Music not playing on desktop app (macOS)

[mcbriggins]

Hello, I am attempting to use Spotify Premium on a device running macOS Monterey. Since two days ago, I have not been able to play music on my Mac. I launch the desktop application, hit the play button, and it shows the song as playing but no music comes out of the speakers (sometimes it gives me a "we are unable to play music at this time" popup as well, but not consistently). When I use Spotify on the web browser or on my phone, however, it works just fine, and all other audio is working as it should be on my Mac as well so I know it isn't a speaker issue.

I have tried both a regular uninstall and a clean install (deleting the cache folders, deleting the app, and restarting my device + downloading Spotify again) but neither has solved this issue. I've been having this problem for the past two days and wasn't sure what else to troubleshoot to get it to work again.

[OscarDC]

Hey @mcbriggins,

Thank you for reaching out to the Community and welcome.

Great troubleshooting so far, but we can add something different. This type of cases can be related to the host files of your Mac.

Since you have already cleared all the cache and deleted the related folders, we'd recommend clearing any entries which contain Spotify from the host files on your computer. To do so, follow the instructions in this post.

Hope this helps. Let us know how it goes.

[William241]

Restart your computer
In most cases, restarting the computer is a great way to get rid of issues plaguing Spotify. To do this, you can right-click o the Start Menu button, then hover the mouse cursor over Shut Down or Sign Out. From there, select Restart, and that's it.

Regards,

Will

[lbdsgn]

Moderator, this question is about a Mac, and you linked him to Windows troubleshooting instructions. 

So this answer doesn't work, clearly. 

How can a MACINTOSH user clear out all their Spotify files for a totally clean install? Because I have this same issue of the app not working, even though it works in my Chrome browser, or when streamed to an Alexa device. 

[Ivelina]

Hey @lbdsgn,

Thanks for posting in this thread!

For a clean reinstall on multiple devices, you can check out the steps in this article.

When it comes to clearing the host files on a Mac, you can take a look under To clean up your host files on Mac: here.

Don't hesitate to let us know if you've got any other questions 🙂