Is Spotify Down? Users in US, UK and India Report Search and Playback Problems

Spotify users reported widespread problems Tuesday, Sept. 29, as complaints surged across the U.S., UK and India. Downdetector recorded more than 17,000 U.S. reports and over 3,600 in the UK during the spike.

“We’re aware of some issues right now and are checking them out!” Spotify Status posted. The company posted on its status account: “We’re aware of some issues right now and are checking them out!”

“search isn’t working only, my playlists playing fyn,” one Spotify India user reported during the disruption, illustrating the uneven impact reported by users.

Users are seeing “Something went wrong” errors, search failing to load, problems starting new playback, login difficulties and app pages that do not load. The mobile app appears to be taking the brunt of the disruption, although some users report that the desktop client is working more normally.

What Is Actually Failing on Spotify?

The problem appears to be concentrated around actions that require Spotify to retrieve or start something new. Users have reported trouble with search and new playback, while previously downloaded tracks and music that was already playing have generally continued to work.

That difference can make the outage look inconsistent from one account to another. Someone listening to a downloaded playlist may see no problem while another user cannot search for an artist or start a new track.

“Ongoing issues are currently not being updated due to the Community being in read only mode,” Spotify says on its Community support page. The company directs users to Spotify Status for updates while the community platform is being migrated.

Downdetector’s figures should also be read carefully. The more than 17,000 U.S. reports represent reports submitted to the service, not a confirmed count of affected Spotify accounts.

Spotify Is Investigating, But Has Not Given a Cause

Spotify has not provided a technical explanation for the disruption or a restoration timeline. There is also an unusual limitation on one of the places users normally use to report problems. Spotify’s Ongoing Issues community forum is currently in read-only mode while the company migrates it to a new platform, meaning users cannot use it to build the usual stream of outage reports.

For people affected by the current problem, repeatedly reinstalling the app may not help. Some users have reported that doing so made no difference, while others who signed out during the disruption have encountered problems signing back in.

If the mobile app is failing, trying Spotify’s web player is a useful comparison. A user who is already logged in may also want to avoid signing out until the service stabilises. Downloaded music can provide another workaround if search or new playback is unavailable.