How To Fix Spotify Web Player Black Screen or Not Working Issue 2024

Many users have encountered problems with the Spotify Web Player, including a frustrating black screen and playback issues.

But fear not, there are several solutions you can try to get your music streaming back on track.

In this article, we’ll walk you through a troubleshooting guide to address these common problems and get you back to enjoying your favorite tunes.

Why is Spotify Web Player Showing Black Screen?

After reading several Reddit threads to find out the causes that trigger this not working issue on Mac Windows PC. These are the common issues that can affect:

Faulty internet connection
Outdated web browser
Web plugins/extensions that might interfere
Playback of protected content is not enabled in web browsers
Misremembered browser cookies and cache
Users running Windows 10 N version

How To Fix Spotify Web Player Black Screen

Apply the below-mentioned fix to get your problem resolved. Of course, you don’t need to apply all of them, just work your way down the list till you find the proper fix.

1. Clear Spotify Web Player Cache

If you can’t play music on a web player and you have tried Chrome, or Opera web browsers. Then try this solution.

Open the web player and right-click the Inspect
Click ‘Network‘ and then press F5.
Press CTRL+F and type play.spotify.com
Right-click and click clear cache. Right-click again and click clear cookies.

2. Update or Switch your Browser

First thing first make sure that your web browser is up to date. Sometimes users disable automatic updates for any reason. In that case, you will have to deal with Spotify Web Player not working because the browser’s outdated version can’t handle it.

If you are using Chrome, then click the menu button (three dots) and then select Update Google Chrome. If you don’t see this option, it means your browser is already up to date.

Firefox users can also update their browsers by heading to the menu and clicking Help. Here click on About Firefox. A new window will appear and Firefox will automatically begin checking and downloading available updates.

Now restart your browser to see if it has resolved the problem.

3. Open Web Player in a Private/Incognito Window

If you have installed multiple extensions in your web browser one of them may start interference causing the Spotify Web Player not working problem.

So try opening the Spotify web player in a Private or Incognito window. This window will launch the browser without extensions, or cached data.

To open a private window in Chrome, click the three-dot menu icon at the top right, then “New incognito window.”

To open a private window in Microsoft Edge, click the three-dot menu icon at the top right, then “New InPrivate window.”

4. Check your Network Connection

Poor internet connection can also cause Spotify Web Player to not work. So if you press the play button and nothing happens then you should check your internet connection/WiFi.

Try opening other websites or click on the WiFi icon appearing in the taskbar and right-click it to open Troubleshoot Problems.

In case you see an error that the DNS server is not responding, then restart your modem,

5. Mac Users use Safari Browser

The Spotify Web Player not working on Mac because you are running the outdated version of Safari browser. In 2017 Spotify web player completely stopped working on Safari but in 2020 it’s again live you need to update its version.

6. Spotify Web Player Not Working in Windows 10 “N” Version

The Windows 10 N version doesn’t come with the media-playing functionality. N users might have to deal with Spotify Web Player not working.

However, you can still fix this issue by installing the Media Feature Pack from Microsoft’s official website for your age browser.

Download and install the Media Feature Pack for “N” versions of Windows 10, restart Edge, and the Spotify web player should work next time around.

7. Clear Browser Cookies and Cache

Browser keep the cache and cookies of the sites that you visit. It helps them to load the page or site faster when the user again visits them. Sometimes this cache and cookies themselves become the main issue so you need to cookies and cache memory in Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari, or Opera.

8. Enable Protected Content

Are you seeing a “Playback of protected content is not enabled,” error when you open Spotify? You need to make sure you have enabled protected content in your browser.

For Chrome users:

In your browser address bar, enter chrome://settings/content
Under Protected content, switch on Allow the site to play protected content.

For Firefox users:

Click Enable DRM in the yellow warning bar at the top of the screen.
If you don’t see the yellow bar then in your browser address bar, enter about:preferences#content
Under DRM content, switch on Play DRM.

9. Try Opening Spotify on Another Device

Another simple but effective fix to try is to close the web player and open Spotify on another device. You can use your smartphone, for example. If you haven’t downloaded the Android app, you can do so here. Play any song on your smartphone and reopen the Spotify web player.

On the bottom of the screen, you should see a green bar with “You are listening on” followed by your device name. If you see it, repeat the trick from the step above. Go to the Device list and click on This Web Browser. Your song should start playing where it left off on your smartphone.

10. Download the Spotify PC app

If the above fixes do not help you then you should leave Spotify Web Player and download the desktop app.

You won’t see problems just Download Spotify for PC and start listening to your favorite songs.

Spotify is also available for Linux, Chromebook, Mac OS X 10.10/10.9/10.7-8.

11. Unplug and Plug HDMI Cable

This anomaly has been seen by Samsung QN90b and Apple TV users. If you are also one then simply need to unplug and plug the HDMI cable to get it working once again.

Another tweak you can apply is to turn off low input Lag and reset your monitor’s hz.