Spotify, one of the world’s leading music streaming platforms, is currently experiencing a major service outage, leaving thousands of users unable to access music through the app or website. The problem began around 1 p.m. on Wednesday, according to Downdetector, a platform that monitors real-time service disruptions.
What’s Happening?
Reports of streaming issues began pouring in early Wednesday afternoon, with more than 20,000 user complaints logged within hours. The outage appears to be affecting Spotify’s ability to stream music, although previously downloaded audio remains accessible in offline mode.
Spotify has acknowledged the issue on X (formerly Twitter), stating:
“We’re aware of some issues right now and are checking them out.”
As of now, the company has not provided details on the cause of the outage or an estimated time for full service restoration.
Who’s Affected?
The outage appears to be most widespread in the UK, but users from other regions may also be affected. Problems are being reported on both the mobile app and desktop/web version of Spotify. Users are reporting issues such as:
- Inability to stream music
- Trouble logging in or searching for songs
- Frozen playback screens or constant buffering
Spotify’s User Base at a Record High
The disruption comes just months after Spotify announced it had reached a new milestone with 675 million global users—a 12% increase from the previous year.
The platform continues to dominate the music streaming space, which makes any service outage of this scale especially noticeable.
What Can Users Do in the Meantime?
If you’re affected by the outage:
- You can still access music that’s been downloaded to your device, if you’ve enabled offline mode in advance.
- Avoid uninstalling and reinstalling the app at this time, as doing so may result in losing access to downloads.
- Monitor Spotify’s official X account (@SpotifyStatus) or their support page for real-time updates.