This is one of those today I learned (TIL) experiences where the solution to a problem is almost painfully simple once you are aware of it. Nevertheless, before I knew about this solution, this was quite an annoying problem.

So what is this about?

The Problem

We have a Spotify Family subscription, which means that each family member has their own Spotify account. That way, we do not step on each others' toes when we are listening at the same time.

I also set up a dedicated account for the Spotify Alexa integration because otherwise, playing music on our Alexa devices, would also interrupt the music on one of the other accounts/devices.

So far, so good. But the problem that came out of this setup is that whenever someone wanted to stream their songs or playlists to an Alexa device, the device would not show up in Spotify anymore.

Annoying right? And all that only because we were using dedicated accounts which is actually the right thing to do.

We worked around the problem for a while by explicitly telling Alexa to play what we were just listening to on our phones/tablets. Needless to say that would not always work (especially with playlists) and also would not continue seamlessly what was currently playing.

I knew there had to be a better solution ... and there was.

The Solution

"Alexa, open Spotify connect"

Yes ... that simple sentence is the solution.

Now the Alexa device shows up!

If you read this far, you probably had the same problem and hopefully it's a thing of the past now, as it is for me 😃.