Would you like a personal music media streamer at home? Something besides your PC, smartphone or tablet? Something that will act like a small high-tech Hi-Fi component system complete with networking and streaming functions. If this is what you dream of then this is the right place for you to start to play Spotify Music on Raspberry Pi.

People with good programming or electronics skills use the Raspberry Pi for various tasks. It is already a mini-PC with modest capabilities. It’s also used by kids today to learn their first programming language. As it’s that popular among tinkerers and makers, why not make something that will benefit your household?

If you’re not into electronics or programming then you might get hooked on a raspberry pi because of its appealing appearance. The original pink raspberry embossed 3-d like printed case is enough to attract the attention of cute “kawaii” seekers.

You’ll eventually just need to learn how to use a PC after some rather simple installation and setup processes. Once it’s done you’re ready to play Spotify Music on Raspeberry Pi.

Article Content Part 1. What is Raspberry Pi? Can you run Spotify on Raspberry Pi? Part 2. The Best Way to Play Spotify Music on Raspberry Pi without Premium Part 3. How Do I Play Spotify on My Raspberry Pi with other methods? Part 4. Summary

Part 1. What is Raspberry Pi? Can you run Spotify on Raspberry Pi?

The Raspberry Pi is a credit-card-sized computer based on the arm processor. It’s almost “PC-like” because of its robust architecture. It had its fair share of hardware revisions and currently, it has version 4 with quad-core processors and 8GB of maximum RAM.

It has complete peripherals to run as a mini-desktop PC. It has USB ports, an Ethernet port, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and a graphics chip that can run a PC monitor. Once its SD card is installed with a Linux-based operating system, it’s ready to run as a computer.

Explore the net, write a document or spreadsheet, or simply play spotify music on the Raspberry Pi as you would on a regular PC. Though it has a multitude of functions, standardization of the installation process is yet to catch up with their Windows or Mac-based PC counterpart.

As it has a complete set of networking peripherals, streaming music comes as a trivial task for this sleeping dragon. If you have a NAS server or an external drive then it gets more interesting. Playing media with these devices always works out like a charm it’s almost magic! You’ll miss out on all the goodies this device has to offer not having explored these functions.

Part 2. The Best Way to Play Spotify Music on Raspberry Pi without Premium

Spotify running on a raspberry pi almost always need a premium account especially if you use some popular third-party tool music streamers. If you just want to use the Spotify web player, then it should be okay, but you’ll miss out so much on extending your raspberry pi’s more exotic functions.

But there is a caveat to go away with this by using another third-party tool. This is the TunesFun Spotify Music Converter.

TunesFun Spotify Music Converter can download, convert and even remove DRM from your Spotify songs using a free Spotify account. What’s more interesting is it all does it on one user interface. It’s a complete audio conversion tool specifically designed for Spotify. No more playing around with complicated audio conversion settings.

Also no more getting around security breaches by circumventing DRM encryption. Everything is legal with an on-the-fly recorder used by this audio conversion tool.

The detailed steps to play Spotify Music on Raspberry Pi using the TunesFun Spotify Music Converter are simple. You’ll have to first download the PC or Mac version here:

After that open, it then clicks Open Spotify Web Player. It has a startup tutorial but you can bypass it. Log in to Spotify as it is required (even using a free account) then open a music category such as a playlist or album. Find the + green icon on the lower left saying Open the Converter. Convertible songs should be listed here. If you would like a drag and drop process it’s also possible by dragging playlists/albums to the icon.

Choose Spotify Songs

Next, convert single songs or the entire album/playlist. You can change the output formats above or change the output directory below. The defaults are already satisfactory. Click Convert or Convert All.

Choose Spotify Songs Output Format

Once finished going to the Converted tab. These are now available for playing. Click Open to File to go to the output directory.

It’s now your call on how you’d like to play them. Would you like to stream them to the RPI using some third-party tools? Or simply transfer them to a USB stick or to the RPI’s SD card itself as music items to be played by Linux-based media player software.

Part 3. How Do I Play Spotify on My Raspberry Pi with other methods?

Method 1. Using Volumio

  • Download the Volumio image on a PC at:
  • Transfer the image to an SD card. You can use Win32 disk Imager or Etcher.
  • Boot Volumio in the SD card on the RPI.
  • For configuration, access Volumio through a web interface. Connect to the Volunio Wifi network.
  • The configuration will begin. After that, you can go back to your original Wi-Fi network.
  • Now we’ll operate Volumio. Connect to the RPI’s IP address through a web browser.

Go to this link for more details: https://raspberrytips.com/find-current-ip-raspberry-pi/

  • You should see Volmio’s menu interface shortly.

Now let’s connect our Spotify account with Volumio:

  • Click the gear on the top right (that’s Settings)
  • Go to Plugins then find Spotify. Install it.
  • On the Installed Plugins, turn Spotify ON.
  • Now click Settings. Enter your Spotify username and password and save it. This usually needs a premium account.
  • You should now be able to play Spotify Music on Raspberry Pi through your PC or smartphone. Go back to the homepage and click Browse, then Spotify.

Play Spotify on My Raspberry Pi with Volmio

Method 2. Using Kodi

Kodi is a popular media server and comes with its own lightweight OS (called LibreELEC) for it to function on the RPI. It’s a complete media player software that can play Spotify Music as an ad-on/plug-in. Let’s check out how we can implement this.

  • Download the raspberry pi imager software at https://www.raspberrypi.com/software/ and load the LibreELEC OS image to an SD card for your RPI’s version(32 or 64GB).
  • Now insert the SD card into your Raspberry Pi, boot it up, and choose LibreELEC OS and the SD card. When choosing WRITE this will also download the necessary files for Kodi to run.
  • Setup all your multimedia peripherals such as keyboards, mice, HDMI monitors,s and others. After going through some setup/networking processes, get ready to run Kodi.
  • When it’s running you must install an add-on for Spotify to work. Get the Marcelveldt Repository zip repo as this is needed. In Kodi click Add-on’s then install from a zip file.
  • After the Add-on is enabled, return to the Add-on browser. Now select install from repository-> Select Marcelveldt’s BETA repository.
  • From the Music, Add-ons install Spotify on the list.
  • To enter your username and password in Spotify click the Configure icon then OK to complete. A premium account is usually needed.
  • You can now play Spotify Music on Raspberry Pi using Kodi!

Part 4. Summary

There are plenty of ways to play Spotify Music on Raspberry Pi. But almost all methods need a premium account, especially when using third-party streamer software. To overcome this hurdle we recommend using a powerful third-party tool, the TunesFun Spotify Music Converter.

Try It Free Try It Free