A Spotify bug prevents free users from playing music on certain Google Assistant-enabled connected speakers, such as the Nest Hub. From now on, only “Premium” subscribers would be able to use this feature.
As 9To5Google reports, it appears that Spotify has decided to quietly remove the ability to stream audio using a free Spotify account on connected speakers and smart screens compatible with Google Assistant. Anyone who tries to use this feature should receive a “Premium only” alert,which will appear under the device on which they are trying to stream content.
This problem comes a day after Spotify HiFi announced, a new feature that will allow you to listen to music in CD quality later in 2021 for a few euros in addition to your subscription. Its arrival is no surprise, since Spotify has been working on it since 2017.
Don’t panic, Spotify doesn’t remove this feature
According to 9To5Google, which was able to speak with the U.S. company, the removal of content for free users is not voluntary. This would likely bea bug introduced by the recent updates to the platform. Spotify is currently working to fix it, but it seems that some users on iOS are still impacted. The Android version of Spotify would again be fully operational.
According to a Spotify spokesperson, “There are no plans to remove support for the free version of Spotify on devices equipped with Google Assistant.” If Spotify had actually made the decision to disable thisfeature, the company would likely have pushed some of its users to migrate to other competing music streaming services. Indeed, broadcasting on connected devices is one of the most popular features of the platform.
Related: iPhone – Spotify will replace Apple Music by default from iOS 14.5
If you still encounter this broadcast bug, some users report thatit can be bypassed by adding Spotify to the Google Home app. Then you’ll have to use voice commands to manage the streaming of music or podcasts on connected speakers and smart screens like the Google Nest Hub.
Source: 9to5Google
