Is Demus Breaking Spotify Terms? Why Your Playlists Won't Import and How to Fix It
The most frequent reason Demus rejects an import is an incorrectly configured playlist URL format. Spotify playlists exist in several distinct privacy tiers: strictly private, collaborative, and public.
If a playlist is set to private, Spotify's servers require an authenticated OAuth 2.0 user token to reveal its contents. Demus does not require you to log into your Spotify account, which means it carries zero Spotify account permissions. It inspects links strictly from the perspective of an anonymous web browser. If your playlist is marked private or restricted to profile-only visibility, Demus sees an empty response or an HTTP 404 error code.
Standard Link: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DXcBWIGoYBM5M
Share Link: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DXcBWIGoYBM5M?si=e2f3a8b4c5d647e8
Recent updates to the Spotify mobile app attach extensive tracking parameters to every copied link. These append strings like `?si=` followed by a unique session ID. While desktop browsers automatically ignore these URL arguments, lightweight parsers inside iOS apps sometimes fail to strip them before parsing the alphanumeric playlist ID. When Demus attempts to call an endpoint with appended tracking tags, the request fails.
Algorithmic playlists present a similar barrier. Spotify's dynamic collections, including Daylist, Discover Weekly, and Release Radar, do not function as standard static playlists. Their contents shift based on listener history and live server-side rules. Demus cannot parse dynamic collections because their endpoints behave differently from standard, user-curated public collections.
