On Thursday, June 12, 2025, Spotify, one of the world’s leading music streaming platforms, experienced a significant outage that left thousands of users unable to access their playlists and listen to music. The disruption, which began shortly after 2:15 p.m. ET, caused widespread frustration as users reported missing playlists, playback errors, and login problems across the United States, notably in major cities such as Los Angeles, Boston, and New York.
According to Downdetector.com, a website that tracks outages by aggregating user reports, the incident saw a massive spike in complaints, with over 46,000 reports logged at the peak of the outage. This surge in reports was a clear signal that something was amiss with the service. By early afternoon, more than 27,000 incidents had already been reported, and the numbers continued to climb rapidly, highlighting the scale of the disruption. However, these figures are based on user submissions, so the actual number of affected users could be even higher.
The outage lasted approximately three hours, with the volume of reports gradually declining over the next couple of hours. By the time the situation began to stabilize, the number of reports had dropped by about 50%, settling around 20,000. Despite this decrease, sporadic problems persisted, leaving some users still unable to access certain features, such as the search function, or experiencing intermittent playback issues.
One user noted on Downdetector that while most of the app was functional, "everything except the search function is working," signaling a partial recovery. Another shared frustrations on social media, stating, "I can’t listen to anything on or offline on my desktop or mobile iOS app," encapsulating the widespread disruption experienced by many.
In response to the ongoing issues, a Spotify moderator posted on the "Ongoing Issues" page, acknowledging the problems: "Hey folks! We've been getting reports about issues with login, playback and the Support site. This is now being looked into." However, beyond this brief acknowledgment, Spotify has remained largely silent, offering no official statement or detailed explanation for the outage as of June 12, 2025.
Speculation has swirled around the possible causes of the outage. Some have linked Spotify's troubles to concurrent technical difficulties experienced by major cloud service providers, including Google Cloud and Cloudflare. Both companies reported their own outages around the same time, leading to widespread internet service disruptions. While Google's platforms were mostly restored within a few hours, Spotify's issues lingered, prompting questions about whether the streaming giant's problems were directly related or stemmed from a separate internal fault.
One observer noted, "While Spotify is mostly back, we have seen complaints that people's apps are still down. The question now is if it was Google's outage that caused Spotify's ongoing problems." The uncertainty remains, as Spotify has yet to confirm any connection to these third-party cloud service issues.
For users still struggling with connectivity, Spotify's customer service on social media suggested a simple troubleshooting step: "Log out of your Spotify account, restart your device, and log back in." This advice has helped some regain access, though it’s clear that the outage affected a broad swath of the platform’s user base.
The timing of the outage was particularly inconvenient, coming in the middle of the day when many users rely on music streaming for work, commuting, or leisure. Social media platforms quickly filled with posts from frustrated listeners, some venting humorously, others expressing genuine annoyance at the disruption.
Meanwhile, alternative music streaming services like Apple Music, Tidal, Amazon Music Unlimited, Deezer, and Qobuz have seen an uptick in interest as some users sought other options during Spotify’s downtime. Guides recommending these alternatives have circulated widely, offering listeners a temporary refuge from the outage.
Despite the disruption, some users reported that Spotify was working fine in certain regions or on specific devices, suggesting that the outage’s impact was uneven. For instance, an individual from Connecticut shared, "I'm listening to Spotify right now... It’s working fine," highlighting the patchy nature of the problem.
The widespread outage underscored the vulnerability of digital services that rely heavily on cloud infrastructure and third-party providers. When these systems falter, millions of users can find themselves abruptly cut off from services they take for granted.
As of the latest updates, Spotify's status remains "Under Investigation" with no further official communication from the company. Downdetector reports have slowed significantly, indicating that the platform is largely recovering, but some residual issues persist. Users are advised to keep their apps updated and follow basic troubleshooting steps if problems continue.
In an era where streaming music is integral to daily life, the outage served as a stark reminder of the fragility behind seamless digital experiences. For now, Spotify fans can breathe a tentative sigh of relief as service returns, but the episode will likely prompt the company to review its infrastructure and communication strategies to better handle future incidents.
