It’s hard to see a market space with as much competition as the music streaming market. It is a fierce market, and leaders aren’t guaranteed to stay at the top forever. Spotify has had the lion’s share of this space for quite a while, and even though this is still true, their share is dropping each year. However, that doesn’t stop them from having nearly one-third of the space, even now.
As of the end of 2021, Spotify boasted over 400 million active users, nearly half of those being paid subscribers. That’s impressive, no matter how you look at it. Music is part of our daily lives, so perhaps it is not surprising. I’m a Spotify user, and you’re probably one too.
While we are used to playing music through our phones or headphones, sometimes you want the sound to come out of something a bit bigger. This could be a full-blown stereo setup, or sometimes it is just a single, smart speaker at home. If you have one of the latter, it is most likely to be an Amazon Echo device, as these are the most prevalent in the United States, with a massive 70% of the market.
So, that begs the question, can Alexa play Spotify with full integration beyond just playing music over Bluetooth as a regular speaker might? I asked myself the same question and set out to find the answer to that. So, let’s jump right into everything that I found out.
Do you have a particular question about Alexa playing Spotify? Then use the table of contents below to jump to the most relevant section. And you can always go back by clicking on the black arrow in the right bottom corner of the page. Also, please note that some of the links in this article may be affiliate links. For more details, check the Disclosure section at the bottom of the page.
Here's what we'll cover:
Can Alexa play Spotify playlists?
The simple answer to can Alexa play Spotify playlists is a big ‘yes, absolutely.’ You can link your Spotify account directly to your Alexa app, allowing your Amazon Echo to take advantage of a bunch of additional features beyond playing and pausing.
To pair your Spotify to Alexa, just follow the steps that I’ve listed below:
- Launch the Alexa app on your smartphone.
- Open the More menu.
- Select Settings.
- Tap the Music option.
- Choose “Link New Service.”
- Select Spotify from the options that appear.
- Enter your account credentials and sign in.
- Go to “Default Services” and set Spotify as your default music service if you want to. With this enabled, you don’t need to append “on Spotify” to the end of all your requests.
Which Alexa Spotify commands can I use?
Now that you’re connected, you can now use Alexa Spotify commands. For example, you can get Spotify to play playlists directly by saying, “Alexa, play [name of playlist] on Spotify.” You can also play music directly by saying, “Alexa, play [name of song] on Spotify.”
How to play Spotify on someone else’s Alexa?
By using the Guest Connect feature available on Echo devices, you can use someone else’s Alexa to play music from Spotify. Note that the person must have enabled this feature on their Echo beforehand.
To use it, you must go into your Alexa application on your smartphone and enable Guest Connect in the Your Profile section. Next, your smartphone will turn on Bluetooth and look for nearby Echo devices you can connect to. Once you do, you can use your voice to operate someone else’s Echo and play music from Spotify.
How to connect Alexa to Spotify on iPhone?
As an iPhone user, you can connect Spotify to Alexa exactly as you do on Android. Nothing is locking you out!
Go to the Alexa app I described earlier, select More, Settings, Music & Podcasts, Link New Service, and then choose Spotify. Next, sign in, and enable it to use your Spotify account once you’re done!
How to play Spotify on Alexa without Premium?
If the last time you tried, you noticed that you can’t link Spotify to Alexa when you’re on a free account, you must have tried years ago! Of course, that used to be a thing, but the company changed that decision in 2019, allowing all users to connect to Spotify.
So, don’t be shy if you’re using a free account. You can link Spotify to your Amazon Echo just like Premium users. After all, there are over 40 million more Free subscribers than Premium! That’s a lot of people to alienate.
Alexa and Spotify: Geographical Restrictions
If you live in certain countries, you will find that you can’t link Spotify to Alexa because the app states geographical restrictions. It can be tough to understand what is happening here, mainly because this sometimes happens despite Spotify being available officially in your region.
In these instances, many people have found it helpful to go into their Amazon account and change the region there to a country like the United Kingdom or the United States.
Other people have found that connecting Alexa to Spotify through the Spotify app instead can help with this issue. You can tap your account icon in Spotify, scroll down to the Voice Assistants & Apps section, and connect to Alexa there.
Can Alexa play Spotify…
You might be hoping to use Spotify on Alexa in different ways, such as an alarm or on different Echo devices throughout your house. Well, I will tell you if this is possible and how you can do it.
As alarm?
To have Alexa play a song, playlist, or genre as your alarm in the morning, you can set it up simply by using a voice command and nothing else.
As long as Spotify is your default music service, simply say, “Alexa, wake me up at [time] to [genre/artist/song/playlist].” You can even add “every day” after the time to set a repeating alarm if you wake up simultaneously.
On multiple devices?
You can get Alexa to play music from multiple Echo devices simultaneously. As long as you’re trying to play only one track at a time and all the devices are connected to the same Amazon account.
You need to set up a multiroom setup from the Alexa app, which you can do by going into the Devices tab in the app, pressing the plus icon at the top right, and then selecting “Combine Speakers.” Next, choose “Multi-room music” and select the devices you want to use.
Just say “Alexa, play Spotify everywhere” to listen to music from multiple devices.
Without Wi-Fi?
You can listen to Spotify on your Echo device without Wi-Fi, but you will have to use it as a regular Bluetooth speaker. The Echo needs to be connected to Wi-Fi to use voice commands and other fancy features.
Credits: Thanks for the photo to Canva.
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