No longer able to stream to Google home devices with Chromecast Audio set as "Default music speaker"

[RetiredBy55]

Plan: premium

Country: USA

Device: Google Nest Audio, Google Home Minis, Google Chromecast Audio

Hello Community,

I have multiple Google home devices distributed around my house. They're all on the same network, as is my Android phone and my Google Chromecast Audio. In Google Home, Spotify is configured to be my default music service. I can stream Spotify from any of these devices and direct the output to any other device by voice command, Google Home, Spotify smart app, Spotify web or Spotify on my PC. 

I've been streaming to my stereo using a Google Chromecast Audio device (named "stereo") for several years. In Google Home, I've configured my Google Nest Audio to use the Chromecast as the "Default music speaker". So when I address the Nest with "Hey Google, play some [content choice]", it responds with "Alright. [content choice] from Spotify - playing on stereo." This results in content from Spotify streamed to my stereo.

Sometime early February 2025 this stopped working. Google responds, but no content streams. There's no indication on the Nest, Chromecast or Spotify that content is playing.

No other functionality - as outlined at the top of this post - is broken. All Google devices have the latest cast firmware. All devices running Spotify locally have the latest software release.

What's interesting is that other streaming services work. For example, I can ask the Nest to "Play NPR", to which is responds "Streaming #### XXXX from NPR on stereo" (where #### is the radio station address and XXXX is the station call letters.) The content streams correctly.  So it appears to be a Spotify issue.

Other Google Home users are experiencing the same issue.

Any thoughts? 

[OscarDC]

Hey @RetiredBy55,

Thank you for reaching out to the Community and welcome.

To start investigating this, would you mind checking if the behavior also happens if you play your music on the phone first, and then transfer the playback to your "stereo" using the Connect to a device option? If you haven't tried yet, you can start your playback on your mobile device, tab the icon and select your "stereo" to see if the issue persists. 

Also, since all devices are connected to the same Wi-Fi network, it could be worth power cycling your router to see if it makes any difference. 

Lastly, would you mind confirming if this is happening with a specific playlist, song or podcast, or with all the content you've tried?

We'll be on the lookout. 

[RetiredBy55]

Hi @OscarDC,

Thanks for the quick reply. If I start the stream on my phone or PC, I am able to transfer it to stereo using the Connect to a device option. I can also start the stream on any Google device that does not have stereo listed as the Default music speaker and then transfer it to stereo. The initiation of the transfer can be done from either my phone or the PC app installed on Windows 11.

Rebooting the network has no effect. I'm using eero's mesh network. 

The problem occurs for all content I've tried.

Please let me know if you need any further details.

[brsgraves]

I would like to add that I am having the same issue.  I have reset the Chromecast Audio, my Google Home Hub, and rebooted my router, switch, and access points.  I too am able to play other music services through my setup.

[Eni]

Hey folks, 

Thanks for your replies.

Could you let us know the exact make/model, operating system and Spotify version of your devices? We'd also like to know the firmware version your devices are currently running. 

On another note, would you mind asking a friend or a relative to log in to their account on your devices to check if they can replicate this behavior?

We'll be waiting for your replies. 

[RetiredBy55]

Hello Eni,

Here are the details you asked for:

• android phone: samsung galaxy s23, ui 6.2, android 14
• windows workstation: windows 11, version 23h2
• google nest audio: firmware 444798, cast firmware 3.74.444798
• google chromecast: cast firmware: 1.56.281627

Not certain about the friend / relative request as I don't utilize this feature. Can you give me some guidance on exactly what to to do?

[AlejaR]

Hey there folks,

Thanks for keeping us in the loop.

@RetiredBy55, thanks for all the detailed info you kindly provided us. 

@brsgraves, would you mind sending us the details @Eni mentioned above? That way, we can continue investigating this behavior further. 

We'll be on the lookout for your replies!

[Justmurdoch]

Hello all. I have the same issue as the OP. Spotify is the only service which my Google Nest Hub cannot have played on the speaker connected to the Chromecast Audio. It tries to play but nothing in fact occurs. YouTube music and SiriusXM play fine. The issue with Spotify must have only occurred sometime in the last month. A lot of other users are reporting the exact same behaviour as OP and myself. I have even tried using a different Spotify account but to no avail. This is quite disappointing as I just upgraded to the Premium service which is currently obsolete given that the current issue/bug at bar. Thank you in advance.

[Dessi]

Hey @Justmurdoch,

Thanks for reaching out!

I'd recommend giving @OscarDC and @Eni's suggestions in the thread a try and if the issue continues to occur afterwards, we'd really appreciate it if you can send over the following information, so that we can take a closer look:

• Make and model of the device you have the Spotify app on
• Its OS and OS version
• The Spotify version you're running
• The firmware version of your devices 

Keep us posted.

[Justmurdoch]

@Dessi.

Thank you for the reply. I have tried using a newly created Spotify account and the issue remains. I have deleted and reinstalled the Google Home app, have done factory resets on both Google devices, have reset the router, have unlinked and relinked the Spotify account, and the issue still persists. Here is the requested information regarding my Google devices:

Google Nest Hub (2nd Gen):

-System firmware: 24.20241009.103.2300

-Cast firmware: 3.76.448685

Google Chromecast Audio (set as default music speaker for Nest Hub):

-Cast firmware: 1.56.281627

My Spotify account is linked directly to the Google Nest Hub via the Google Home app (the app on my phone is used merely to authenticate the account details).

As mentioned, the other music services which I have selected under the Google Home app such as YouTube Music and SiriusXM are working -I am able to tell the Google Nest Hub to play content from these services and the audio output is successfully sent to the Google Chromecast Audio with the album art displayed on the Google Nest Hub. If I ask the device to play any content from Spotify, it seems to attempt to connect with Spotify but is immediately rejected from the server. If I set the Google Nest Hub’s internal speaker as the default speaker (as opposed to the Google Chromecast Audio), Spotify does in fact load and the content can be played.

So in summary, the issue seems to be strictly related to a combination of the Google Nest Hub (and other Google speakers as appears from other posts in this thread) + Google Chromecast Audio + Spotify). I truly hope that Spotify can work with Google to determine the cause of the issue which has certainly come about as a result of a recent firmware or software update to one or more of three (3) devices in question.

Thanking you in advance.

[RetiredBy55]

Hi @OscarDC / @Eni / @Dessi,

Seems to me there is enough detail in this thread and the one in the  Google community to attempt to reproduce the problem in a controlled environment. Is there a way that you can initiate a collaboration with Google to work out a solution? 

I'm posting the same note in the Google thread with a callout to their moderators to try to get some traction there.

Thanks in advance for your help.

[Yordan]

Thanks for the replies everyone!

Our tech folks will investigate further. We'll keep you posted as soon as we have any updates, stay tuned!

@brsgraves, if you could also confirm your firmware versions that'd be great 👍

Cheers!

[brsgraves]

Hello Yordan,

Here's the requested info.

Google Nest Hub Max:

System firmware version: 24.20241009.103.2300

Cast firmware: 3.76.448685

Chromecast Audio

Cast firmware: 1.56.281627

Please let me know if you need any additional information.

[RetiredBy55]

I can't find much on this, but thought I'd ask. Could there be a relationship?

https://www.reddit.com/r/Chromecast/comments/1i9hi8z/spotify_on_chromecast_deactivate_switch_to/

[Yordan]

Interesting find, @RetiredBy55. I'll forward this to the team, thanks for sharing 👍

Folks, it looks like a user on the Google Nest Community found a way to get the voice commands to work. Could you give this a try to see if everything goes well:

Saying to a Google Nest device "Hey Google, play Spotify", followed by "Hey Google, move this to [Chromecast Audio device]."

Let us know how it goes.

[RetiredBy55]

I tried it and it works.

[lerroybrown]

Hi

I have the same problem

Google home minis talking to chromecast audios and spotify will no longer play has been working for years without issue

it seems to be a spotify issue as youtube music / radio works fine no issues.

I have tried factory resets, reboots,  relinks, reboot network to no avail

Strange thing is that if i ask google to play one of my playlists works fine no issues.

I have the same firmware versions as above posters

Asking google to transfer does not work for me as it just says nothing playing