If you want to learn the lyrics to songs via YouTube Music, it seems that you are going to have to be a paying subscriber. The Google-owner service is starting to hide lyrics behind a paywall, clearly hoping that this will serve as an incentive to pay a monthly subscription.
What is interesting is that there is yet to be an official announcement about this significant change. But it has been spotted by many users of the service, and it is starting to spread wider.
As first reported by 9to5Google, that Google was going to make this change does not come as a surprise. It is something that the company has tested on a small scaler for quite some time, but now it appears to be rolling out globally.
The approach that is being taken is one that is familiar – one that is already used by many news outlets around the world. Users with a free account are given limited access to lyrics before then being encouraged to pay up to continue enjoying access.
As 9to5Google explains:
Lyrics in YouTube Music now require a YouTube Premium or Music Premium subscription. The middle tab in the Now Playing screen gains a new card at the top when this has rolled out to your account: “You have [x] views remaining” and “Unlock lyrics with Premium.”
Users get five free lyrics before they have to subscribe. When that happens, you’ll only see the first few lines, with everything else blurred and unscrollable.
Users of Spotify have enjoyed a similar song lyrics service for some time, and when the streaming service tried to paywall its own offering, there was a backlash. Such a backlash, in fact, that Spotify was forced to slip into reverse and reinstate lyrics to free account holders.
With YouTube Music, it is likely that paywalling lyrics will be just as unpopular, and there will almost certainly be a lot of complaining. What Google does in response to these complaints, however, remains to be seen.
