Playing different Spotify content in different rooms no longer working


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I’ve been using Sonos with Spotify for many years now, and have always been able to play different songs in different rooms without any problems.

However, after receiving and setting up my Roam earlier today, this is no longer the case… :-(

Every time I try to start playing one song in one room, and then start another in another room, the first room stops playing, and the Sonos App (S2) says the following:

«Playback stopped in XXX. The Spotify account is beeing used elsewhere» (May not be 100% correct, as it is loosely translated from norwegian, but anyway)

And yes, before anyone suggest the limitations related to Alexa/Google etc; this is using the native Sonos App only. No Spotify Connect involved either ;-)

If there has been made any changes to the terms and conditions, and/or how the integration with Spotify (and other services) works, and this is the case, I cannot recall being «warned» about this.

The ability to play different content in different rooms with one (1) Spotify-account has always been one of Sonos’ core strengt in my opinion.

I REALLY hope that this is just an temporary issue, or a bug introduced with one of the latest software-versions? Otherwise, the Sonos+Spotify experience is rendered somewhat useless… :-(

If anyone else is experiencing the same, please reply. I also hope that a representant from Sonos also reads this and can give feedback on this issue.

 

 


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Same problem for us over the last week.  No system changes or updates that I recall.  Just switches off room one and pops up an error message about streaming limits when selecting music in room two.  We've always been able to play multiple concurrent streams from one Spotify premium account (we have an 8 room set up) and have happily used it for around 4 years.  Now this problem.  

I see other users are also complaining.  @Xander P  are you able to confirm that the problem is being solved for us?  

Thanks

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I created a new topic about 3 hours ago. Same issue for us. Have had Sonos for 7 years or so. 
 

I won’t be dropping Sonos over this, however, if this isn’t Sonos’ issue. If this is Spotify making changes, it will be goodbye Spotify for me. 

 

I now use Amazon Music and that definitely allows multiple streams from a single account.

This does not apply if Alexa is used - only one stream is then possible.

The first is news to me, because I use the second route.

When you refer to the first route, do you mean by using the Sonos app to do this? That you can play via the Sonos app on one zone, then pick another zone in the Sonos app and play another stream via that zone while the first zone is playing something else?

I have the same issue described here. I hope this is solved soon as I find a key feature to be able to stream different music to different rooms.

Hello all,

I have the same problem, but I have not included a Roam or changed anything else in the setup. It just suddenly doesn't do what it used to do.

I don't know if anyone has already posted the link, but on Spotify's site the issue is also already discussed: Spotify Community

Greetings!

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@Xander P

Do you have any “uplifting” news/status on this issue? 

It unfortunately seems like some in the Spotify-community appears to not be fully aware that streaming different track in different rooms with one single account should be possible (and has for several years now). Different music in different rooms- Sonos

I guess there would exist a technical documentation in Sonos on how this actually should work, and if there are any limitations associated with it?

 

Kindest regards, 

Øyvind

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Hey folks, 

 

We’re continuing to investigate the issue but don’t have anything else to share at this time.

 

We’d like those affected by this issue to get in touch with our technical support team, so we can run a few tests and confirm where the issue lies. So, if you’re affected by this, please get in touch :slight_smile:

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Hi @James L. :-)

If calling support, should we refer to this thread so that we won’t have to explain the whole backstory (again). 
 

Øyvind

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Hi @James L. :-)

If calling support, should we refer to this thread so that we won’t have to explain the whole backstory (again). 
 

Øyvind

Yeah, that should help! :slight_smile:

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We have the same problem, which is really annoying.

 

Spotify Premium Family Account (2 adults, 2 kids, 1 account for sonos) and I have added a roam lately, too, which might just be a coincidence. Hopefully this problem is fixed by sonos and/or spotify soon.

We have the same problem, which is really annoying.

 

Spotify Premium Family Account (2 adults, 2 kids, 1 account for sonos) and I have added a roam lately, too, which might just be a coincidence. Hopefully this problem is fixed by sonos and/or spotify soon.

@kingofcomedy-  If you have a family Spotify account, I would expect you still to be able to play different streams using the different family accounts, whatever may have happened to the ability to play different streams from a single account.  Have you added all the Spotify family account details to Sonos?  I am not sure what you mean by ‘one account for Sonos’.

For years a single spotify account could play different playlists on multiple (non grouped) speakers.

Since last Friday you get that error message that your account is in use “somewhere else”!?!? and playback in the other room is stopped.

Spotify support says that they did not change anything!!!!!

Spotify Premium Family account.

I have the exact same problem since last Friday!

Spotify Premium Family account.

And Spotify support says that they did not change anything!!!!!

Same question as to @kingofcomedy  - have you added all Spotify Family accounts to Sonos and can you play from two different accounts simultaneously?  (I know this doesn’t address the single account question, but may allow you to listen as you wish until that is settled.)

Hi,

 

Same problem with my Sonos infra

Spotify Premium Account

Started somwhere between last Friday & Saturday

 

Thank you for you help on this

My play 1 has always been connected to my spotify premium account because we use 3 different sonos speakers for my office. I have never had any problems playing 3 different playlists, one on each speaker, until this week. I hadn’t even updated the system until i started getting that error message. The update didn’t fix the problem, reauthorizing the spotify account on sonos did not fix the problem either. 

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My Spotify has also gone crazy since introducing the Roam(s) to my house.

In my case the now playing display on the app no longer updates when the songs change,  and the play timeline sits at 00:00.i can't fast forward or rewind. Although I can skip tracks, the now playing screen doesn't update.

I can no longer play 2 songs on Spotify at once. 

A song I listened to a week ago is still stuck on my now playing screen and I can't clear it by deselecting all the rooms. 

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We have the same problem, which is really annoying.

 

Spotify Premium Family Account (2 adults, 2 kids, 1 account for sonos) and I have added a roam lately, too, which might just be a coincidence. Hopefully this problem is fixed by sonos and/or spotify soon.

@kingofcomedy-  If you have a family Spotify account, I would expect you still to be able to play different streams using the different family accounts, whatever may have happened to the ability to play different streams from a single account.  Have you added all the Spotify family account details to Sonos?  I am not sure what you mean by ‘one account for Sonos’.

The account for Sonos is another Adult-Member of the Spotify Premium Family Account, which was created for and only used on Sonos. If I add my Spotify-Account it is working, but that’s not what we want. If both kids are listening to music, I can’t. Does Spotify want me to register one account per Sonos-Device?! Well, I don’t think I’ll create another family-account to use Sonos as before. ;)

@kingofcomedy . How you use Spotify on Sonos is your business. You are the first user I have come across who uses one of the Spotify Family accounts specifically for Sonos.

I was just suggesting that you might like to use Spotify Family on Sonos like most other families seem to do. Each family member has an account within the Family subscription and adds that to the Sonos system. So everybody has their own playlists, favourites etc, and those are the same whether Spotify is being used on Sonos or on a mobile device.

But if that doesn't appeal, no problem.

(I realise that this does not address the issue raised iin this thread, which I imagine is still being investigated.)

@kingofcomedy You are the first user I have come across who uses one of the Spotify Family accounts specifically for Sonos.

I did the same when I we had an alexa because alexa would always use *my* spotify account when my wife asked her to play music - which then caused that spotify stopped playing on my phone while I was running outdoors……

A dedicated “sonos” user for spotify fixed that problem.

Now my wife and kids use their own spotify accounts in the SONOS app, but frequently one of use still plays different playlists in different rooms at the same time (home-office plays different playlist than kitchen, bathroom plays a different playlist too - throughout the entire day).
Which worked fine for many years.

@ChrisHolzer - that’s a fair point about Alexa, which does place additional restrictions.

That apart, a Family account does  allow each family member to play from their Spotify account on Sonos in different rooms at the same time.

However, as far as multiple Spotify streams from a single account is concerned, it does seem that something has changed recently for some but not all Spotify users on Sonos, and it doesn’t sound like it was intentional.   We await developments.

 

@Sonos are you in touch with Spotify to solve this ? It’s quite crazy that this issue seems normal to erverybody while it were working for years….

UPDATE: Chatted with Sonos Tech Support and they said they will have the engineers look into it, but they seemed to insist that I needed to use multiple Spotify logins, which was a bit “frustrating”.  

INTERESTING FINDING: @James L. I’m having the same problem, but using my iPhone I did just figure out that I can use the Sonos App to play a Spotify stream on one speaker and then go into the Spotify App and play a different stream / song by connecting through the Spotify App to another Sonos speaker. It’s only a partial workaround and only because it’s probably identifying two different users in that scenario.

@John B I too have created a dedicated “home” family member user on my Spotify Premium Family Account that I have used for at least 5 years. This way the Sonos speakers in my house are always using that dedicated “home” username and if anyone else in the family wants to use Spotify through their app when they are away from the house, they can do that… in fact I had no idea there was any other way that you can have a setup like this WITHOUT doing that, so I’m in the same boat as @kingofcomedy and others here.

I have multiple iPads in the house for general use and Alexa, so all these devices use the same “home” family member account. I think it’s actually an elegant solution for the setup with the exception of our personal Spotify favorites not showing up. But if I need that, I just launch Spotify on my iPhone which is linked to MY account and playlists, which I then connect to whatever Sonos speakers I want.              

@sdaless . OK I admit I was mistaken in thinking a dedicated Spotify ‘family member’ for Sonos was unusual. But in some cases this appears to have been adopted because users don’t realise that every family member can add their Spotify login to a single Sonos system.  The Spotify account to which a controller defaults can be chosen independently for each controller, although each controller can play from any of the Spotify accounts.

If everyone just uses their own account and not yours, you have no problems using your account when away.

I guess it’s good that these different ‘models’ are available to fit different users’ requirements.

The problem has been fixed. For us it works again as before. Thank you very much!

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Glad to hear it @ullefutz, too early to say if this is working for all who were affected, but certainly a good sign!