Feature Request: Sonos Voice Play Different Spotify Streams in Different Rooms

Unfortunately tried that and it doesn’t seem to help as you can only dedicate 1 Spotify account for voice to utilize. Perhaps if there was a way to link a Spotify account to the Sonos Voice  on each device that would do the trick but I see no way to do that.

Frustrating. 

SVC does not work through the Sonos or Spotify app.  It works directly on the speakers themselves.  Your phone can be turned off and SVC will still work.

I don’t use Spotify, so I am not familiar with the specific account types, but any restriction on how many many concurrent streams you can have is based on the service account, not a Sonos restriction.  I am guessing your family account allows 1 stream per family member (subaccount).  Perhaps SVC only works with the ‘main’ account setup with Sonos?  This sounds like the issue you’re having.  But I would check out specifically mentioning the subaccount you want to play on in the voice command as Ken suggested. 

I don’t see the voice command to specify account listed in support, but I don’t think support documents are fully updated yet.  If it’s not possible, that this absolutely makes sense as a feature request.

So you have a Spotify account assigned to Sonos, and you are allowed to have multiple streams from this single account? (not using a Spotify app to create a stream with a different account)  If this is true, then I don’t understand how an SVC command would prevent multiple streams.  If you cannot play multiple streams with the same Spotify account, then an SVC command would not change that.

I don’t subscribe to Spotify, but instead use an individual Amazon Music Account (set as SVC default) and also have an Apple Music subscription. I can ask SVC to play music from either service by adding the name of the music service account at the end of the instruction - I would have thought that could also be done with the Spotify family accounts too - just add each Spotify account to Sonos from the users mobile device and include the name given to the account in the instruction - it should allow for up-to five different streams - 2 adults/3 children (I think🤔?) - I appreciate the one main Spotify account will be set as the default, but you should be able to play at the same time from the other accounts in the same way I can play simultaneously from Apple Music.

I don’t want to harp on semantics, but it’s important to realize that using the Sonos app does not mean playing audio through the Sonos app. The app is just a controller, nothing more. (The same way your TV remote is just a controller).  Likewise, SVC is just a method of control.  Whether you’re using SVC or the Sonos app, the speaker are doing the work of getting the audio, etc.  The speakers do not need the Sonos app up and running to play music.

So, your Sonos speakers can play different music from the same source (Spotify account).  The Sonos app has the ability to tell the speakers to do this.  SVC apparently does not have the ability to tell the speakers which Spotify account to use..

I agree with the OPs suggestion - especially if you have multiple Spotify accounts set up in Sonos.  It would be ideal if I could assign a Spotify account to each speaker, or ask SVC to play from a specific Spotify account that has been set up.  Unfortunately, you can only choose one Spotify account so that means only one person can use SVC to start Spotify music.  My kids don’t have phones so they have to use voice to start music.  But if one of them uses it in one room, another kid can’t use it elsewhere.  I guess I could add Apple Music and have them specific Spotify or Apple, but I don’t want another service just for this.

If you use the Sonos app only, it seems to allow multiple streams per single Spotify account. To be fair, I haven’t tested this extensively.  Perhaps Sonos speakers cache whatever is in the queue and it gets treated as an offline player from Spotify’s end.   

If the Spotify service is directly used on any device, whether Sonos or not, only one stream per account is allowed. For example, you might start Spotify on Sonos using the Sonos app, but if you play Spotify on the same account on PC or your phone, the Sonos will stop.

Using SVC seems to be the equivalent of using Spotify Connect - if you look in the Sonos app when playing via SVC, it will say “Started from Spotify” so it’s basically bypassing whatever the app does.  So although it feels like it should work, it will not.

I use multiple Google accounts across my Sonos devices to allow Google Assistant to control different Spotify accounts.  It’s kind of a pain to set up but it works.  Make sure you log in to GA on your phone with the specific account you want to use.  Then add GA to a Sonos speaker (not the whole system, just that speaker).  Then log into GA on your phone with the next Google account and add GA to a different Sonos speaker.  Make sure the two Google accounts are set up, in Assistant, to control different Spotify accounts.  If I recall correctly, I may have used two different devices to do this but I am not sure that is necessary.

Mention of multiple Spotify accounts confuses things.

Spotify allow a single Spotify Premium account to play multiple different songs simultaneously on different Sonos speakers.

However, the OP is saying the playing the track via SVC doesn't work this way.

Sonos or
@Corry P could maybe comment if this is expected behaviour and SVC invokes the playing by some different method and not as though done through the App (where the special Sonos ‘dispensation’ allows multiple streams).  People are describing how it works through the App but don't necessarily know how if it's different somehow architecturally through SVC.

Personally, I find SVC very bad and have never been able to even get it to play an album or personal Spotify playlist accurately. Something similar sounding comes on.  As this now counts as a Spotify session I then need to open the App the get back to where I was. I wish SVC would support adding tracks to the queue (like Play Next etc.) or Close Session.

For Sonos use, multiple Spotify accounts are not required to play different songs simultaneously on different speakers - it is allowed.

So, although you describe the app as a ‘controller, nothing more’, as Corry has clarified, starting the songs by the App or Voice is a fundamentally different process that actually gives fundamentally different behaviour.  The account(s) are irrelevant as that is not how the functionality is achieved via the app.