Why Spotify Songs Are Greyed Out
Spotify has never explicitly listed all of the reasons why a song might become unavailable…
…but using a bit of critical thinking and piecing together other things Spotify has said, we can deduce that songs become greyed out for one of these reasons:
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Country restrictions:Some songs just aren’t available in certain regions of the world. That availability is decided by whoever owns the copyright to the song (usually the label that produced the album), and this availability can change over time.
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License expirations:Spotify has to strike licensing agreements with music labels and other copyright holders in order to stream their songs on the Spotify platform. These licensing agreements have finite expiration dates—and if those licensing agreements aren’t renewed, the songs can no longer be streamed.
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Network issues:Rarely, a network connection issue can cause songs to be greyed out. The issue could be on your side, or it could be on Spotify’s side.
So, how can you tell which of these reasons could be causing your favorite Spotify songs to be unavailable?
Well, you have to check the regional availability for the song in question. Read on to see how you can do that right now.
How to Check Countries for Spotify Songs
There’s a free web app that you can use to check the country availability for an album on Spotify. All you have to do is:
Once permission is granted, you can enter theSpotify URIfor any album to check its country availability. To get the Spotify URI:
For example, the Spotify URI for Ted Cazey’s “Rewind” album isspotify:album:5apTzWosnZroPRPo33IWdA. Entering that into the web app shows that this album isn’t available anywhere, which is a good sign that its licensing agreement expired:
How to Play Spotify Songs in Other Countries
If the greyed out Spotify songisavailable in a country but you’re located in a region where that Spotify song isn’t available, then you can use a VPN totrick Spotify into thinking you’re in a different country, allowing you to listen.
A VPN (virtual private network) is an app that creates an encrypted connection between you and a VPN provider.
When you connect to a VPN server, your internet traffic gets redirected through that server—and gives the illusion that the server’s location is your location. If you’re in Greenland but you connect to a VPN server in the US, Spotify will think you’re in the US!
