How to Install Spotify on Ubuntu 20.04

The way we consume music has changed a lot in the last few years, as more and more people transition to streaming their music instead of buying it outright.

If one service has become emblematic of that shift, it’s Spotify. With over 230 million users, 100 million of which are premium users, Spotify is the most popular music streaming platform around unless you count YouTube.

If there’s one constant in the vast, ongoing, streaming music war, it’s this fact: Spotify is the big dog. Despite competition from the feature-rich Apple Music and the audiophile-friendly Tidal, Spotify remains the king of the hill due to its large catalog, collaborative playlists, podcasts, and numerous other attractive features.

For these reasons and more, Spotify remains a top-rated, overall Editors’ Choice winner for streaming music services, along with Apple Music and SiriusXM Internet Radio.

In short Spotify is a digital music, podcast, and video service that gives you access to millions of songs and other content from creators all over the world.

Part of Spotify’s success is its ubiquity.

You can access Spotify by launching the web player, by downloading the desktop apps (available for Chromebook, Linux, Mac, and Microsoft Windows), or by installing one of the mobile apps (available for Android, iOS). You can also find Spotify on TVs, set-top boxes, smartwatches, and home video game consoles.

Even the service is available on AI enabled smart speakers such as Amazon Echo and Google Home.

Spotify is immediately appealing because you can access content for free by simply signing up using an email address or by connecting with Facebook.

If you’re not keen on monthly subscription fees for Spotify Premium, or just want to dip your toe in and test it out, it’s easy to get started and there’s no commitment.

Key Features of Spotify

  • Blend music tastes with new ‘Made for two’ feature
  • Easily create playlists with ‘Made by you’ feature
  • Play with lightsabers while listening to the Star Wars soundtrack
  • View your friends’ listening activity
  • Adjust the equaliser to improve audio sound
  • Scan Spotify codes for efficient searching
  • Check your month’s top artists and tracks
  • Rearrange song order in a playlist
  • Organise different playlists into folders
  • Pin your favourite frequently listened to playlists
  • Block’ artists and bands
  • Crossfade songs for seamless transitions
  • Stop audio automatically while you sleep

Advantages and Disadvantages

Every application has some advantages and disadvantages. Here we have listed our observations on Spotify.

Pros:

  • Cool, collaborative playlists and Group Session options
  • Premium accounts let you hear select albums before they’re released
  • Optional desktop app that lets you play locally stored audio files
  • Robust Student plan features Hulu and Showtime
  • Free version
  • Podcasts

Cons:

  • No lyrics in web or desktop apps
  • Weak quality of sound for free users.
  • Lacks Hi-Res Audio
  • Expensive: If you switch to the paid plan, you’ll have to pay every month irrespective of whether or not you’re using the service.
  • Not Available in all Countries
  • Spotify users have to listen to audio advertisements between their favourite songs and podcast shows if they use the free account.

This article explains two methods of installing Spotify on Ubuntu 20.04.

Choose the installation method that is most appropriate for your environment.

Method 1: Installing Spotify as a Snap Package

The easiest way is to install Spotify on Ubuntu 20.04 is by using the snap packaging system.

Spotify snap package is distributed and maintained by Microsoft.

A snap package is a type of universal Linux package that you can enjoy irrespective of the distro. Its an self-contained software packages that include the binary all dependencies needed to run the application.

All you need is the snap service pre-configured, In the case of Ubuntu 20.04, it comes with snap pre-installed.

If snapd package is not already installed then you can install it by running following command.

$ sudo apt install snapd

Note: Snap packages can be installed from either the command-line or via the Ubuntu Software application.

This is actually the Snap version of the Spotify. It can be used on any Linux distribution that has Snap support.

Open your terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and type the following command to install the Spotify package.

$ sudo snap install spotify

That’s It. Now you can open the Spotify application with the help of Activities search bar.

If you are not comfortable with the command line, open Ubuntu Software, search for “Spotify” and install the application.

Method 2: Installing Spotify via apt

Spotify is available from the official Spotify apt repositories. To install it, follow the steps below.

Step #1

Installing Spotify using apt is a relatively easy process and takes only a few minutes to complete.

Open a terminal (CTRL+ALT+T) and execute the following command to import the GPG key of the repository.

$ sudo apt-key adv --keyserver hkp://keyserver.ubuntu.com:80 --recv-keys 4773BD5E130D1D45

Step #2

Once the GPG key imported type the following command to add the Spotify APT repository to your system’s software repository list.

$ echo "deb http://repository.spotify.com stable non-free" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/spotify.list

Step #3

Now update the apt sources and install Spotify application by running the below command.

$ sudo apt update && sudo apt install spotify-client

When the new application version will be released you can update with the help of following command.

$ sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

Starting Spotify

In the Activities search bar type “Spotify” and click on the icon to launch the application.

When you start the Spotify application for the first time, a window like the following will appear.

If you are new to this application then create an account or enter valid credentials to login.

Note: You can keep using application for free with limited features with advertisements. To use full features, you have to purchase paid subscription.

Spotify user interface:

How to Uninstall Spotify from Ubuntu 20.04

For some reason, If you want to uninstall Spotify application, refer following commands.

If you have installed Spotify via Snap type the following command:

$ sudo snap remove spotify

If you have installed the appication using apt then uninstall by running the below command:

$ sudo apt-get remove spotify-client

If you are not comfortable with the command line, open Ubuntu Software, search for “Spotify” and Uninstall the application.

Conclusion

I hope that now you have a good understanding of How to Install Spotify on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Focal Fossa.

If anyone does have any questions about what we covered in this guide then feel free to ask in the comment section below and I will do my best to answer those.

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