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Spotify album artwork is distorted

  • 15 October 2022
  • 64 replies
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A
Userlevel 3
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Diagnostic 1602233776

All of my Spotify artwork accessed from Sonos Playlists are distorted, or pixelated. When I browse and search for the same album that same album artwork looks fine, then that album artwork on my Sonos Playlists fixes itself. It’s almost like the Spotify Album artwork cached itself using much smaller images. Then when I access those albums manually it corrects itself. I have thousands of Spotify songs on Sonos Playlists so searching for every one is not reasonable. I have rebooted all my Sonos speakers, reauthorized my Spotify account and even removed the Spotify account then re-added it, but nothing has worked. Please help. Any ideas?

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Best answer by Corry P 25 October 2022, 12:23

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64 replies

A
Userlevel 3
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I just got a call from Sonos Support and they said they have received many reports of this issue so they are currently working directly with Spotify to resolve it. 

A
Userlevel 3
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I noticed now that all Spotify images in my playlists are pixelated. When I browse/search in Spotify it fixes the pixelated album I am viewing for that moment, but everything goes back to pixelated once I close and reopen the Sonos app. All my other music services are unaffected. I really feel this is a Spotify issue. There has to be some cache somewhere that is saving these images so they load faster but I’ve cleared everything I can find and I’ve deleted and reinstalled Sonos and Spotify.

controlav
Userlevel 7
Badge +23

This is Spotify’s screwup. They changed their SMAPI presentation map, and removed the ArtworkSizeMap which is how apps find higher resolution versions, so the default low-res art is used.

For the curious the process is described here: https://developer.sonos.com/build/content-service-add-features/add-images/add-album-art/

Author of the leading independent Sonos app for Windows, the only Sonos app for Xbox, and a Sonos app for iOS
Corry P
Userlevel 7
Badge +18

Hi All,

We now consider this issue to have been resolved by Spotify.

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." - Albert Einstein
Airgetlam

Hopefully, you’ve contacted Spotify and expressed your displeasure. Sonos is the TV set in this case, and has no control over the signal being sent to it. 

Bruce
T
Badge +1

Thanks Ken. I don’t think so. 

For me, I only have this issue with Spotify via the Sonos App.

All the the other services. eg Apple Music, Tidal etc. are fine.

 

A
Userlevel 3
Badge +2

Is it even worth reporting to Spotify and then going back and forth with them? I assume they know and will fix it. 

From your earlier post…

"I opened a ticket with Sonos. They said if the problem is not on their end they will forward the issue to Spotify”. 

Hopefully the message will get passed along.🤞

Well I ended up reporting to Spotify as well as Sonos. Neither of my communications with either company felt like they cared much though. Spotify literally said “maybe the next update will fix it but we don’t know.”

M

Yup same issue here, made ticket and reported to sonos. 

A
Userlevel 1
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Just adding my “same here” to the list of people getting affected by this. ..

N

Same here. Noticed it on Saturday.

controlav
Userlevel 7
Badge +23

Correction to my earlier analysis based on historic analysis of their pmap files: Spotify has NEVER used ArtworkSizeMap - they have always sent high-res art by default for album artwork. They seem to have changed the default to low-res (which is what everyone else does), but neglected to add an ArtworkSizeMap to allow apps to get the high-res version.

Still Spotify’s screwup mind you. Just a different screw-up.

Author of the leading independent Sonos app for Windows, the only Sonos app for Xbox, and a Sonos app for iOS
Ken_Griffiths

Thanks, although this is really a limited AI chat forum. Surprised they don’t use a ticket system, only option is to phone I guess. Not user friendly in my opinion….

Note the data does come from Spotify, so you may want to contact them about the matter too.. they are responsible for their Service within the Sonos App. Sonos just publish the API for their developers to use …and other services that use the same API do not appear to have the same issues with their artwork from what I can gather.

To contact Spotify support, see this LINK

HTH too.

A
Userlevel 3
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I opened a ticket with Sonos. They said if the problem is not on their end they will forward the issue to Spotify. I will post any solutions or explanations here. 

A
Userlevel 3
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My case is still open but I was just told they did everything they can via the chat and now I have to call them on Monday for further “advanced troubleshooting.”

P

It gets weirder…

I had the pixelated artwork problem playing a Spotify playlist I’ve played many times.

So I cleared the cache by resetting and closing the iPhone sonos S1 app.

I then went to Amazon music within the Sonos source list and the artwork loaded fine, made a coffee and came back and now it’s pixelated, even the tracks that initially loaded fine.

So looks like a Sonos issue not a Spotify issue…

Ken_Griffiths

Well I ended up reporting to Spotify as well as Sonos. Neither of my communications with either company felt like they cared much though. Spotify literally said “maybe the next update will fix it but we don’t know.”

👍 … You have done all you can. Lets hope it gets sorted for you (and others) soon.

Ken_Griffiths

Thanks Ken. I don’t think so. 

For me, I only have this issue with Spotify via the Sonos App.

All the the other services. eg Apple Music, Tidal etc. are fine.

Yes, which seems to then infer it’s a Spotify service issue, I guess… time will tell, hopefully.

C

Just here to say “same here.”

Ken_Griffiths

I assume you mean on the ‘now playing’ screen .. the art thumbnails refresh as I shuffle the queue - again the uploaded .gif quality (attached) is poor, but hopefully you can see it refreshing and here’s a sample single screenshot from the iPad App (I’ve had to reduce its size to get it uploaded here)  …

 

 

1 Attachment
Airgetlam

Interesting viewpoint. When my cable goes out, I will start complaining to Vizio.

Since there is a mutual benefit, of course. 

Bruce
Airgetlam

Probably because Spotify still uses a separate server to supply the information to Sonos. 

Bruce
controlav
Userlevel 7
Badge +23

I’m not sure. Audio streams CAN contain artwork within the stream. Hence without the need for an additional server.

That is NOT how the Sonos apps get their artwork.

Author of the leading independent Sonos app for Windows, the only Sonos app for Xbox, and a Sonos app for iOS
Airgetlam

I’m a firm believer in a company responds more quickly to a complaint from a paying customer, than they would from a company like Sonos, who has no financial relationship with them.

That’s tempered, of course, by the fact that Sonos represents a whole swath of customers, so it’s a crap shoot. But were it me, I’d be reporting to both companies, just as a normal thing. 

Bruce
A
Userlevel 3
Badge +2

So all of my Spotify album artwork is now displaying perfect today. Not sure if they fixed it but it’s been working for me for a few hours. 

A
Userlevel 3
Badge +2

I’ve had Sonos and Spotify for a very long time too. This is just a recent issue within the last week. Other music services album artwork is fine. It’s just Spotify that is having the issue. My iPhone, iPad and my wife’s iPhone are all having the same Spotify issue. 

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