"Some songs on Spotify used to be available, but now they're greyed out, why?"
To resolve this issue once and for all, please follow the article below. In a variety of streaming music forums, Spotify Music users are looking for effective solutions for fixing greyed-out Spotify songs on a frequent basis. This is not an exclusive problem for Spotify Free users. Spotify Premium users can not evade not working with Spotify all the time.
To fix this issue and access to the full enjoyment of Spotify music, we collected the reasons why songs are greyed out on Spotify after careful research and concluded the top solutions in this tutorial. If this issue still upsets you, now you should follow us to clear away the clouds and see the sun.
#1. Poor Network Connection: It's failed to connect the network owing to an unstable network connection or the offline mode is turned on accidentally. The airplane mode is turned on your phone or the WiFi connection or cellular data usage is cut off.
#2. Country/Region Restrictions: Part of Spotify Music tracks are not allowed to play because of the lack of a license from the record company or a request from the artist. When traveling to a new country a region, some Spotify songs may be greyed out suddenly.
#3. Fail the evaluation: Sometimes, depending on different music review systems in different countries, some songs fail the assessment. So some songs are available in some regions and some are not. As a result, some greyed-out songs will appear in your playlist.
#4. Licensing Agreement Changes: Spotify pays artists per song to enable the popular songs playable. When you are surprised why some songs quietly "slipped away" from your Spotify playlist, you may perceive the listening licenses of these songs are expired.
#5. Not Play the Downloaded Songs Recently: The Spotify songs have been downloaded to your local hard drive or device, but you haven't listened to them in a long time. Then, the Spotify songs on the playlist will be greyed out.
#6. Local Music is Not Playable: The local audio files in some formats are not compatible with Spotify. If you've added these unavailable local songs to Spotify, you are not allowed to play them properly. Moreover, the encrypted songs from other streaming music are limited to being played in other music apps unless you remove the encrypted formats first. (To remove the limitation of Spotify Music, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and Tidal Music.)
Depending on the reasons why Spotify songs are greyed out, we have found some useful solutions to fix the Spotify songs greyed-out problem. Let's see what they are.
If the Spotify songs are greyed out, the easiest and most effective way is to re-import these songs to your playlist and make them available.
Step 1: Open the playlist that includes some greyed-out songs on Spotify.
Step 2: Input the name of this song in the search box, and you will find this song is available in the search result. We choose this available song and add it to your playlist. Then delete the greyed-out song from the playlist.
Step 4: Then you can access these songs again. However, it's not the optimal option in the long run. To keep Spotify songs playable without restrictions anytime and anywhere, you should download them to local files and convert them to common formats by following part 3 in this article. You will find an ultimate approach to eliminate all troubles of Spotify. You can avoid Spotify songs turning greyed out again from now on.
Like all streaming applications, Spotify Music requires an internet connection to work properly. Oftentimes, we check the network connection when something unusual happens to an online application. We are going to present different methods for users running Spotify Music on different devices. You can follow the instructions as below.
▼ Spotify Music Greyed Out on Win / Mac:
Step 1: Check the network connection. On your computer, open "Settings" and go to Network & Internet settings (Network on Mac) and check if there are Internet connection errors. You can find the Network troubleshooter to diagnose and fix network problems automatically. If it's still failed to connect network, contact the support people of the computer to fix it.
Step 2: Add Spotify to the whitelist of the firewall. If the Internet connection is stable and works properly, then you should consider whether Spotify has been blocked in your computer’s firewall settings. Let's put Spotify into the whitelist of the firewall. If not, you need to follow us to put it into the firewall exception list.
Step 3: Change the Spotify settings. Open the Spotify app on your PC. Go to your account name in the upper right, click it. Then tap on "Settings", under "Display Options". turn on the "Show unavailable songs in playlists" option.
▼ Spotify Music Greyed Out on Mobile Device:
Start the Spotify app on your mobile device, then go to "Settings > Cellular". Scroll down and turn Spotify app on.
It's a technical problem when the Spotify songs are greyed out because of country/region restrictions. Generally, Spotify is available in most of Europe, most of the Americas, Australia, New Zealand, and parts of Asia. Outside of these designated areas, Spotify is not supported.
Step 1: The optimal solution is to get a reliable VPN service that helps you change the IP. Once you've connected to a stable line such as American or European servers, you will find the greyed-out songs on Spotify are allowed to play now.
Step 2: Change to another VPN service for a try when it doesn't help. When the greyed-out songs are available on Spotify, check part 3 in this article to keep your preferred Spotify playlists in a local folder forever in case you lose them again.
The Spotify cache is where your listening history lives. If you regularly use Spotify Music to play songs, the cache that Spotify generates may surprise you. And these large amounts of the cache may cause the Spotify program to report an error or overload, and eventually cause some songs on Spotify to fail to load, thus turning gray. So we need to get Spotify back to normal use by clearing some caches.
▼ Clear Spotify Music cache on Windows:
1. The cache deletion process will depend on where you have downloaded your version of Spotify from. If you have downloaded Spotify from the official website, go to C:\Users\[your user name]\AppData\Local\Spotify\Storage, then delete all files and folders found in the Storage folder.
2. If you got the app from the Windows Store, go to C:\Users\[your user name]\AppData\Local\Packages\SpotifyAB.SpotifyMusic_zpdnekdrzrea0\LocalCache\Spotify\Data, then delete all files and folders found in the Data folder.
▼ Clear Spotify Music cache on Mac:
1. Open Finder and click Go at the top of your Mac. Then click "Computer". Double-click on your Macintosh and select ‘Users.’ Then select which profile you’re clearing the cache on. Go to /Users/[your user name]/Library/Caches/com.spotify.client/Storage/, then delete this Storage folder.
2. If you also plan to clear the offline files cache, go to /Users/[your user name]/Library/Application Support/Spotify/watch-sources.bnk. Delete the “watch-sources.bnk” file.
▼ Clear Spotify Music cache on iOS:
Unlock your iOS device, then go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage > Spotify. Tap on "Offload App" to remove the unnecessary stored files and data of Spotify from your iOS device.
▼ Clear Spotify Music cache on Android:
Unlock your Android phone, go to Settings > App / Application > Storage, and tap on "Clear Cache" to remove the unnecessary stored files and data of Spotify from your Android device. If you tap on "Clear Data", the offline data of Spotify will be all deleted.
▼ Clear cache in Spotify app setting:
When using the Spotify app, we can also clear the cache through the built-in function of Spotify.
1. To clear your Spotify Cache on iOS or Android, open your Spotify mobile app. Then navigate to "Settings > Storage" and tap on "Delete Cache".
2. On a computer, one more step is taken to clear the Spotify cache. We need to find the folder wherein your Spotify client saves your cache in advance. Open the Spotify desktop app, and go to your account icon in the top right, choose "Settings > Show Advanced Settings". You will find the saving path of the offline caches under "Offline storage location". Go to this path on your PC to delete Spotify caches.
If clearing the cache doesn't solve the problem, there is a chance that some Spotify files might be corrupted on your computer or device. You can only uninstall and reinstall Spotify to make it right.
▼ Uninstall and Reinstall Spotify on Windows:
Step 1: Go to Settings > Apps, then scroll down and find Spotify, and click it to uninstall. If you need to delete Spotify-related files from Windows, you need to find more Spotify-related files on the PC.
Step 2: Go to C:\Users\[your user name]\AppData\Roaming\Spotify and delete all files in this Spotify folder.
Step 3: Go to C:\Users\[your user name]\AppData\Local\Spotify and delete all files in this Spotify folder.
Step 4: After that, you can restart your computer and reinstall Spotify from its official website.
▼ Uninstall and Reinstall Spotify on Mac:
Step 1: Open a "Finder" window and click on "Applications" in the left sidebar. Locate Spotify and right-click on its icon to move it to the Trash. If you need to delete Spotify-related files from your Mac, there are more steps.
Step 2: On a "Finder" window, press "Shift + Command + G" to open the "Go to Folder" window. The paste the following file paths one by one in the text box and click "Go" to locate the files. We just need to remove all relevant Spotify files:
Step 3: When you have deleted all relevant files from Spotify, you can empty the Trash. Then you can re-download the Spotify app from its official website on your Mac. Check if the greyed-out songs are available on Spotify now.
Spotify songs will be downloaded in protected formats. In the same way, you can only extract songs from other streaming music platforms with encrypted formats. They are not supported to be played out of their music apps. After importing these songs from other sources to Spotify, the restraints still exist. The help from various music converters can remove the restrictions and convert them to Spotify-supported common formats. Hence you will be enabled to import these local songs to Spotify and play them properly.
After learning the 6 solutions we shared in the above text, you may solve the problems provisionally, but you will win in the long run when after following the solution in this part.
An error occurs periodically when streaming music online. To fix Spotify songs greyed out and other Spotify issues, the prime option is to download the songs to local files and re-import the Spotify-supported local songs to your Spotify playlist. Since then, all problems disappear.
TuneCable Spotify Music Downloader is a powerful and convenient program for Spotify users who want to convert online Spotify Music to MP3/AAC/WAV/AIFF/FLAC/ALAC format. It downloads songs from Spotify to a local PC and makes them playable via any common media player. Moreover, the downloaded Spotify songs can be transferred to any mobile device for permanent offline playback without error. This TuneCable Spotify Music Downloader protects you from the issue of greyed-out Spotify songs fundamentally.
Let's look at its highlights and see how to use TuneCable to download Spotify music!
Step 1 Make the Greyed-out Songs on Spotify Available.
We search the greyed-out songs one by one on Spotify. Generally, you will find the song is available again in the search result, Then we add the song to a Spotify playlist. And remove the unavailable song from the playlist. Or if you have a VPN, change a stable line such as American or European servers to make the greyed-out Songs on Spotify available again.
Otherwise, follow the 6 solutions above to fix the Spotify songs greyed out.
Step 2 Run TuneCable Spotify Music Downloader
Once you can get access to the greyed-out Spotify songs again, start this TuneCable Spotify Music Downloader on your Windows PC or Mac. Make sure you've installed the latest Spotify Music app as well. It will be launched automatically. Please note that it will be muted temporarily to ensure the highest audio quality will be kept.
Step 3 Set Up the Output Settings
Go to the top right, click on the "Settings" icon, and a pop-up setting window appears. It enables you to change the conversion mode, output format, bit rate, sample rate, conversion speed, output folder, output file name, and output organized manner.
There is a tip for people who prefer to save all songs into one folder, selecting "None" in the "Output Organized" setting. Besides, selecting "Playlist Index" in the "Output File Name" setting will enable you to save all songs in the same order as the original playlist.
Convert Settings
Output Settings
Step 3 Add Spotify Music Playlist(s) to TuneCable
Once you completed the adjustment, go to Spotify Music, and locate the song or playlist you prefer. Directly drag & drop the song or playlist from Spotify to TuneCable. It will launch an automatic parsing process. Soon after, the songs from the playlist are allowed to download. Remove the useless songs and add more wanted songs, then click OK to add these selected songs to a download list.
Step 4 Start Converting Spotify Tracks to Local Songs
Click Convert to trigger this conversion. With a stable internet connection, TuneCable will show you a conversion at 10X faster speed.
Step 5 Re-Import the Greyed-Out Spotify Songs to Spotify Playlist
The greyed-out songs on Spotify are downloaded to local files in the formats you've set in advance. Now, these songs can be re-imported from the computer to your Spotify.
To import audio files into Spotify from another folder, on Spotify, click the account name in the top left and tap on the "Settings" option. Then scroll down to turn on the "Local Files" option. Tap on the "Add a Source" button. Navigate to the music folder you need, then select it and click "OK" to add it to Spotify.
Click "Your Library" in the left-hand menu and you should see a new "Local Files" section. Open this to explore and play tracks stored on your computer in the Spotify desktop app. You will see the local songs from the added music folder are accessible on Spotify.
Conclusion: Spotify's greyed-out issue is one of the adverse effects of not downloading songs offline. With TuneCable Spotify Music Downloader, you can extract songs from Spotify and keep them for a permanent offline playback, which fundamentally solves the issues of Spotify greyed-out songs. If you haven't used it before, you may test it out for a free trial! If this tutorial is helpful, please share it with people around you.
What's next? Download TuneCable Spotify Music Downloader now!
