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bvdberg
Contributor I
October 7, 2017

Sonos and Alexa and Spotify: not working after successful setup

  • October 7, 2017
  • 10 replies
  • 5394 views
After successful setup, I would like to play a song on the Sonos device in kitchen by e.g. Madonna:
Me: 'Alexa, play madonna in the kitchen'
Alexa: 'I can't find any songs by Madonna'

But there are off course songs by Madonna on Spotify.
It works by asking:
Me: 'Alexa, play madonna'
Playing starts through Echo Dot

What is wrong? Any advice? It looks like Alexa is looking in a different database/ music subscription if I ask Alexa to play through Sonos?
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      10 replies

      AM_A
      Trending Lyricist I
      October 7, 2017
      I tweeted sonos about this last night as I have the same issue (as do others). It doesn’t work - yet. You are not doing anything wrong.

      Here’s their response to me:
      Hi,we’re working to get Spotify support on Sonos with Amazon Alexa before the holidays. (1/2)

      (2/2) You can start playback from Spotify via their app or the Sonos app and then use voice for basic playback control.
        Coopz
        Lyricist I
        October 9, 2017
        I have the same issue except in your example above, mine would say 'playing a sample of Madonna in the kitchen'. It would then play perhaps 30s of a Madonna song in the kitchen from Amazon Music which I do not subscribe to (hence only the sample). If I specify as such 'play Madonna from Spotify' it will do so BUT only on the Amazon DOT not from Sonos...Amazon have told me the integration through Sonos is not yet supported for Spotify.....what a half baked launch !
          matiase
          Trending Lyricist I
          October 9, 2017
          We hope Spotify will be integrated soon.. so the above mentioned capabilities will be available for all sonos owners
          cwarner
          Lyricist I
          October 19, 2017
          Had the same issue. Found https://sonos.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/4158/~/setting-up-amazon-alexa-on-sonos, with the following message: 'Spotify users: We’ve heard from you and are working hard to bring you the ability to ask Alexa to play Spotify music on your Sonos speakers as quickly as we can.'.

          Oddly enough, Alexa will successfully execute 'Pause', 'Continue', and 'Next' commands when Spotify is playing on the Sonos PLaybar. It just won't 'Play' Spotify. :?
          Groundedpro
          Lyricist I
          October 21, 2017
          Does anyone know any info on using Apple Music. I have both Spotify and Apple Music and I can’t get anything to work.
          niksmith20
          Lyricist I
          October 22, 2017
          I can't get Alexa to play Sonos either. If I start Sonos from my app, then Alexa can control the volume, but can't get it to playa song if requested.
          jgatie
          jgatie
          October 22, 2017
          See here for details on what services and commands are supported:

          https://sonos.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/4343

          See here for troubleshooting tips:

          https://sonos.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/4345
            kpuser
            Lyricist I
            November 7, 2017
            So I have a product that doesn't work for two months. Cool!
            Sononos_fan
            Enthusiast II
            November 7, 2017
            So I have a product that doesn't work for two months. Cool!

            Considering you've purchased what is basically a beta product, so it might be much longer than 2 months before it works well. But you can use Spotify through the sonos control while you wait for them to hopefully work out all the Alexa problems.
            UKMedia
            UKMedia
            November 7, 2017
            There is a bit of a workaround. If you set Spotify as your default music source within the Alexa App, you can select an artist from Spotify with an Echo dot and control with the Sonos 1 afterwards. Not ideal but a step closer until Spotify is fully supported on 21 Dec 2017. There is a new issue at the moment, so that if you start audio from a device other than your Sonos 1, you need to specify the room in the command for Voice Control to work.

            My last post here, explains how:

            https://en.community.sonos.com/amazon-alexa-and-sonos-229102/playing-spotify-with-alexa-on-sonos-one-6792705/index1.html#post16161170
            Remember: Sometimes Red Wine helps :)
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