Spotify Web API returns null item data when playing podcast episodes

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1

I’m having trouble getting podcast episode details through the Spotify Web API. When I fetch current playback info, songs work fine but podcast episodes always return null for the item field.

Here’s what I’m working with:

def fetch_playing_content():
    if current_time() > token_expires:
        print("Token needs refresh...")
        update_token()

    if not auth_token:
        print("Token refresh failed.")
        return None, None, None, 0, 0

    auth_headers = {"Authorization": f"Bearer {auth_token}"}
    
    api_response = requests.get("https://api.spotify.com/v1/me/player", headers=auth_headers)
    
    if api_response.status_code == 200:
        player_data = api_response.json()
        
        if player_data and player_data['is_playing']:
            content_type = player_data.get('currently_playing_type')
            current_item = player_data.get('item')
            
            if content_type == 'track' and current_item:
                song_id = current_item['id']
                song_title = current_item['name']
                performer = current_item['artists'][0]['name']
                current_pos = player_data['progress_ms']
                total_length = current_item['duration_ms']
                return song_id, song_title, performer, current_pos, total_length
                
            elif content_type == 'episode':
                if current_item and 'id' in current_item:
                    ep_id = current_item['id']
                else:
                    ctx = player_data.get('context')
                    if ctx and 'uri' in ctx:
                        ctx_uri = ctx['uri']
                        if 'episode' in ctx_uri:
                            ep_id = ctx_uri.split(':')[-1]
                        else:
                            return None, None, None, 0, 0
                    else:
                        return None, None, None, 0, 0
                
                ep_response = requests.get(f"https://api.spotify.com/v1/episodes/{ep_id}", headers=auth_headers)
                if ep_response.status_code == 200:
                    ep_data = ep_response.json()
                    ep_title = ep_data['name']
                    show_creator = ep_data['show']['publisher']
                    current_pos = player_data['progress_ms']
                    total_length = ep_data['duration_ms']
                    return ep_id, ep_title, show_creator, current_pos, total_length
    
    return None, None, None, 0, 0

Anyone found a solution for this issue?

2

Been there! Some podcast episodes just don’t expose their metadata through the API - it’s a Spotify limitation, not your code. Add better error handling and cache episode data when you actually get it, since it works sporadically.

3

Yeah, this is normal behavior for a lot of podcast episodes because of Spotify’s content protection policies. I’ve hit the same issue in my projects and found out that the Web API intentionally blocks access to podcast metadata for certain shows - especially exclusive or region-locked content. You get null responses when the episode publisher has extra content protection turned on. What worked for me was building better error handling. Instead of just checking the item field, I started digging into the context object more and added logic for cases where you only get basic playback info. I’d test your code with public podcasts first to make sure it works, then treat premium/exclusive content as edge cases where limited data is just how it works, not a bug.

4

Spotify treats podcast content differently than music tracks. When I hit this issue, it was because podcast episodes often have restricted metadata access based on the show’s distribution settings and your location. The API returns null for certain podcast content to comply with licensing agreements. Here’s what worked for me: implement a fallback that checks the context URI first, then tries to extract episode info from the currently_playing_type field. Also, some podcasts need additional scopes beyond standard playback permissions - especially premium or exclusive content. Test with different podcast shows to see if this happens with all content or just specific publishers.

5

yo i faced that too, make sure your app has the right permissions! like user-read-currently-playing n user-read-playback-state. also, sometimes the podcast isn’t avail where u r, that could be it.

6

Yeah, this is buried deep in Spotify’s API docs but it’s a known limitation. Hit the same wall last year building something similar. It’s all about podcast content rights - way more restrictive than music tracks. From what I figured out, null responses happen most with shows that have exclusive deals or are in Spotify’s premium podcast tier. My fix was adding a retry with exponential backoff since the same episode sometimes returns data on later requests. Also - your market parameter matters. I got way better results explicitly setting it to the user’s actual location instead of letting it default.