Streaming Service Spotify Has Quietly Moved Lyrics Behind Paywalls

(CTN News) – Spotify seems to have discovered a new way to persuade its free users to upgrade to a paid subscription: it’s placing lyrics behind a paywall that they can’t access.

As a result of several reports citing frustrated posts from users on Reddit, the company is quietly confirming the change – but without making a direct statement about it. Instead, Spotify merely informed TechCrunch that its features are subject to change over time, based on the market, as well as across devices.

As a result of the response, there appears to be a possibility that the lyrics change is more than just a test, but Spotify hasn’t yet made an official announcement about the countries affected by the change.

It was clear that Spotify was headed in this direction, however, there were some indications that it was headed in that direction. It has been reported that the company was locking down lyrics for non-paying users last fall.

In the case that a free user attempted to access the feature, they would receive a message that read, “Enjoy lyrics with Spotify Premium.”

In any case, Spotify’s spokesperson clarified at that time that the changes were “only a test” that were being conducted on a limited number of users in two distinct markets.

It’s unclear why Spotify would not document access to lyrics as a premium feature somewhere on its website — maybe on the page where users can upgrade their plans or in its help documentation — if they didn’t refer to the changes as a test,

Though Spotify’s no longer refers to them as a test.

This could be due to the fact that the company is still testing the new monthly limit for lyrics for free accounts; free users report seeing messages that tell them that each time they tap “Show lyrics,” it counts towards the new limit.

I’m not sure why Spotify is now charging for lyrics, but it is obviously an attempt to entice more people to sign up for its premium service.

The company has reached a total of 600 million monthly active users, a number much higher than expected, and it has increased the number of paid subscribers to 236 million, representing growth of 15% year over year.

As a result, earnings for the quarter fell short of analyst expectations of 3.72 billion euros, coming in at 3.67 billion euros ($3.94 billion).

I don’t know whether blocking lyrics will allow more people to subscribe to the channel or not. Spotify has made it very easy to access lyrics free of charge via the web and through other apps that work along with Spotify, such as Genius, Apple’s Shazam or Musixmatch, to name just a few.

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