Global outage disrupts Spotify streaming for tens of thousands

Spotify experienced a widespread outage on Wednesday, temporarily halting music streaming for tens of thousands of users across the globe. The disruption, which affected the platform’s desktop and mobile applications as well as its web player, began at approximately 6:20 a.m. Eastern Time and persisted for several hours.

Monitoring service Downdetector registered a surge in user reports starting around 8:45 a.m. ET, peaking with nearly 49,000 complaints. By midday, those reports had dropped significantly, indicating that Spotify’s services were gradually returning to normal. By 11:45 a.m. ET, a spokesperson confirmed that Spotify was “back up and functioning normally.”

The outage impacted users in several regions, including the United States, the United Kingdom, and parts of Europe. According to users, downloaded content remained accessible during the disruption, but live streaming, artist pages, and the search function were either slow or entirely unresponsive. Attempting to search for music triggered an error message reading “something went wrong,” along with a refresh prompt.

Despite widespread speculation online, Spotify firmly denied that the outage was the result of a cyberattack. “The reports of this being a security hack are completely inaccurate,” a company spokesperson stated. Spotify also urged users to follow its @SpotifyStatus account on X (formerly Twitter) for real-time updates.

Social media was quickly flooded with complaints from frustrated users, many of whom expressed disappointment at the interruption. Several shared how the downtime impacted their daily routines—from gym workouts to study sessions—while others threatened to switch to rival streaming platforms such as Apple Music or YouTube Music.

Spotify, which currently serves more than 675 million users worldwide, has seen rapid growth in recent months. In the last quarter of the previous year alone, the platform gained 35 million new monthly active users. Its premium subscriber base reached 263 million, an 11% increase year-over-year, while ad-supported users climbed 12% to 425 million. The majority of Spotify’s listeners are concentrated in Europe, North America, and Latin America.