete any of your playlists or account information, but you will need to log back in.
Check Your Device Storage
Storage problems are one of the main culprits for Spotify not playing songs. You will need at least 250MB of storage on your device to use Spotify, and that’s just streaming your favorite tunes. You will need significantly more than this if you want to listen to downloaded music and use offline mode. This is because these files are saved to your cache.
Checking your device storage varies by device, but you can usually find it within the settings menu. If you don’t have enough space (250MB or more) you will not be able to stream music and playback will be completely unavailable. The only solution to this is to delete files you are not using and uninstall any unwanted apps to free up some space for Spotify.
Adjust The Spotify Settings
There are a couple of Spotify settings that could cause playback issues when turned on if you don’t need them. The first thing to look for is the hardware acceleration option. You can find this within the settings menu and should be disabled. You would only need hardware acceleration if you were using a very old device that struggled with streaming.
You should also turn off crossfade in the playback menu. Although this is designed to improve the quality of transitions between songs, it can also cause problems on some devices. You should also check the sound quality settings – if you have Spotify Premium, you can access the highest quality playback. However, either your device or internet may not be capable of supporting it.
Finally, check that your Spotify app isn’t in offline mode. This is something that can quite easily be enabled by accident and would mean you can only play downloaded music.
Check Your Sound Output
This may seem very obvious, but you would be surprised at the number of times Spotify not playing songs is resolved by reviewing the sound output on your device. Press play on your current song and check the volume first, as you may have muted the sound accidentally.
Not only the volume but where the sound is actually coming from can be another issue. For example, you may have your Apple AirPods connected and in the other room unknowingly. So technically, Spotify is playing songs, you just can’t hear them. Sometimes it’s that simple.
Resync, restart, and reinstall Spotify
The reason that we have listed all of these under the same header is that just one of the steps may be enough, without having to do the next one. For example, if you resync Spotify, it might start playing songs again. If it doesn’t, you can restart Spotify. Still no luck? The last step is to uninstall and reinstall Spotify.
If you use offline mode a lot and have downloaded your favorite tunes, you will need to log out and back in again every 30 days to keep offline music working. This is what a resync is, signing back into Spotify and avoiding any corrupted files.
Restarting is simply closing the Spotify app down and restarting it. You may find then that your songs start to play again. The final step, reinstalling Spotify, means completely removing the software and local files from your device and reinstalling.
