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The Spotify User’s Guide to Alexa

Rabbi ItBy

While other voice assistants limit the use of Spotify in an effort to promote their own streaming music services, Spotify users will find Alexa quite welcoming.

Spotify requires a premium (paid) account in order to use the service with Alexa.

Connect your Spotify account.

  1. Open the Alexa App on your mobile device or at alexa.amazon.com.
  2. In the navigation menu, choose Music, Video, & Books.
  3. Under Music, select Spotify.
    If you find Spotify absent, it is likely because your Amazon account is registered outside the United States. Alexa’s Spotify integration is not yet available globally.

    Alexa – Link Spotify

  4. Follow the prompts to link your account.
Only one Spotify account can be paired per Amazon account, and thus per Alexa-enabled device.

Set Spotify as your preferred music service.

By default, generic music commands like “Alexa, play John Legend” will use Amazon Music rather than Spotify. For her to default to Spotify, follow these steps:

  1. Open the Alexa App on your mobile device or at alexa.amazon.com.
  2. In the navigation menu, choose Settings.
  3. Under Accounts, choose Music & Media.Alexa – Default Spotify
  4. Beneath the list of services, select Choose default music services.Alexa – Default Spotify 2>
  5. Under Default music library, select Spotify.
You’ll see that Spotify cannot currently be used to play stations. If you use Pandora or iHeartRadio, you may opt to change the Default station service from Amazon Music.

Command the music.

With Spotify set as your default music service, generic requests for songs, artists, albums and playlists will source from Spotify rather than Amazon Music. Here are some examples:

  • Alexa, play Red Hot Chili Peppers.
  • Alexa, play Candy Paint by Post Malone.
  • Alexa, play the album Red Pill Blues by Maroon 5.
  • Alexa, shuffle the playlist Study Vibes.
Asking for a specific song will only play that song, then stop; asking for an album or “songs” from an artist will play multiple songs.

You can also ask Alexa about the current song. For example, you might ask, “Alexa, who sings this song?”

And of course, you can request to “play,” “stop,” “pause,” adjust the volume, etc.

For more ideas, filter for Music within the The Living List of Alexa Commands. You’ll find that not all commands work fluidly with Spotify, but Alexa is continually improving Spotify integration. When requesting music for a particular mood or activity, for example, Alexa will search playlists in Spotify.

Additionally, Alexa is unable to modify Spotify playlists. However, IFTTT features applets that can Add songs played by Alexa to a Spotify playlist and keep a Google spreadsheet of the songs you listen to on Alexa.

For maximum compatibility, Amazon Prime members can use Amazon Music, which is included in every Primary subscription, at any time. Simply include “on Amazon Music” with your command.

Control with apps.

With Spotify streaming on your Alexa-enabled speaker, you can control play from the Alexa app. On mobile devices, you’ll see an animated sound icon at the bottom of the screen; on the Web (alexa.amazon.com), you’ll find Now Playing in the primary navigation menu.

Within this section, you can pause and play, jump forward and backward, and view your queue and history.

Of course, you have full access to Spotify within the Spotify apps on mobile and desktop devices as well as the Web at open.spotify.com.

Play Spotify across grouped speakers.

Alexa supports Spotify for Multi-Room Music, which allows you to synchronize Echo speakers (except the Echo Tap) in group Multi-Room Music is expected to support third-party Alexa-enabled speakers is soon.

Switch speakers on command.

Users of the Spotify apps and Web player are likely familiar with Spotify Connect, where you can choose among various connected speaker sources. For example, an iPhone with a connected Bluetooth speaker will display the iPhone’s name as well as the name of the Bluetooth device.

When your Echo devices are on the same network as the device running the app, you’ll notice the Echos listed under Connect Control, available for your selection. You’ll also see any configured Multi-Room Music groups.

With Alexa’s Connect Control for Spotify skill, you can switch from one active speaker, or group of speakers, to another. Simply say, “Alexa, tell Connect Control to play on Device 2” or, “Alexa, tell Connect Control to transfer to Device 3.”

Of course, you’ll need to familiarize yourself with the device name-number pairings: “Alexa, ask Connect Control to list devices.”

Set Spotify alarms.

Wake up to a specified playlist, song or artist on Spotify with commands like:

  • Alexa, wake me up at 6:45 a.m. to Ryan Adams.
  • Alexa, wake me up at 7:15 a.m. the playlist Morning Jazz.
  • Alexa, wake me up at 6:30 a.m. to Days to Come by Bonobo.
Music services, including Spotify, cannot yet be used in Routines, which are combinations of actions that are scheduled or triggered by a custom command.

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