Install Spotify Client in Ubuntu 14.04 From Its Repository

Last updated: August 19, 2015

spotify repository for Ubuntu

Ubuntu 14.04 Trusty Tahr, the next Long-term support Ubuntu release is coming soon. This simple tutorial shows you how to install the Spotify Client the official way from its repository.

Spotify is a great way to listen to music by streaming it on your phone, in your browser, or on your Linux desktop. You can stream everything, upgrade and sync tracks and playlists offline, or purchase individual tracks to keep forever.

Spotify has a Linux repository to make it easy to install its client app on Debian/Ubuntu Desktop. Below steps will show you how to add the repository and install the app:

1. Search for and open the “Software & Updates” utility from Unity Dash.

2. Under “Other Software” tab, click the Add button and paste the below line into the pop-up box:

deb http://repository.spotify.com stable non-free

add spotify repository ubuntu

Click on Add Source button and then you’ll have Spotify repository in your system.

3. Press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open the terminal. When it opens, paste the command below and hit run to get the keyring:

sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys 94558F59

Type in your password when prompt.

4. Now you’re able to install the client app using Synaptic Package Manager, or by running the commands below one by one:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install spotify-client-qt spotify-client-gnome-support

You may download & install the .deb package from the web page if you don’t like to add the PPA.

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24 responses to Install Spotify Client in Ubuntu 14.04 From Its Repository

  1. Hello Ji,

    Thank you for your tips.
    It worked like a charm.

    Keep writing good posts on ubuntu !

  2. Hello, I previosuly installed Ubuntu on my Raring Ubuntu release and it kept freezing up and got very buggy, so buggy that I gave up on it…
    When I went ot report the crashes to Ubuntu’s crash center, my pc said that b/c it’s a third party package Ubuntu takes no responsibinily for any buggs/crashes.
    Is this new and improved package from Spotify updated for 2014?
    Or is this the same Linux download that Spotif has had on its website since 2010??
    Do you know…Thanks

    • Go to the link in the end of the article, you’ll see that qt and gnome support client was last updated May 20, 2014.

  3. I tried doing that, but then I typed in the last line and the terminal responded with this:

    The following packages have unmet dependencies:
    spotify-client : Depends: libgconf2-4 but it is not installable
    Recommends: libavcodec53 but it is not installable or
    libavcodec52 but it is not installable or
    libavcodec-extra-53 but it is not installable or
    libavcodec-extra-52 but it is not installable
    Recommends: libavformat53 but it is not installable or
    libavformat52 but it is not installable or
    libavformat-extra-53 but it is not installable or
    libavformat-extra-52 but it is not installable
    E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

    I have absolutely no idea what that means, do you have any advice?

    • The packages was built on old Ubuntu editon, it recommends the old libraries that are not available in Ubuntu 14.04.

      Here is a workaround: install Spotify without recommended packages:

      sudo apt-get install --no-install-recommends spotify-client
      • Hello Ji m,

        I have the same problem as mordorson and I tried your workaround, but then still got a dependency issue:

        sudo apt-get install --no-install-recommends spotify-client
        Reading package lists... Done
        Building dependency tree
        Reading state information... Done
        Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
        requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
        distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
        or been moved out of Incoming.
        The following information may help to resolve the situation:

        The following packages have unmet dependencies:
        spotify-client : Depends: libgconf2-4 but it is not installable
        E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

        How do I fix this?
        Thanks

        • I did the following to fix it:

          sudo dpkg –configure -a
          sudo apt-get clean all
          sudo apt-get update

      • This worked good to eliminate some of the dependencies but I still couldn’t get around libssl0.9.8 which is funny because I got libssl1.0.0 so one would assume it would still work. The solution was found at https://community.spotify.com/t5/Help-Desktop-Linux-Windows-Web/Spotify-Debian-package-for-Jessie-testing/m-p/1211680#M140476

        Which is basically to download from here http://repository.spotify.com/pool/non-free/s/spotify-client/

        These will work with libssl1.0.0

  4. I’m using Lubuntu64 and get the following error after install when trying to start Spotify: spotify: error while loading shared libraries: libudev.so.0: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

  5. This method you have here in this web page worked perfect for me and I am using Ubuntu 14.10 32 bit on my laptop and 64 bit on my desktop of Ubuntu 14.10 OS.

  6. Tried this and is not working on my 14.04.2 LTS

    E: Unable to locate package spotify-client

    :(

    Anyone any ideas on how to fix this?

  7. For Ubuntu 15.04 you also need to download and install this http://packages.ubuntu.com/utopic/amd64/libgcrypt11/download – without libgcrypt11 it won’t start, it doesn’t care if you have libgcrypt2 ;)

  8. I emailed spotify on this issue. I was informed,

    Hello,

    We don’t have support for that at the moment.
    You can however go onto our community. Here is a link.

    https://community.spotify.com/t5/Implemented-Ideas/Spotify-Connect-For-Desktop-App/idi-p/689688

    If you do have anymore questions then please do get back to us.

    Take care.

    Alp

    Spotify Customer Support

    Did you know we have an extensive help section on our website? You can find it at https://support.spotify.com

  9. hi,
    i have run script and it seemed to do positive things, but it is now stuck at
    andrew@andrew-HP-G62-Notebook-PC:~$
    what do i do now.
    also if i try script and it fails does it leave part installed stuff all over my memory as i have had a lot of scripts not do anything in this way.
    thanks