Spotify Blames Apple for Loss of iPhone Volume Button Control of Connected Devices

[ApplesAreSweet&Sour]

So integrate it then? It’s not like there is a shortage of users requesting it.

Must be Spotify deliberately wanting to disincentivize users from using Apple products at large, because of Apple's fees.

Or Spotify not wanting to spend r&d money to optimize and integrate Spotify into HomePod (maybe because Spotify has a deals with another smart speaker makers that don't charge Spotify the same fees that Apple wants to??)

Has to be some sort of "hidden" agenda that serves to punish Apple by pushing Spotify users away from HomePod and over to competing devices.

 

[wanha]

"Spotify blames Apple" is truly an ever-green headline

 

[nt5672]

It started playing, but after a couple of minutes froze again and again. If there was a problem with configuration, why did my Mac not spit out some kind of error message? I just can say that it was a very frustrating experience.

I don't think you are listening to Apple's marketing, Macs don't have errors.

 

[Velli]

Whenever people have airplay problems it’s almost always a network issue.

While I’m sure that’s true, as an end user my experience is that Airplay is flaky, while Tidal Connect, Spotify Connect and Roon is rock solid for me, and in the case of Tidal also sounds better. I am not replacing my pretty hardcore Unifi wifi setup just because one thing doesn’t work, when there are better alternatives. Whether Apple or Unifi is at fault, is not my problem.

 

[AppleTO]

Oh interesting. I was wondering why the physical buttons weren’t working to control my TV volume in the Roku remote app anymore. Now I know.

 

[.wojtek]

m so tired of Spotify ignoring Apple (and their own) devices. They refuse to update the ancient Mac icon,

Well... one thing is have access to the API and th3 other is coerce to the efficient "ecosystem" (which many may don't need).

PS. new macOS icons ar3 yet another stupidity that comes from apple -instead of having nice icon I can distinguish by shape I now have a dock with exact same colourful blobs that are harder to distinguish... it's q tool tto b3 used and not a piece of c... art to look qt FFS... but considering that newest additions to macOS qre wallpapers I'm starting to question if Apple consider MBP a tool... go f* yourself Apple...

 

[iBluetooth]

Spotify has their own API (Spotify Connect) that works with a variety of products, and delivers other/different features than Apples. When a speaker manufacturer supports Spotify Connect, it is certified by Spotify, with no involvement from Apple. I can see why neither company wants to hand that control over to the other, for many reasons.

The fact is, it worked before, Apple made a change, and now it doesn’t work. Yes, this is Apple’s fault. They are trying to bully Spotify into using an Apple API, instead of the API that they have invested years and millions (billions?) of dollars in. It is not about Spotify not enabling a new feature that Apple provides. It is Apple removing a feature that worked before.

This is exactly Spotify not willing to use the API's provided. Why don't they want to support AirPlay2? If you develop for iOS devices, like I do, then you would know that API's are always changing and new replacing the old. It's the only way to keep up with new technologies. You assume that Apple changes an API just to make Spotify having to change their code? In reality it looks more like Spotify is using it's dominance to try to make things inconvenient for iOS users.

 

[Velli]

Did you see how much the ceo makes. No wonder they are losing money

Salary of zero. Makes money selling shares. Does not impact company profit.

Try again.

 

[surferfb]

Spotify has their own API (Spotify Connect) that works with a variety of products, and delivers other/different features than Apples. When a speaker manufacturer supports Spotify Connect, it is certified by Spotify, with no involvement from Apple. I can see why neither company wants to hand that control over to the other, for many reasons.

The fact is, it worked before, Apple made a change, and now it doesn’t work. Yes, this is Apple’s fault. They are trying to bully Spotify into using an Apple API, instead of the API that they have invested years and millions (billions?) of dollars in. It is not about Spotify not enabling a new feature that Apple provides. It is Apple removing a feature that worked before.

It’s possible to support both, you know. It’s not either or.

 

[neuropsychguy]

This is what we in psychology call having an external locus of control. Spotify could fix the issues, but rather than take responsibility, the company complains. It's a stressful, powerless, and unhealthy way for people to live. It's similarly not a good way for a business to exist. Spotify comes across as reactionary rather than innovative.

 

[bollman]

This is exactly Spotify not willing to use the API's provided. Why don't they want to support AirPlay2? If you develop for iOS devices, like I do, then you would know that API's are always changing and new replacing the old. It's the only way to keep up with new technologies. You assume that Apple changes an API just to make Spotify having to change their code? In reality it looks more like Spotify is using it's dominance to try to make things inconvenient for iOS users.

AirPlay and Spotify Connect are 2 very different things.
With AirPlay, your devices plays the audio, but instead of using the speakers in the device, audio is transmitted over wifi to the device that should play the audio.
Spotify Connect though is a "remote controlled Spotify Device". You start the audio on your device, but it is the device that outputs the audio that connects to Spotify's servers and actually do all the work. This is why you can actually turn your device off, and the Spotify Connect device will continue playing your playlist. Try that with AirPlay.

SC was released in 2013, at which time I'm not sure Apple actually allowed third party apps to use AirPlay.

 

[ralph_sws]

Pfff, implement AirPlay 2 and stop complaining Spotify.

airplay is crap comparing to spotify connect

 

[Remy149]

It started playing, but after a couple of minutes froze again and again. If there was a problem with configuration, why did my Mac not spit out some kind of error message? I just can say that it was a very frustrating experience.

Sounds like a network issue

 

[mrochester]

This is what we in psychology call having an external locus of control. Spotify could fix the issues, but rather than take responsibility, the company complains. It's a stressful, powerless, and unhealthy way for people to live. It's similarly not a good way for a business to exist. Spotify comes across as reactionary rather than innovative.

Is it just a self-inflicted injury?

 

[MilaM]

AirPlay and Spotify Connect are 2 very different things.
With AirPlay, your devices plays the audio, but instead of using the speakers in the device, audio is transmitted over wifi to the device that should play the audio.
Spotify Connect though is a "remote controlled Spotify Device". You start the audio on your device, but it is the device that outputs the audio that connects to Spotify's servers and actually do all the work. This is why you can actually turn your device off, and the Spotify Connect device will continue playing your playlist. Try that with AirPlay.

SC was released in 2013, at which time I'm not sure Apple actually allowed third party apps to use AirPlay.

I don't think users really care how it works behind the scenes. But I agree, Spotify Connect is much more reliable because of this design decision. Your audio doesn't stop just because your iPhone drops off the Wifi for example. You can even control playback from another device with SC.

 

[Remy149]

airplay is crap comparing to spotify connect

Airplay is superior to me I like being able to play audio on multiple speakers through my home from 1 source

 

[Velli]

This is exactly Spotify not willing to use the API's provided. Why don't they want to support AirPlay2? If you develop for iOS devices, like I do, then you would know that API's are always changing and new replacing the old. It's the only way to keep up with new technologies. You assume that Apple changes an API just to make Spotify having to change their code? In reality it looks more like Spotify is using it's dominance to try to make things inconvenient for iOS users.

You are looking at the relationship between Spotify and Apple. I am looking at the relationship between Spotify and third party Audio devices (and yes, that is what I do for a living, so your attempt to pull rank didn’t work). Spotify has an API that I, as a speaker manufacturer, can choose to implement, relatively easily and cheaply, using cheap hardware. Then all Spotify users can access my speaker, from iOS, Android, MacOS, Windows or whichever platform Spotify supports. My business is with Spotify.

If Spotify wants to use Apple’s platform instead, I now must spend extra money on hardware (because Apple’s API requires more), and extra money on certifications and licenses.

I can go on, but suffice to say, you have no clue what is going on on the playback hardware side of this.

 

[Velli]

I don't think users really care how it works behind the scenes. But I agree, Spotify Connect is much more reliable because of this design decision. Your audio doesn't stop just because your iPhone drops off the Wifi for example. You can even control playback from another device with SC.

Exactly, which is why it is not just “behind the scenes”. Spotify Connect delivery real benefits to real users, compared to Airplay.

 

[bollman]

I don't think users really care how it works behind the scenes. But I agree, Spotify Connect is much more reliable because of this design decision. Your audio doesn't stop just because your iPhone drops off the Wifi for example. You can even control playback from another device with SC.

Well sorry for being over-technical but yes, you explained it clearly
The only "downside" is that SC cannot be used with other apps (of course).

 

[robvalentine]

Stuff like this is why I'm ditching apple devices. Stuff works on androdi even if it's not the same brand. So much more useful than having to have everything apple.

As usual the number of apple fans celebrating a less usable device is disheartening.

 

[springsup]

I'm pretty sure Spotify has some kind of nasty deal with Amazon and/or Google which prohibits them from integrating to the Homepods.

Where’s the EU investigation about that?

 

[Velli]

Must be Spotify deliberately wanting to disincentivize users from using Apple products at large, because of Apple's fees.

Or Spotify not wanting to spend r&d money to optimize and integrate Spotify into HomePod (maybe because Spotify has a deals with another smart speaker makers that don't charge Spotify the same fees that Apple wants to??)

Has to be some sort of "hidden" agenda that serves to punish Apple by pushing Spotify users away from HomePod and over to competing devices.

Without knowing for sure, I am willing to bet that there are more speakers in the world supporting Spotify Connect, than Airplay. You could just as well argue that Apple should implement Spotify Connect in their speaker. Spotify through Spotify Connect works miles better than Spotify, or Apple Music for that matter, through Airplay 2.

 

[WarmWinterHat]

Has to be some sort of "hidden" agenda that serves to punish Apple by pushing Spotify users away from HomePod and over to competing devices.

Apple is pushing people away from the Homepod by making it suck for anything other than Apple users. I'm in a mixed iOS/Android, macOS/Windows household, and Spotify works across platforms. Apple won't bother even enabling regular Bluetooth capability on the Homepods, even though they have Bluetooth hardware onboard.

Where’s the EU investigation about that?

They can't be bothered to investigate crap that is made up on the spot by random internet users.

 

[neuropsychguy]

Salary of zero. Makes money selling shares. Does not impact company profit.

Try again.

He had no salary, but did receive the equivalent of about $1.5 million in other compensation last year (that's not counting the sale of shares). So it's a little more complicated than just having a salary of zero and selling stock.

Spotify execs including Daniel Ek have sold more than $250 million in stock already this year

Daniel Ek has vested nearly $180 million as part of his "long-term financial planning," a Spotify rep told Fortune.

finance.yahoo.com

In 2022 some of the "other compensation" he received was $180,000 for home security services. If I could have my company pay for various home expenses (and could sell millions of dollars worth of shares), I wouldn't need a salary either.

Another issue is that Spotify doesn't really compensate musicians particularly well. Few streaming services do, but Spotify is one of the lowest. Some of this is because it has a free tier versus Apple Music, which is all paid, but Spotify has spent tons of money on various features (e.g., huge payouts to a few podcasters) but hasn't significantly increased what they pay musicians.

 

[surferfb]

They can't be bothered to investigate crap that is made up on the spot by random internet users.

Just crap that is made up on the spot by random European streaming music companies that were conveniently excluded from being declared gatekeepers despite having 55% of their market in the EU.