Picture of the Amazon Echo Dot 2nd Gen speaker in original package, front view.

How to Make Alexa Play Spotify Playlists

Here, we cover How to Make Alexa Play Spotify Playlists.  First, you can ask an Amazon smart speaker to play any public playlist on Spotify, as well as playlists that you’ve created in your own Spotify account.  Further, you must link that account to your Amazon account via the Alexa app.  Moreover, once that’s done, you may ask to hear your Spotify playlists in your Spotify account by issuing voice commands to your Echo, Echo Dot, Tap, or Show devices.  And finally, you can do it in the Spotify app itself.  Thus we describe both methods below.

Please see our  Spotify Setup Instructions on Amazon Echo Alexa Devices  post for detailed instructions on how to connect your Amazon smart speakers to your Spotify account.   Furthermore, you should do this prior to following the procedures below.

How to Make Alexa Play Spotify Playlists: Step by Step

Method One: Asking the Alexa Speaker to Play a Spotify Playlist

Picture of the Amazon Alexa Echo Gen 2 smart speaker, top front view.
Amazon Alexa Echo Gen 2 smart speaker, top front view.

With your smart speaker turned on and connected to your Amazon and Spotify accounts, ask Alexa to play a Spotify playlist as follows.  For example, we asked for one we created named  Tom’s Christmas   as follows:

  • Alexa, play the Tom’s Christmas playlist on Spotify.
  • Alexa shuffle the Tom’s Christmas playlist on Spotify.

Your speaker then says something like “[Playing / shuffling] Tom’s Christmas playlist from Spotify.”

Note though that the shuffle playlist feature does not work as of this writing, as the playlist still plays in the order that songs were added to it when created, though the shuffle command is accepted.  To shuffle play the playlist, use method two, described next.

How to Make Alexa Play Spotify Playlists via the Spotify App: Step by Step

1. Find the Spotify App on your Tablet or Phone

Firstly, in this demo, we’re running it on an iPad Air, as shown in the next screenshot.

2. Run the Spotify App

Secondly, Spotify then displays a home screen that looks something like that shown next.

Screenshot of the Spotify app on iOS, displaying its Home screen, with the -Your Music- button highlighted.
Spotify app on iOS, displaying its Home screen, with the -Your Music- button highlighted.

3. Tap the  Your Music   Link

It’s the one pointed at by the blue arrow in the previous screenshot.   Spotify then displays the  Your Music  screen as shown next.

Screenshot of the Spotify app on iOS, displaying its -Your Music- screen, with the -Playlists- option highlighted.
Spotify app on iOS, displaying its -Your Music- screen, with the -Playlists- option highlighted.

4. Tap the   Playlists   Choice to Continue with How to Make Alexa Play Spotify Playlists

Fourthly, find the Playlists option at the far left edge of the   Your Music   screen, which the blue arrow points at in the previous screenshot.

The system next displays a list of all the playlists currently saved in the current Spotify account.  In addition, we currently have four playlists saved in ours, as shown in the next screenshot.  Furthermore, in this demo, we’ll be playing the   Tom’s Christmas   playlist.

Screenshot of the Spotify app on iOS, displaying its -Playlists- screen, with the -Tom's Christmas- playlist highlighted.
Spotify app on iOS, displaying its -Playlists- screen, with the -Tom’s Christmas- playlist highlighted.

5. Tap the Playlist you’d Like to Hear on your Alexa Speaker

As mentioned, we’re going to play the   Tom’s Christmas   playlist in this demo.  So, we tapped that one, pointed at by the blue arrow in the previous screenshot.  This brings up a sort of playlist editor screen named after the chosen playlist, as shown in the next screenshot, which lists the songs in that playlist.

Screenshot of the Spotify app on iOS, displaying its single playlist screen, with the -Shuffle Play- button and first song in list highlighted.
Spotify app on iOS, displaying its single playlist screen, with the -Shuffle Play- button and first song in list highlighted. How to Get Alexa to Play Spotify Playlists.

6. Start your Selected Playlist Playing

You can have Spotify play the list sequentially from beginning to end by tapping the first song in the list as pointed at by the leftmost blue arrow in the previous screenshot, or you can tap the green  Shuffle Play   button, which plays the listed songs in random order.  In either case, the listed songs begin playing on the current speaker (usually the mobile device on which you’re running the Spotify app), and the playlist editor screen changes to show the   Devices Available   link, as shown in the next screenshot.

Screenshot of the Spotify app on iOS, displaying its single playlist screen, with the -Devices Available- link highlighted.
Spotify app on iOS, displaying its single playlist screen, with the -Devices Available- link highlighted.

7. Tap the   Devices Available   Link to Continue with How to Make Alexa Play Spotify Playlists

This takes you from the playlist editor screen to the   Playing From Playlist   screen, as shown next.  This is a more graphical representation of the previous playlist editor screen, showing a picture of the album from which the current song is taken.  This screen also provides controls for pausing playback, skipping ahead to the next song, and skipping back to the previous song in the current playlist.  There’s also a progress slider that shows the current position in the song currently playing, and you can also select the speaker or speaker group that Spotify will play through.

Screenshot of the Spotify app on iOS, displaying its -Playing From Playlist- screen, with the -Devices Available- link highlighted.
Spotify app on iOS, displaying its -Playing From Playlist- screen, with the -Devices Available- link highlighted.

8. Again, tap the   Devices Available   Link

The Devices Available option is pointed at by the blue arrow in the previous screenshot.  This brings up a menu style list of available speaker devices and groups that have been set up in the current Spotify account (ours in this demo).  This menu is called   Devices.

Screenshot of the Spotify app on iOS, displaying its -Devices- screen, with the -Office- speaker highlighted.
Spotify app on iOS, displaying its -Devices- screen, with the -Office- speaker highlighted.

9. Tap the Alexa Based Speaker you Wish to Play the Playlist Through

Select this speaker from a list like the one shown above.  You may have to scroll the list to find it if you have lots of devices configured in your Spotify account. In our case here, we want the playlist to play on our   Office   speaker. Thus, we tapped that entry.

Finally, the   Devices   menu then disappears, taking you back to the   Playing from Playlist  screen as shown next.  Play then stops on the currently playing speaker and moves to the speaker or speaker group just picked.

Screenshot of the Spotify app on iOS, displaying its -Playing From Playlist- screen, showing the -Office- speaker as current speaker, highlighted.
Spotify app on iOS, displaying its -Playing From Playlist- screen, showing the -Office- speaker as current speaker, highlighted.

Also, note that the   Devices Available   link is replaced by the name of the speaker now playing.  You should now be hearing your Spotify playlist on the Amazon Alexa speaker you selected in step 8 above.  Enjoy!

Other Posts About Alexa

    1. How to Reconnect Alexa to WiFi Internet
    2. How to Restart Alexa Smart Speaker
    3. Alexa Echo Studio Setup Instructions
    4. How to Change Alexa Name to Jarvis
    5. How to Put Alexa in Pairing Mode

References for How to Make Alexa Play Spotify Playlists

    1. Spotify Official Home Page
    2. Where to Buy an Alexa

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