after you install the Spotify app go to the settings in the app and enable to local files options (pointing to whatever directory you want for example I did the Music folder in my home directory)
close the app and run gpg --keyserver pool.sks-keyservers.net --recv-keys B4322F04D67658D8 and let that import
run yay -S ffmpeg-compat-57 and let that build and install (Note: this builds from source so be prepared to wait a few minutes)
reopen Spotify and enjoy your local files.
Q: Why did I have to import the gpg separately doesn’t yay ask me about importing it when I install the package?
A: Yes but for some reason it doesn’t work I believe it’s something the package maintainer needs to fix in their script but I don’t know if they’ll ever do that. I wish it worked though because if it did I would’ve just made a comment to the package maintainer of Spotify to add that dependency instead of making this tutorial.
Side note: This issue has always been the case but it didn’t bug me until today because I wanted to see if my Amazon Alexa could play local files through Spotify not realizing until after fixing this that she can’t. It looks Spotify needs to add that feature because people have asked for it on the Spotify community forum.
Just a note … this little lib also seemed to be necessary to make spotify desktop app output to bluetooth when connected. Without this package all other audio would work except spotify.
Hopefully it’ll eventually get added as a dependency to the aur package so it can installed with ease. I read that the snap version of spotify doesn’t have the issue so maybe that version comes packaged with this dependency. (I did the above as I didn’t want to install snap)
That’s the principle of snaps. They don’t have dependencies, they have everything encapsulated withing the snap package to have a fixed working program.
For the AUR package if nobody tells the packager that will probably not happen or else it would already have been done. //EDIT: I verified it is actually already listed as an optional dependency.
ffmpeg-compat-57(optional) – Adds support for playback of local files
Yeah I’ve actually been messaging with someone on the spotify entry in the AUR lol. I ended up realizing that what surprises me is that the spotify company doesn’t bundle the dependency with the spotify bin. However given the fact the Mac version doesn’t even have the option to show notifications of songs playing I guess it shouldn’t surprise me. (I know this because I use a Mac for work and noticed the spotify app I have on doesn’t even have the option to enable notifications in the Mac version)
