Spotify Video Player Not Working? 6 Known Issues (Solved)

Spotify is giving its competitors, like YouTube, a run for their money. 

Users are now able to watch music videos and their favorite podcasts from the Spotify app.

Despite these forward-thinking strides, some users have been left unimpressed with the video player not operating as intended.

We will explore the problems faced by users in this article and provide solutions.

Videos are Not Available in your Region or Country

Spotify has taken a decisive initiative by focusing on the growing podcast industry.

Not only have they spent copious sums of money to make their interface more accessible to locating podcasts, but they’ve also even created their own podcast publishing tool called Anchor to make it easy for creators to publish their podcasts onto Spotify.

They haven’t just left it there, they have introduced two kinds of video features: 

• A video looping feature called Canvas
• Music videos and podcast videos

Since these features are relatively new, if you do not see the video mini player icon when playing any song or podcast, it is highly probable that Spotify has not rolled out this feature to your region.

This mainly occurs in regions and countries where Spotify has only been recently launched.

Users in these areas have expressed that using a VPN has helped them to access videos on Spotify.

What is VPN?

A virtual private network, or VPN, is a service that aids in maintaining your online privacy. 

When you use a public network, a VPN creates a secure channel between your computer and the internet to allow a private gateway for your data and communications.

By serving as an administrator and rerouting your traffic, a VPN hides your IP address. Once you connect, it also adds encrypted communications or a conduit around your identity.

How this applies in this case, is that when your IP address is masked by the VPN, Spotify cannot detect your physical location.

However, even with a VPN, it is not guaranteed that you will be able to access your videos, as Spotify doesn’t support this type of connection.

The Canvas Feature is Missing from Spotify

As mentioned earlier, Canvas is one of the new video features that Spotify has introduced on its platform.

What is the fuss about Canvas?

Song cover art on the ‘Now Playing’ screen is a thing of the past, it has been replaced by sleek visual layers called Canvas.

Canvases are created by artists for their songs.

Canvases are an 8-second video loop that starts playback automatically when the song plays and are only available for smartphones for now.

You can think of it as a cross of a music video and album art which provides users with an appealing visual experience while listening to their favorite songs.

If you’re concerned about if these looping videos are heavy data consumers and battery drainers, do not fret, Spotify has clarified that they are optimized to use very little battery data.

Some users have lamented that the feature doesn’t appear on their accounts. Sadly, this feature is not available in every region and to some accounts.

If you reside in the areas below, this feature has not yet been unlocked for you:

• Ukraine
• Moldova
• Belarus
• Kazakhstan
• Russia
• India
• Israel
• Jordan
• Algeria
• Saudi Arabia
• Bahrain
• Egypt
• Kuwait
• Morocco
• Oman
• Palestine
• Qatar
• Lebanon
• Tunisia
• United Arab Emirates

If you are not a resident of these regions but you cannot see Canvas on your device, you can check your settings using the steps below:

• Launch Spotify on your mobile device. 
• Tap on the Home tab, and then in the top right corner of your screen, tap on the gear icon to access ‘Settings’
• Scroll down the menu until you see the Canvas option. 

If the Canvas option doesn’t appear in your settings, it is unfortunately not available to your account yet.

The Song or Podcast Doesn’t Have an Associated Video

It has been the assumption that when Spotify unlocked the video playback feature, every song on the platform would have its music video attached to it, and every podcast would drop every episode with a video.

Unfortunately, this is not the case; video playback is limited to a selection of podcasts and songs.

If you cannot view a video for a specific song or podcast, but you can for others, then it’s highly likely that the particular podcast or song doesn’t have a video on Spotify yet.

It is always exciting to find out when your favorite artist has finally dropped a music video for a song we love, or a podcaster has finally released a much-anticipated episode on video.

The disappointment you may experience when you can’t find the video on Spotify may leave you frustrated with the platform’s video player, but at times it is not necessarily Spotify’s fault.

An artist or podcaster may announce a release date, but as life happens, there could be a delay in seeing the video on Spotify for a number of reasons:

• The video didn’t meet Spotify’s criteria and has had to be redone.
• The artist or podcaster may have forgotten to upload the video (these things happen).
• Your settings need to be adjusted.

But the gist of the matter is some songs and podcasts just don’t have a video associated with them.

In this instance all you can do is embrace the audio.

Your Spotify Settings May Need to be Reconfigured

Some users recently joined Spotify to make use of Canvas and Video player (because no one wants to miss this revolution).

And many were left disappointed when they couldn’t get Spotify to play the videos they wanted to see because they weren’t aware that their settings may need some tweaking.

You need to adjust your settings in the Spotify app before you can enjoy streaming a video podcast or viewing a music video on a song on Spotify.

You may be wondering, why?

Well, Spotify may not automatically play the video when streaming podcasts by default.

We’ve compiled guidelines to help you view both videos for your streaming content and for Canvas as well.

How to enable Canvas on your device:

1. Launch Spotify on your mobile device. 
2. Tap on the Home tab and then in the top right corner of your screen, tap on the gear icon to access ‘Settings’
3. Scroll down the menu until you see the Canvas option. Make sure that it is turned ON and restart the app. 
4. Now, try playing a song and Canvas should be functioning now.

How to configure your settings to enable videos:

For Android and iOS devices:

1. Launch the Spotify app on your device.
2. Tap on the home icon then tap on the gear icon in the top right corner of the screen to open Settings.
3. Turn OFF ‘Audio Quality’ and ‘Download audio only’
4. Scroll down to ‘Canvas’ and enable it.

After tweaking these settings, you can enjoy music videos and video podcasts on Spotify.

Take the video podcast The Breakfast Club as an example. Tap on the Search button and type ‘The Breakfast Club’ in the search field.

Then, tap on the podcast The Breakfast Club’ and play the episode you want to watch.

For Desktop:

• Open your browser on your desktop.
• Go to the Spotify website (www.spotify.com) and log in to your account.
• In the left panel there’s a ‘Search’ function, click on it and enter the name of a podcast or song.
• Open the podcast and play an episode.
• You will then see a button written ‘Show video’. Click it to watch the video.

The Video Quality is Set Too High

The Spotify app lets you separately modify the video quality for Wi-Fi and cellular connections, similar to how Spotify lets you change the music quality.

Due to the increased file sizes, Spotify does warn that its videos will consume more data than music.

It can also happen that when the video quality is too high, the video player will not play especially if your network connection is weak or your data plan is close to reaching its limit.

Here’s how you can decrease the video quality:

1. Launch Spotify on your device.
2. Click on the gear icon in the top right corner of the screen to access ‘Settings’
3. Scroll to ‘Video Quality’ and tap on it.
4. Select the video quality you want (between low and very high, for Premium users).

You’re Using an Outdated Spotify App Version

If you’re suddenly having issues with Spotify’s video player especially if you had been able to play them in the past, the issue could be because you’re using an outdated app version.

You can use the steps below to update your app:

1. Open your App Store on iOS devices or Google Play Store.on Android devices.
2. Type ‘Spotify.’ in the search bar and then select it from the search results. 
3. An ‘Update’ option will appear if there is a newer version.
4. Tap on ‘Update’ to install.

General Pros and Cons of Using the Spotify Video Player

Pros:

With Spotify moving into the video sphere, there is no longer a need to use another app, like YouTube, to watch your favorite music videos or podcast channel.

It’s all now conveniently accessed on Spotify.

Cons:

• Videos are not available in your region or country
• The Canvas feature is missing from Spotify
• The song or podcast doesn’t have an associated video
• Your Spotify settings need to be reconfigured
• The video quality is set too high
• You’re using an outdated Spotify app version

Sources

How to Get Video on Spotify

8 Best Fixes for Podcasts on playing on Spotify on iPhone