It was one of the biggest music streaming stories of 2024. After launching its popular real-time lyrics feature in 2020, the big green streaming machine unceremoniously placed them behind a paywall in May 2024 (after having tested an “Enjoy Lyrics on Premium” idea for certain subscribers in September 2023).
And to put it mildly, users were not happy.
In a notable change that can't help but be compared to Sonos' final apology for its May 7 app update, Spotify has now reinstated song lyrics on its free, ad-supported tier just two months after removing them.
In a statement published by Digital Music News, Spotify said of the change: “At Spotify, we're always testing and iterating. This means the availability of our features may vary across tiers and between markets and devices. In the coming weeks, we'll be expanding the availability of lyrics to Spotify Free users so more people can enjoy seeing more lyrics, globally.”
A change would do you good…
The thing is, we assumed Spotify was going to take lyrics (along with some of its other most beloved features) and package them up in a rumored $5 (or £5; about AU$6) HiFi add-on tier (which I predicted would be a hit, even as Apple Music offers high-resolution music within its base tier). So the decision to reinstate them suggests this plan has been tested and won’t be going ahead any time soon, despite Spotify CEO Daniel Ek confirming that Supremium is coming (at some point) last week.
When Spotify rolled out the change to no longer offering free lyrics in May, it offered free users up to three lyric searches per month. As reported by Digital Music News, Spotify doesn’t disclose precisely how many lyric searches free users now receive, but the in-app experience has changed slightly. Tapping on the lyrics preview now brings up a pop-up ad with the option to dismiss it. After dismissing it, users can once again view the lyrics in real time by scrolling as the track progresses.
It seems that Spotify's new tactic for the moment is to simply display ads before showing lyrics to free users. While it doesn't offer high-resolution audio yet, it's still one of the best music streaming sites around thanks to its social nature, huge song catalog, and ease of use.
