How to Fix Discord Music Bot Not Playing Audio in 2026

If Beatra or any Discord music bot suddenly stops playing audio, there are usually a handful of common causes. This guide walks through every fix in order of likelihood.

1. Bot Not in a Voice Channel

The most common issue. The bot must be in the same voice channel as you when you run /play.

Fix: Join a voice channel first, then run /play. If Beatra is already in a different channel, use /stop to clear it, then rejoin your channel.

2. Missing Permissions

Beatra needs these permissions to work:

Connect — to join voice channels
Speak — to play audio
Send Messages — to display embeds
Use Slash Commands — for command input

Fix: Go to Server Settings > Roles and make sure Beatra's role has these permissions. Or check the specific voice channel's permission overrides.

3. Voice Channel User Limit

If your voice channel has a user limit set and it is full, Beatra cannot join.

Fix: Increase or remove the user limit in voice channel settings, or give Beatra the Move Members permission which lets it bypass limits.

4. Region or Server Outage

Discord's voice servers occasionally have regional outages that cause audio drops.

Fix: Check discord.statuspage.io for any ongoing incidents. You can also change your voice channel's region in Edit Channel > Region Override to try a different server.

5. YouTube Rate Limiting

YouTube aggressively rate-limits bots that make too many requests from the same IP.

Fix with Beatra: Beatra handles this automatically with its proxy rotation and remote cipher system. If streams are failing temporarily, it usually resolves within a few minutes. You can try:

A different track to test if the issue is track-specific
A Spotify or SoundCloud link instead of YouTube

6. Bot Got Kicked During Playback

Sometimes Discord automatically kicks idle bots, or a server admin accidentally removed Beatra from the channel.

Fix: Run /summon if available, or simply join a voice channel and type /play — Beatra will rejoin automatically.

7. Track is Region-Locked or Unavailable

Some YouTube or Spotify tracks are blocked in certain countries.

Fix: Try searching for the track by name instead of pasting the URL — Beatra will find an accessible version. For example:

/play query: artist - song name

8. Queue is Empty and Autoplay is Off

No audio is playing because nothing is in the queue.

Fix: Add tracks with /play or enable autoplay mode so Beatra keeps discovering music automatically.

9. Volume Set to Zero

Someone may have set the volume to 0.

Fix:

/volume level: 75

10. Re-invite the Bot

If nothing else works, re-invite Beatra to reset its permissions:

Kick Beatra from the server
Visit beatra.app and re-add it
Re-grant all required permissions

Still Having Issues?

Join the Beatra Discord support server and describe your problem. The support team can investigate server-specific issues.

For general setup help, see the Beatra getting started guide or the full commands reference.