Spotify Down? Outage Disrupts Music Streaming for Users Across US as Reports Spike on Tuesday Morning

NEW YORK — Spotify users in the United States reported problems with the music streaming service on Tuesday morning, according to outage tracking service Downdetector, interrupting listening for some customers as the workday got underway.

Downdetector said on social media that user reports indicated problems with Spotify beginning at 10 a.m. EDT on Sept. 29, and asked affected users to share how they were being affected, using the hashtag #SpotifyDown.

As of mid-morning, Spotify had not publicly confirmed a widespread outage or explained what caused the reported problems. It was not immediately clear how many users were affected or how long the disruption would last.

Second day of reports

Tuesday's reports came a day after another spike in complaints. On Monday, Sept. 28, reports about Spotify began surging on Downdetector around 11:57 a.m. Eastern, with some subscribers taking to social media to describe problems with the platform.

It was not clear whether the two incidents were related.

Downdetector compiles problem reports submitted by users and compares them with typical activity levels for a service. A sharp increase in reports generally signals that a significant number of people are having trouble at the same time, though the figures do not capture every affected user and do not necessarily indicate the cause or scope of a disruption.

Common problems

During past disruptions, Spotify users have reported a range of issues, including the app failing to load, songs refusing to play, search not working, login failures and error messages on the desktop and web versions of the service.

Outage-tracking service StatusGator has recorded several shorter Spotify disruptions in recent weeks, including a problem with the web player on Sept. 1 that lasted about 29 minutes, a search issue on Aug. 18 and a music playback and app loading problem on Aug. 13 that lasted more than an hour and a half. Those incidents were based on user reports and were not all acknowledged by the company.

Spotify's own community support forum has also tracked recent account-related issues, including reports this summer from users who had paid for Premium subscriptions but were still seeing their accounts on the free plan, and a problem affecting the equalizer on iPhones in August. The company marked those issues as fixed.

What users can do

Users experiencing problems can try several basic troubleshooting steps, including closing and reopening the Spotify app, checking their internet connection, logging out and back in, or switching between Wi-Fi and mobile data.

During past outages, some users have reported that music they had previously downloaded for offline listening continued to play even when streaming was unavailable. Premium subscribers who rely on the service for workouts, commutes or work may want to download playlists in advance to guard against future disruptions.

If a problem is caused by a wider outage on Spotify's end, however, restarting the app or reinstalling it is unlikely to fix the issue until the company resolves the underlying problem. Users can monitor Spotify's official support channels on social media for updates.

History of disruptions

Spotify has experienced several significant outages in recent years.

In April 2025, a widespread outage affected users around the world. Reports on Downdetector peaked at nearly 49,000 about an hour after the problems began around 8:45 a.m. Eastern. During that disruption, users said they could still play downloaded music but were unable to search, view artists or stream songs. Spotify denied social media claims that the outage was caused by a security breach, writing that "reports of this being a security hack are false," and later said its services were back online.

In an earlier outage on a Sunday morning, more than 40,000 people reported problems, with some desktop users seeing a "Something went wrong" error message. Spotify acknowledged that disruption on X, saying it was aware of issues and checking them out, and reported about an hour later that things were looking much better.

A service millions rely on

Spotify is the world's largest music streaming service. As of April 2025, the Stockholm-based company reported more than 675 million users worldwide, including 263 million paying subscribers, across more than 180 markets.

The service has expanded beyond music to include podcasts, audiobooks and video content, making it a central part of daily routines for many users. That broad reach means even brief disruptions can quickly generate large numbers of complaints on social media and outage-tracking sites.

Outages at major streaming and technology platforms have become a frequent source of frustration for users, as more people rely on cloud-based apps for entertainment, work and communication. Disruptions can be caused by a range of factors, including software updates, server problems, problems at third-party cloud providers and network issues.

There was no confirmed timeline for when normal service would resume. The length of the disruption will likely depend on its cause and whether it affects only certain features, such as search or login, or the core streaming service itself.

Users are encouraged to check Spotify's official support accounts for updates as the company works to address the reported problems.

This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.