Spotify now playing on Roku

Posted on December 20, 2012 by Tom Markworth

Music is exploding on Roku – it now accounts for nearly 15 percent of all hours streamed on the Roku platform! We’re excited to expand music options even further with today’s addition of Spotify.

That’s right – Spotify, the award-winning music streaming service, is now available on Roku in the United States, United Kingdom and Ireland. Spotify Premium subscribers can stream millions of high quality (up to 320 Kbps), ad-free tunes, including Metallica’s entire catalog, on their Roku players.

Use the Spotify channel to:

  • Search for tracks, artists and albums
  • Browse new album releases and top tracks for your region
  • Browse and play tracks from your Spotify playlists
  • Add tracks to your playlists and star your favorite tracks
  • Access content sent to you by friends in your Spotify Inbox
  • View album and artist track lists for now playing tracks

Joining more than 600 video, music and casual game channels already on Roku, the Spotify channel is available now in the U.K. on all Roku players and in the U.S. on Roku 2 players and the Roku Streaming Stick. Support for Roku LT and the new Roku HD player will be coming soon.

On supported players, you can find Spotify in the Music category of the Roku Channel Store or add it here. Although the channel is free, a Spotify Premium subscription is required to use Spotify on Roku. You can try a free 30-day trial at spotify.com/roku.

Happy streaming!

About Tom Markworth

Director of Product Management, Roku
This entry was posted in New Channels, Roku, Roku News and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink.
  • jqs

    Perfect gift, but pleaseeeeeeeee, radio section, why can’t I find it ????????

    • http://www.facebook.com/jhnnystubbs Justin Rivera

      I just thinking the same thing. I’m glad it’s on now so I’m able to listen my personal playlist but what if I just want to list to the radio portion. For now I’ll just have to keep using Pandora.

  • http://www.facebook.com/albin.roussel Albin Roussel

    I dont understand why unilimited members cannot stream on that. shame

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=839118189 Dan Trachtenberg

    How about support for more players. Do you really expect people to drop another 50 or 100 bucks just for these channels? Make them compatible for all players!

    • Tom_Markworth

      Dan, Unfortunately, Spotify will not be offered on Roku players earlier than Roku 2. It does not run on our early platforms.

      • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=730212281 Kyle Banashek

        You sure about that??

      • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=730212281 Kyle Banashek

        You sure about that Tom???

      • Jose Hernandez

        Correction, you WON’T make it available on the early platforms. That’s your company’s choice. It has nothing to do with the hardware on the original Roku. My Roku can decode hi-def video and digital audio from Netflix and Amazon and stream music from Pandora very well. So what’s the uber technology from Spotify that prevents it from running on it? Thought so. Way to reward your original customers.

        • http://www.facebook.com/jjfreberg Joe Freberg

          shut up you whiney baby

      • Tom_Markworth

        Hi Kyle and Jose, Spotify was not built using Roku’s standard software development kit (SDK). The code will not run on earlier Roku players.

        • DeBerry

          Maybe you should update the press release to reflect that then. It kind of gives false hope to those with LT players since it says “with support for all Roku HD and Roku LT players coming soon”

          • Tom_Markworth

            @DeBerry, It is the plan to add support for Roku LT and the currently selling Roku HD player. Older Roku HD players won’t get Spotify. We’ll make that more clear in the post.

          • hasanh

            Can you specify what is the old and new model of Rohu HD? I bought my model in June, would it work with Spotify?

          • http://www.facebook.com/david.hutchinson.14203544 David Hutchinson

            Tom . When will spotify be available in UK on LT please?

  • http://www.saltedlolly.com Olly S

    I am originally from the UK but currently live in China. I brought my Roku with me and am having some issues using it here. I have a Spotify UK Premium account which lets me use my Spotify account on abroad. I want to add it on my Roku but it is not showing up in the Roku store? Can you please help me to add it!

    • Tom_Markworth

      Hi Olly, You will not be able to add Spotify in China. Spotify is offered on Roku only in the U.S., UK and Ireland. These are the only countries in which both Spotify offers its music service and Roku officially distributes its products.

      • http://www.saltedlolly.com Olly S

        I understand that, but it doesn’t make sense. To listen to Spotify on a Roku, you require a Premium account. You can only get this if you have a credit card in one of the countries that they operate. I have a UK premium account, and premium accounts allow you to listen to Spotify when abroad. What I am asking for is for you to simply allow the app to be accessible in China. This still won’t make it available to people in China since they can’t login without an account.

        • http://www.saltedlolly.com Olly S

          Not sure how but the Spotify app is now available to me here in China and is working great! If you guys changed something then thanks!

  • http://twitter.com/Inaba_kun Inaba-kun

    Pleasantly surprised to see this is on the UK channel store too, unlike Amazon’s Cloud Player app which is bizarrely only on the US store. (WHY?)

    Too bad the no.1 streaming service in the UK – Amazon’s LoveFilm Instant, is still nowhere to be seen on Roku. It’s akin to not having Netflix in the US. Yes we have Netflix UK of course, but in all honestly, it’s dreadful. It makes Netflix Canada look amazing by comparison.

  • Shamim

    I just bought the Roku LT in the UK and it does not appear in the channel store for Music ! Is it available for the Roku LT in the UK. Also when i try to add using the link it says that the channel is not available for the registered device.

  • http://www.facebook.com/IanMaffett Ian Maffett

    Mine installs but goes straight to Spotify screensaver on launch. Button presses reveal a flash of the sign in options but nothing more. Rebooted, reinstalled. Same thing. On a 2XS… Should be fine.

    • http://www.facebook.com/IanMaffett Ian Maffett

      Figured it out – if you see this happen on yours, enable the Roku screensaver in the general Roku settings.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=23500678 Meagan Newberry

    When will this be available on the LT model? I purchased it less than a month ago.

  • http://www.facebook.com/scottyt3 Scott Taylor

    Loving the spotify app on roku by there is no menu selection for “Radio” on the app! What gives?? That’s the best feature of spotify. As a premium member I expect that.

  • erause

    roku is the number one!! i never think about this little streamer!! guaoo !! lo mejor de lo mejor yo como latino Colombiano lo recomiendo es una caja de sorpresas!!

  • PCH

    I love the app so far, but I’ve discovered a few issues. 1) It doesn’t seem to share what I’m listening to to Facebook; 2) There’s no option to scrobble to lastfm; 3) It would be nice if another screensaver could be used while listening, such as the picasa one. Otherwise it’s great.

  • Laura

    Why does this article say that the channel is available on all Roku players in the UK when it clearly isn’t available for LT players??

  • http://www.facebook.com/luke.kruse Luke Kruse

    Tom, I do find it disappointing that Spotify will not be available on other models. I LOVE my Roku, but I am not going to spend $50 for a new box, nor do I think I should have to. I am sure the older models have the capability to stream – if the box can stream HD video, I’m pretty sure it can stream a song. Please consider adding support for all models.

  • syntheticzero

    Does anyone else have this problem? The Spotify app on my Roku seems to have no way of ever backing out of or exiting any mode. I.e., once you start playing a track, there’s no way to exit the playback and look at the playlists again. In fact execute ANY command and there’s no way to go back, exit out of the menu, etc., except by hitting the “Home” button and totally exiting the app.

    In Netflix or other similar interfaces, all you have to do is hit the “up” button, typically, and it will exit what you’re doing and pop out a level in the interface. Since the Roku remote has so few buttons, this seems like a decent convention (albeit one which not all Roku apps follow, maddeningly). But the Spotify app seems to have NO way of “exiting”, unless the new Roku remotes have a button the old remotes lacked (exit?)

  • peacechicken

    I’ve been waiting for this channel since Spotify became available in the US. My excitement was immediately crushed when I realized it’s not available on my first generation Roku player. I think it’s a testament to the quality of your players that I’m still using my first gen. 4 years after I bought it– but it sucks being limited to certain channels, especially ones like this.

  • http://www.facebook.com/TomoyoSoup Tyler Wehner

    Only make a basic app available for newer models? I’m not upgrading to a new Roku box for one app, in fact, I am cancelling my Spotify Premium account… Roku + Spotify = FAIL

  • maren10

    whys is nothing available for other countries ?

  • noanoxan

    There’s no radio, and the ui is difficult to use without a smartphone remote.

    I gotta ask, wtf?