Guide · Music
Show your Spotify on the TV
Theatrium puts whatever you're playing on the dashboard — album art, track and artist, and the tempo-driven visualiser. For Spotify, the reliable and free route is through Last.fm: Spotify only lets a handful of accounts connect directly to other apps, but Last.fm quietly mirrors whatever you play — Spotify Free or Premium — and Theatrium reads that. One-time setup, about five minutes.
Why go through Last.fm? Spotify caps how many accounts can connect its data to outside apps, so a direct connection often comes back “access denied.” Last.fm has no such limit, it's free, and it works the same whether you're on Spotify Free or Premium. If you tried to add Spotify directly and it was refused, this is the fix.
Create a free Last.fm account
Go to last.fm and sign up — it's free. Already have a Last.fm account? Skip to the next step.
Connect Spotify to Last.fm
On the Last.fm website, open Settings › Applications and connect Spotify. From then on, Last.fm automatically records whatever you play. (Apple Music can be connected here too, if you use both.)
Add Last.fm to Theatrium
On the Apple TV, open Settings › Music in Theatrium, choose Last.fm as your music source, and enter your Last.fm username. That's usually all it needs — the connection key is already built in.
Press play
Start a track on your phone or computer the way you normally would. A moment later it appears on the TV — album art, title and artist — and its tempo drives the visualiser. There's nothing to keep open on the Apple TV; Theatrium just follows along.
Good to know
- No Premium required. This works with Spotify Free or Premium — Last.fm mirrors both.
- Apple Music users can skip Last.fm. If Apple Music is all you use, connect it directly in Settings › Music — no Last.fm needed.
- It mirrors, it doesn't remote-control. Because the track comes through Last.fm, it can take a few seconds to appear, and there are no play/pause or scrub controls on the TV — you drive playback from your phone as usual.
- Saw “access denied” connecting Spotify directly? That's Spotify's account limit, not a fault at your end. Last.fm is the way around it.
- Album art and the tempo visualiser are built from the track details Last.fm reports.