YouTube Music will now restrict users from seeing lyrics on songs after a few plays, unless they pay for them.
When it comes to choosing a streaming service to listen to music on, there are plenty of options out there. Most folks go for Spotify because of its size and the user experience, but Apple Music, TIDAL, and YouTube Music have dedicated user bases, too.
Spotify and YouTube Music have both been under fire in recent months after AI-generated songs started taking over playlists and recommendations.
However, YouTube Music has faced a bit more backlash after making readable lyrics a premium feature that is now locked behind a paywall.
YouTube Music hides lyrics behind paywall
That’s right, if you use YouTube Music now, you’ll get scrollable lyrics on the first five songs that you listen to.
After that, they become blurred and you have to pay for YouTube Music Premium to follow along, which will cost you $10.99.
As per 9to5google, the change came into effect for everyone in early February, after a period of selected testing before that. Non-premium users will notice that there is now a pop-up that counts down for five free views on lyrics.
“This has been disappointing because the lyrics were one of the main reasons I loved using the app. I hope you can make lyrics accessible for free accounts again,” one disappointed user posted on X.
“I hate the idea of pay-walling something that was traditionally free. It’s just a snidey, artificial, and anti-consumer way to inflate value in your paid product,” another said. “Greed. And nothing else but greed,” added another.
Some users argued that they “wouldn’t miss” the lyrics as it isn’t a feature they used often, but sympathised with those that do use it. “Half the songs don’t have lyrics anyways,” another chimed in.
It remains to be seen if YouTube will revert the change, or if music-lovers will have to continue to stump up for on-screen lyrics.
