With Spotify, you can play your favorite songs and albums free on Linux. In this article, we will describe two ways to install/uninstall Spotify on your Ubuntu. You can make a choice based on the source you want to install it from and also if you want to use the UI or the command line.
- Through the UI using Ubuntu Software Manager
- Through the Ubuntu Command Line, the Terminal
We have run the commands and procedures mentioned in this article on a Ubuntu 18.04 LTS system.
Install Spotify Through the Ubuntu Software Manager
For a person who does not want to open the Command Line much, installing software through the UI is very simple. Although Spotify is not available in the Ubuntu Bionic Universe repository, it is available in the Snap Store and can be installed both through the UI and the command line.
At the time of writing this article, Spotify 1.1.0 could be installed from the Snap Store.
Install Spotify
Please follow these steps in order to install Spotify using the Ubuntu Software Manager:
On your Ubuntu desktop Activities toolbar/dock, click the Ubuntu Software icon.
Click the search icon and enter Spotify in the search bar. The search results will list the relevant entries as follows:
The Spotify entry listed here at the top is the one maintained by the Snap Store. Click on this search entry to open the following view:
Click the Install button to begin the installation process. The following authentication dialog will appear for you to provide your authentication details.
Please note that only an authorized user can add/remove and configure software on Ubuntu. Enter your password and click the Authenticate button. After that, the installation process will begin, displaying a progress bar as follows:
Spotify will then be installed on your system and you will get the following message after a successful installation:
Through the above dialog, you can choose to directly launch Spotify and even Remove it immediately for whatever reason.
Tip: You can install the same version of the software, from the Snap store, through the command line by entering the following command as sudo in your Terminal application:
$ sudo snap install spotify
Launch Spotify
You can access Spotify from the Ubuntu application launcher bar as follows, or directly access it from the applications listing:
The application opens in the following view by default.
You can Sign Up Free for a new account or directly Log In if you already have a Spotify account enabled.
Remove
If you want to remove Spotify that was installed using the above method, you can remove it from your system as follows:
Open the Ubuntu Software Manager and search for Spotify. You will see the “Installed” status in the search entry. Click this entry and then click Remove from the following view:
The system will prompt you with an Authentication dialog. The software will be removed when you provide the password for sudo user and click Authenticate on the dialog.
Through the Spotify PPA repository (Command Line)
The Spotify PPA repository provides you the Spotify package for installation. Follow these steps in order to install Spotify through this PPA repository:
Install Spotify
First, please open the Terminal either through the system Dash or the Ctrl+Alt +T shortcut.
Then, enter the following command to enable the Spotify Public Repository Signing Key that will help you in installing the product securely:
$ sudo apt-key adv --keyserver hkp://keyserver.ubuntu.com:80 --recv-keys 931FF8E79F0876134EDDBDCCA87FF9DF48BF1C90
Next, enter the following command to add the Spotify repository to your Ubuntu:
$ echo deb http://repository.spotify.com stable non-free | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/spotify.list
Please note that only an authorized user can add, remove and configure software on Ubuntu. Enter the password for sudo, after which the PPA repository will be added to your system.
Tip: Instead of typing the command, you can copy it from here and paste in the Terminal by using the Ctrl+Shift+V, or by using the Paste option from the right-click menu.
The next step is to update your system’s repository index through the following command:
$ sudo apt-get update
This helps you in installing the latest available version of software from the Internet.
Now that you are done with adding the PPA, use the following apt-get command as sudo in order to install Spotify to your system:
$ sudo apt-get install spotify-client
The system might prompt you with a y/n option to continue installation. Please enter Y if you want to continue with the installation. The process might take some time, depending on your Internet speed, after which Spotify will be installed on your system.
The following command will let you check the version number of your installed package and also ensure that the software is indeed installed on your system.
$ spotify --version
Launch Spotify
You can launch Spotify through the Ubuntu UI, or by entering the following command in the Terminal:
$ spotify
Remove
You can use the following command in your Terminal in order to uninstall Spotify from your system:
$ sudo apt-get remove spotify-client
Enter y on the y/n prompt and the software will be completely removed from your system.
If you also want to remove the PPA through which you installed Spotify, run the following command as sudo:
$ sudo rm /etc/apt/sources.list.d/spotify.list
So, these were two ways to install Spotify to your Ubuntu. During the installations, I realized that I could install a newer version of the software through the Snap store rather than through the Spotify PPA. Therefore, I would recommend the same method to you too, especially if the latest version of the software is what you are looking for.
