Spotify is quietly locking lyrics behind paywall
Spotify, the globally recognized music streaming service, has quietly moved its lyrics feature to its premium subscription. This move seems to be a strategic push encouraging free users toward a paid plan. Although the company hasn't made an official announcement regarding this change, it confirmed indirectly to TechCrunch that features can vary across different markets and devices over time.
Spotify's lyrics feature: A test or permanent change?
Hints of this shift were noticeable last fall when Spotify began limiting lyrics access for nonpaying users. Free users attempting to access this feature encountered a message stating, "Enjoy lyrics on Spotify Premium." At that time, a company representative clarified these changes were part of a test conducted with a variety of users in several markets. Currently, the company no longer refers to these modifications as an experiment.
Uncertainty surrounds Spotify's lyrics access for free users
Despite the changes, it remains unclear why Spotify has not listed lyrics access as a premium feature on its website. This could be due to the company still determining the monthly limit for lyrics access for free accounts. Some free users have reported seeing messages indicating that each tap on "Show lyrics" contributes toward a new limit. The decision to place lyrics behind a paywall appears to be part of Spotify's strategy to encourage more subscriptions.
Users are seeing monthly limits for accessing lyrics
Spotify's strategy amidst falling quarterly revenue
In its latest quarter report, Spotify announced over 600 million active monthly users and more than 236 million paid subscribers, reflecting a 15% annual growth. Despite these impressive figures surpassing estimates, quarterly revenue fell short of analyst predictions of 3.72 billion euros ($3.94 billion), reaching only 3.67 billion euros. The effectiveness of the strategy to boost subscriptions by limiting lyrics access remains uncertain as lyrics are readily available on other platforms like Genius, Apple's Shazam, or Musixmatch.
