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Spotify with Sonos controlled from App

T
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So I have been using the free version of Spotify with Sonos for some time, and decided to go for Spotify premium. Before I upgraded I tested that Spotify app as a free user, and was happy with the ability to control/cast to Sonos directly from the app. But after upgrading to premium it started failing. Has anyone experienced something similar? 

Controlling Sonos from Spotify:

Shortly after upgrade to a family plan I was no longer able to successfully cast to Sonos, my devices will show up, but there is either just silence (while the app shows it is playing), or simply a failure to connect. After a connection failure the Sonos speaker will (strangely enough) start playing whatever was the last music/service it played. Weird. Sonos devices (Play 1 and Move) will however reliably show up in the connect list. 

This behaviour is consistent from both Android app (tested from two devices) and from the PC app. I have removed the Spotify service and reinstalled in the Sonos app several times. Have turned Sonos speakers on/off several times. Have rebooted phones and PC. No improvement.  

Controlling Spotify from Sonos:

Works perfectly, always. Simply select a song and play. 

Testing with Tidal:

I decided to go for a trial family subscription with Tidal service and tested from Android. This works perfectly so far, Sonos devices show up and I can control them. Based on this I might be forced to go with Tidal. (Although Spotify have better podcast support, which is an advantage) 

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Best answer by Corry P 14 April 2021, 13:23

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T
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Update

So have been working this with Spotify support. Nothing useful from them beyond the "check that it is authorized with Sonos". However, this morning it started working as intended with my Play 1 speaker.  My Sonos Move speaker was still not working. However, after doing a power on/off (have already done this many times), and it came back, and now playing normally. 

Not sure what is going on here, suspecting that there has been a partial Sonos or Spotify network outage last 24 hours. Will keep testing. 

 

Airgetlam

For Spotify, the is no ‘Sonos network’ to have an outage. Your speakers are told to connect directly to Spotify. So any issues would be in your local network, between your network and the Spotify servers, or on the Spotify servers. The only time you might hit a Sonos server is when listening to Sonos HD radio. 

Bruce
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For Spotify, the is no ‘Sonos network’ to have an outage. Your speakers are told to connect directly to Spotify. So any issues would be in your local network, between your network and the Spotify servers, or on the Spotify servers. The only time you might hit a Sonos server is when listening to Sonos HD radio. 

Hi, thanks for the feedback. I assumed there would be some integration between Sonos servers and Spotify, since Spotify is authorized with the Sonos account. 

Are you saying that the authorization with Spotify does not involve Sonos servers at all?

Airgetlam

I wouldn’t think so. The software running on the speakers would be reaching out to a Spotify server in order to confirm your account information and subscription status. It wouldn’t make sense to store any of that data on a Sonos server. 

Bruce
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Nah… everything is coming and going. My Sonos speakers just dropped off the grid again.

Can't stream NPR news to them either from Alexa, so the whole setup appears to be unstable, it's not only Spotify. Strange, never had this problem with Sonos before. 

Airgetlam

That sounds a lot like a local network issue. I’ve been playing from NPR on and off all day today, and not had an issue. 

Bruce
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Yup, and I am using the same network setup I have been using for years (Ubiquiti UDM), but it is possible that Ubiquiti has changed something. Need to do more trouble shooting. 

Airgetlam

Or it could be external to your network. I had a new neighbor who’s router channel stomped all over mine, there had been no change internally. Sonos just started behaving erratically, a change of my network channel resolved that issue. 
 

Ubiquity is not my area of knowledge, perhaps a user more familiar with Ubiquity will chime in. There have been many threads from Ubiquity users, I’ve done my best to stay out of them.

Bruce
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No wireless interference issues here, I'm pretty much alone on the block. :slight_smile:

It's either my network or how Sonos interacts with the rest of the world.  

Corry P
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Hi@Thorium Prime

Thanks for your post, and clear description.

As@Airgetlam mentions, this is very likely to do with your local network. I suspect your UniFi system may have had an update that has affected Sonos.

Please try the following steps:

Resolution

  1. Log into the UniFi controller
  2. Click the Settings tab on the left sidebar
  3. Click Wireless Networks under the Settings page
  4. Change UI back to the old design if needed
    image.png
  5. Click Edit next to the network SSID
    image.png
  6. Verify Guest Policy and disable it if enabled.
    image.png
  7. Click on the Save button at the bottom of the page.
  8. Verify and disable the options Block LAN to WLAN Multicast and Broadcast Data and Auto-Optimize Network.
    image.png
    Screenshot 2020-03-11 at 13.03.04.png
    Screenshot 2020-03-11 at 13.14.56.png
  9. Once completed, allow up to a minute for the AP to provision (apply the settings) and restore online connection, then proceed to the connection or setup of the Sonos system.

If that doesn’t help, I recommend you get in touch with our technical support team, who have tools at their disposal that will allow them to give you advice specific to your Sonos system and what it reports.

 

 

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." - Albert Einstein
T
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Thank you Corry., much appreciated.  

These settings were already in place.

  • Guest policy is already disabled.  
  • Block LAN to WLAN Multicast and Broadcast Data is already disabled.
  • Auto optimize network is already disabled.

Ability to cast (or rather initiate a stream) to Sonos devices from Spotify is still Spotty. (Spottyfi) LOL.

The problem is more frequent in the Windows 10 app than in the Android app, although both are affected. 

The symptoms have changed since a few days ago, when the problem was that I was unable to hear what was being played. I was also unable to initiate a session using Alexa interface on my Sonos Move. It would inevitably result in silence. Playing from the Sonos app itself would always work. 

Now, 72 hours later, the devices simply don't show up 50% of the time. When they show up, I can play. It appears I can make them show up by rebooting my Sonos device. Also, playing from Alexa appears to work fairly reliably. No idea what has changed in the last 72 hours. Certainly not my network configuration. I have a 500Mb/s pipe.   

 

Mod Edit: Removed quote including pictures to make thread easier to read.

Corry P
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Hi @Thorium Prime 

Now, 72 hours later, the devices simply don't show up 50% of the time. When they show up, I can play. It appears I can make them show up by rebooting my Sonos device. Also, playing from Alexa appears to work fairly reliably. No idea what has changed in the last 72 hours. Certainly not my network configuration. I have a 500Mb/s pipe.

If a speaker missing from the Sonos app can react successfully to Alexa commands, that’s a very good indication that local device-to-device communications - or at least those of a certain type - are being blocked, but that the speaker itself isn’t having a problem getting connected to the network.

I highly recommend you get in touch with our technical support team.

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