Google Play Music Won't Let You Cast 2019 Music, But There's A Fix

Google Play Music currently does not seem to be a fan of 2019 albums and songs. At least, when it comes to casting them as a number of users of the Android app are now encountering an issue which stops them from casting music released in 2019 to various speakers and devices. But there is a workaround.

It currently remains unclear why this bug is occurring but basically if you try to cast a 2019 song from the Android app to a Cast-enabled device it will try to establish the connection before eventually failing and displaying the error message shown below that states “music temporarily unavailable” and that the app “couldn’t play the stream you requested.”

This only seems to be affecting content that was released in 2019 which has led to some assuming this might be a licensing issue, although that remains to be confirmed.

Early reports has pointed to this being an issue in select regions, including Europe and India, although Android Headlines can confirm it is also happening in the U.S. and on a variety of Cast-enabled devices, such as smart displays and Android TV devices – including the NVIDIA SHIELD TV.

This not only suggests this is an issue with the app specifically, but also one that is likely to be affecting a number of users on a global level.

According to the earlier reports which surfaced after a user posted a video to YouTube demonstrating the issue, Google is aware of the issue. As of today, there is also at least one posting now on Google’s product forums detailing the issue, although Google has yet to respond either via the product forums or to the initial reports.

In the meantime, there is a workaround.

The issue seems to be only present when you try to play a recent 2019 song from the beginning or when a connection has already been established between the app and a Cast-enabled device.

For example, if you are to start playback locally on the smartphone first, once the track is playing you will then be able to establish a connection with a Cast-enabled device and have the track play on the second device normally.

What does make the bug all the more tedious is that if you were then to try and switch tracks, to another 2019 track, you will likely encounter the same problem again. Meaning you will most likely have to disconnect, play on the smartphone, and then reconnect each time you change track. This includes when the tracks are on the same album.

Alternatively, you can just stick to casting older songs until a fix has been identified and applied.

It’s also worth noting that on the odd occasion a 2019 song would play as expected and so it might not be the case that there’s definitely a blanket block on all recent songs, that if you keep trying with one song it won’t eventually work, or that everyone will definitely encounter the issue. However, with the majority of tracks tested, the problem has been present.

Currently, this does only seem to be an issue affecting users of Google Play Music with YouTube Music believed to be –so far– immune.