Question

Cannot use Alexa to play Spotify on Sonos at all

  • 23 November 2017
  • 38 replies
  • 10815 views

We've got 4 x Sonos Play:1s dotted throughout the house - usually all grouped together. We bought a couple of the Echo Dots under the recent offer, and have subsequently signed up for a trial Spotify account (having previously been using Deezer as our main streaming service). However, we can't get Spotify to play via Sonos at all (had a little success when we first bought the dots a couple of weeks ago but nothing regular and nothing at all now).

So how can I do it? I've made sure that Spotify is the default music app, I've deregistered and reregistered the Sonos skill in the Alexa app to no avail. If I ask Alexa to play something without specifying the room she'll play it on the Echo with no issues (and tells me that she's playing from Spotify). But if I ask her to play something in a certain room (i.e. on a Sonos speaker) she just says 'Sorry - something went wrong'.

Please tell me what I'm doing wrong! It's driving me crazy and we need to make a decision whether we carry on with the Spotify subscription by the end of the month.

This topic has been closed for further comments. You can use the search bar to find a similar topic, or create a new one by clicking Create Topic at the top of the page.

38 replies

Userlevel 7
Badge +20
I have a Sonos One at my home and another at my workplace. The Sonos One worked fine with Spotify at home. Then I set my office Sonos One up and it worked fine. When I got home, the Sonos One at home was no longer working.
Alexa states: "Sorry, there was a problem." I don't recall how, but after tinkering around in the apps for a long time, I got it working again. All I recall is that I had to change the "system." Upon returning to work, the Sonos One at my workplace was no longer synced with Spotify. Once again, Alexa states: "Sorry, there was a problem."

Is there a fix coming?


Sonos doesn't support multiple locations with the same Sonos account.
Had the same issue with my 2 Sonos One's, logged into the website alexa.amazon.com and disabled the Sonos skill then re-enabled and now working. Have to say the whole Alexa integration seems rather flaky and the response from Sonos is pretty much non-existent. Had issues getting Alexa to work in the first place; it was someone on the forum that pointed me in the right direction again to use the actual website rather than via my iphone. Not convinced it is ready for general availability really, it should just work without people having to spend ages messing about trying loads of things.
Userlevel 7
Badge +21
Had the same issue with my 2 Sonos One's, logged into the website alexa.amazon.com and disabled the Sonos skill then re-enabled and now working. Have to say the whole Alexa integration seems rather flaky and the response from Sonos is pretty much non-existent. Had issues getting Alexa to work in the first place; it was someone on the forum that pointed me in the right direction again to use the actual website rather than via my iphone. Not convinced it is ready for general availability really, it should just work without people having to spend ages messing about trying loads of things. That's because it is a public beta!!!!! It is also early days for this technology an Sonos are new to voice tech, as are all speaker manufacturers. As for support I have seen plenty of posts by Sonos employees and others that explain and help and offer fixes or work arounds.

If you'd been here for the last 18 months you would have been sick of people complaining how long Alexa integration was taking and could we please have an early release. Now it's here and.... :8
My point really is to point people in the right direction of using the Alexa website rather than your home device. When I had my issues I did have responses from Sonos, none of which were of any use unfortunately. Tried many fixes on the phone none of which worked and found doing things on the website is the way to go when it comes to Alexa issues.

It might be "public beta" as you say but you generally expect it to work as per the supplied instructions.
Userlevel 7
Badge +21
Alexa is still quite new, especially in the UK and is not without it's own issues.

As for the Sonos Beta, it has been working very well for me. I am still amazed that even when playing music from my local NAS library I can ask Alexa what is playing and get a correct answer. Recent Spotify addition has been a little patchy though 😃
It started working for me, although it can't find some of my playlists which is weird
Userlevel 7
Badge +20
It started working for me, although it can't find some of my playlists which is weird

Do you mean local playlists? If so, you will need to start playback on the app but from then on, you can control volume, skip to next track, etc, via voice control.
Userlevel 2
Badge
Has anyone solved yet? I've checked all my email addresses are matched and I'm still getting the 'sorry ... problem' response when I try and play Spotify. TuneIn works fine as does Amazon music if I make it the default service, so it is something to do with the link between Alexa/Sonos and Spotify!
Userlevel 7
Badge +20
Has anyone solved yet? I've checked all my email addresses are matched and I'm still getting the 'sorry ... problem' response when I try and play Spotify. TuneIn works fine as does Amazon music if I make it the default service, so it is something to do with the link between Alexa/Sonos and Spotify!

Sorry if you've checked these already:

1/ If you select Alexa app>Music, Video & Books>Spotify>Go to Spotify App does this take you to your correct Spotify Premium account?
2/ Are you able to stream from Spotify from the Sonos app?
Userlevel 2
Badge
Hi there,

Thanks for responding! I can stream Spotify from the Sonos app, yes. However, when I go into settings > music and books > Spotify app - I get a note saying App Support Unavailable. Could this be the problem? How would I go about fixing it?
I’ve just got Alexa, been using Spotify premium with Sonos for ages though. I have successfully got Alexa to work with Spotify and my sonos system by setting Spotify as the default music service in the Alexa app settings. This allows me to say things like “play Eric Clapton on dining room” and it plays through sonos. I don’t have a prime account and don’t use amazon music so when it’s playing I’m pretty sure it is Spotify that’s the source.

If I ask Alexa to “play xxxx from Spotify on dining room I get an error, so I think the default music service is important if you want to use Spotify with Alexa and sonos.
Userlevel 2
Badge
Hi Damon,

I have got it set as the default music service - just checked.

Still not working 😞
Userlevel 2
Badge
Hi again,

Looks like I've got it working just about. I simply told Alexa to 'discover Spotify on iOS App'. It still says this app is not supported in the Video/Music/ Books section but it is now playing music and playlists through Spotify on command.
Hope this works for others too?