Why Does Spotify Download Songs Multiple Times? (Solved)

Spotify leads the pack by providing a media streaming site that doesn’t require you to break the bank to hear your favorite songs.

But what happens if you’ve downloaded your music and when you access the application, your music is no longer available, and you have to keep downloading?

Or, why does it appear that Spotify is downloading the same song multiple times?

In this article, we explore this issue in Spotify’s interface and how it can be resolved.

Everything You Need To Know About Multiple Song Downloads:

Power-saving settings or using cache-clearing applications can cause your device to lose memory of songs that are already downloaded. Songs may download again if a playlist has been modified or your device is running out of storage space. It is recommended that the cache is cleared regularly.

Why does Spotify Download Songs You Already Downloaded?

Spotify allows users access to stream for free without having to pay a subscription (which is why many consider Spotify to be better than Apple Music).

But for users who want to access their favorite songs at any time and anywhere, Spotify has a subscription package that allows users to download their favorite songs, albums and podcasts.

However, imagine waking up every morning to find your Spotify application has re-downloaded music that you’ve already downloaded.

Even worse, all your songs are gone, and the green arrow that shows your song being available offline is now greyed out, and you need to download your whole collection again.

What would cause this annoying problem?

1. Your cache needs clearing

The root problem often points to interference with the cache of the Spotify application.

Spotify keeps cache files as a “listening history” of all the songs you listen to.

If your Spotify cache gets overloaded, Spotify may replace songs that you don’t listen to that often with songs that are played more frequently. This may result in songs being re-downloaded. 

Therefore, you need to clear your cache.

To manually clear cache on iPhone and Android:

1. Open the Spotify app, tap ‘Home’
2. Then, go to ‘Settings’
3. From here tap ‘Storage’, then ‘clear cache’

To manually clear cache on Desktop:

1. Open the desktop app
2. Look top-right and click ‘Settings’
3. Click ‘Show Advanced Settings’
4. Go down to ‘Offline songs storage’. This shows where your cache files are stored.
5. Open this folder and select ‘delete all’

Fortunately, manually clearing the cache will not remove downloads.

If this is your situation, it is recommended that you disable automatic cache-clearing settings on your device. 

2. You have installed a cache-cleaning app

Some Android and iOS users install separate cache-cleaning applications that are meant to help ensure device optimization.

It is possible that these apps can interfere with downloaded music files. Though, we can’t say for certain if this is the issue you are experiencing. 

3. You have power-saving settings enabled

If you have power-saving settings enabled, it is recommended that you disable these settings. Sometimes, power-saving can affect downloaded files. 

4. A playlist has been modified

In other instances, a user’s downloaded playlist has recently been modified, so the following time you open the platform, it will try to sync to reflect the recent changes in that playlist.

This tends to happen when a user downloads a playlist created by another user or Spotify-created playlists, which update often.

5. You are running out of storage space

Spotify recommends that users have at least 1GB of free storage space on their devices to ensure the app runs smoothly. 

Spotify encrypts its music files to ensure that copyright rules are not infringed. So this makes moving Spotify music files challenging.

The best option, therefore, is to ensure that you regularly clear your cache and delete unused apps or downloaded files. 

To free up storage space on iOS:

1. Navigate to ‘Settings’
2. Select ‘General’
3. Select ‘iPhone Storage’
4. Scroll down and look for apps that you don’t use often.
5. Tap on one to pull up more information and options.
6. Tap ‘Disable App’ for all the apps you don’t mind installing again, except for Spotify.

To free up storage space on Android:

1. Open ‘Settings’
2. Search for ‘Storage Booster’
3. Navigate to ‘Auto delete unnecessary data’
4. Disable this option.

Do Songs Take up More Space when Downloaded Again?

Spotify stores your music on the device’s temporary memory, the cache. This is done to enable the music to play immediately once selected.

Sometimes you may find that a song is no longer available, and you have to download them again. Yet, according to the application, they have not been deleted.

In this instance, more space will be taken when downloading again. It is therefore recommended that you clear your cache to prevent a memory overload.

Once you have remedied the storage issue, you may need to perform a clean reinstallation of the application so that you can start afresh on your Spotify app.

But before you do, a heads-up that you will need to re-download your music after a clean re-install

Steps for  iPhone:

1. Open Settings > General > iPhone Storage.
2. Select ‘Spotify’
3. Tap on ‘Offload App’ and confirm, this will delete the app, but its document data will be kept.
4. Select ‘Delete App’ and confirm. This will delete all remaining document data.
5. Switch OFF your device and wait for a few minutes.
6. Turn your device back and reinstall the Spotify App.

Steps for Android 6 and above:

1. Open Settings > Apps.
2. Select ‘ Spotify’
3. Select Storage and Cache.
4. Tap on Clear Storage.
5. Once complete, go back and tap on Uninstall.
6. Open File Manager and toggle to Internal Storage\Android\Data.
7. Look for com.spotify.music and delete it.
8. Turn off your device and wait a few minutes.
9. Switch on your device and reinstall the Spotify App.

All the old files will be history, and hello to a smoother experience.

Does Spotify use Cellular Data when Re-downloading the Same Songs?

Spotify is forward-thinking and consumer conscious in its understanding that users need options to download their music.

Unfortunately, if a song is re-downloaded, it will use either cellular data or Wi-Fi.

With Spotify, you are able to select whether to download over Wi-Fi or mobile data, or even both.

You can simply select this by:

1. Selecting App Settings on Spotify.
2. Toggle to “Download using cellular” and switch it off.

When you are out of Wi-Fi range, you can still reduce your data usage, which will show fewer images and slightly reduce audio quality by:

1. Tapping ‘Home’
2. Select ‘Settings’
3. Switch “Data Saver” on.

Even when the same songs are re-downloaded, if you have selected to download over Wi-Fi, your cellular data will not be affected.

At times you may see duplicates in your playlists. There are several reasons that don’t have anything to do with multiple downloads. Check out our article about why Spotify has duplicate songs, albums and artists. 

How Long do Songs Normally Stay Downloaded on Spotify

Spotify’s amazing technological advancement allows you to access your music while offline for 30 days.

Although, you would need to bear in mind that Spotify song downloads can only be accessed on the platform.

Your downloads are not saved on your device, and they are not accessible on other music applications.

Should you stay offline for over 30 days, you will lose access to your downloads and will need to re-download everything again.

Spotify’s servers need to verify that your subscription plan is still active. Therefore, you will need to go online at least once a month when using Spotify.

Can You Make Spotify Keep the Songs You Download?

Spotify offline mode is one of the features that make the paid subscription worthwhile. Users are given access to download 10, 000 songs to listen to offline.

Spotify’s downloads are stored as files on your device, you don’t own the songs.

Unfortunately, should you wish to cancel your premium subscription, it will stay active until the following billing date, but you will lose your downloads once it expires.

On the other hand, there are numerous third-party music converter tools where you can download your music, like Sidify, and convert them into mp3 files. However, we do not necessarily recommend using tools like this as it is strongly condemned by Spotify.

Final Thoughts

Just like any user-based platform, Spotify is bound to have some kinks in the system.

But they are committed to making their users’ experience seamless by ensuring that they keep open communication with their users through platforms like the Spotify Idea Exchange, where users can share their views and suggestions.

Now that’s innovation.

Sources

How Can I Permanently Keep Spotify Downloads

Spotify Storage Information