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After a lengthy test, YouTube Music is making lyrics a premium feature.
Credit: Google
Google continues to turn the screws on free YouTube users, expanding a test that restricts access to song lyrics on YouTube Music. Users without a premium subscription have found that Google’s streaming music service only shows song lyrics a few times before demanding money.
For as long as YouTube Music has existed, lyrics have been accessible to all users in the mobile app. That started to change over recent months as Google tested a paywall. The lyrics section still appears in the app when playing a song with a free account, but opening it eats into a limited allotment of lyric views. A substantial uptick in user reports, spotted by 9to5Google, suggests this restriction is now rolling out widely.
“You have [x] views remaining,” the app now warns free users who access lyrics. It looks like users get five free lyric views before they have to pay up. Google has still neglected to officially announce the addition of this feature to its Premium subscription—there’s no mention of lyrics being part of the paid tier on Google’s support page.
Google tells Ars Technica that no final decisions have been made about this feature, and the number of free lyric views will vary across the test. It’s still an “experiment,” but it does appear to be one that has expanded considerably in recent days. However, Google says “the vast majority” of users still have free access to lyrics. Here’s YouTube’s full statement on where things currently stand:
“We are running an experiment with a small percentage of ad-supported users that may impact their ability to access the lyrics feature repeatedly. We often run experiments on YouTube Music to better inform our decisions around feature improvements. The majority of our global users will not see any changes to the lyrics feature.”
The app’s lyrics feature allows listeners to follow along as the song plays. However, only the first few lines are visible once free users in the test hit the lyric cut-off. After that, the lyrics are blurred. Users who want to keep seeing lyrics are advised to upgrade to a premium account, which costs $14 for both YouTube video and music or $11 for music only. The subscription also removes ads and adds features like downloads and higher-quality video streams.
The new paywall in YouTube Music. Credit: /u/MrYeet22836 and /u/Vegetable_Common188
This change is not without precedent. Spotify began restricting access to lyrics for free users in 2024. However, the response was so ferociously negative that the company backtracked and restored lyric access to those on ad-supported accounts. YouTube Music doesn’t have the same reach as Spotify, which may help soften the social media shame. Many subscribers are also getting the premium service just because they’re paying for ad-free YouTube and may never know there’s been a change to lyric availability.
As Google has ratcheted up restrictions on free YouTube accounts, the service has only made more money. In Google’s most recent earnings report, it reported $60 billion in YouTube revenue across both ads and subscriptions (both YouTube Premium and YouTube TV). That’s almost $10 billion more than last year.
Lyrics in YouTube Music are provided by third parties that Google has to pay, so it’s not surprising that Google is looking for ways to cover the cost. It is, however, a little surprising that the company hasn’t just used AI to generate lyrics for free. Google has recently tested the patience of YouTube users with a spate of AI features, like unannounced AI upscaling, fake DJs, and comment summaries.
This story was updated with Google’s response.
Credit: Google
Google continues to turn the screws on free YouTube users, expanding a test that restricts access to song lyrics on YouTube Music. Users without a premium subscription have found that Google’s streaming music service only shows song lyrics a few times before demanding money.
For as long as YouTube Music has existed, lyrics have been accessible to all users in the mobile app. That started to change over recent months as Google tested a paywall. The lyrics section still appears in the app when playing a song with a free account, but opening it eats into a limited allotment of lyric views. A substantial uptick in user reports, spotted by 9to5Google, suggests this restriction is now rolling out widely.
“You have [x] views remaining,” the app now warns free users who access lyrics. It looks like users get five free lyric views before they have to pay up. Google has still neglected to officially announce the addition of this feature to its Premium subscription—there’s no mention of lyrics being part of the paid tier on Google’s support page.
Google tells Ars Technica that no final decisions have been made about this feature, and the number of free lyric views will vary across the test. It’s still an “experiment,” but it does appear to be one that has expanded considerably in recent days. However, Google says “the vast majority” of users still have free access to lyrics. Here’s YouTube’s full statement on where things currently stand:
“We are running an experiment with a small percentage of ad-supported users that may impact their ability to access the lyrics feature repeatedly. We often run experiments on YouTube Music to better inform our decisions around feature improvements. The majority of our global users will not see any changes to the lyrics feature.”
The app’s lyrics feature allows listeners to follow along as the song plays. However, only the first few lines are visible once free users in the test hit the lyric cut-off. After that, the lyrics are blurred. Users who want to keep seeing lyrics are advised to upgrade to a premium account, which costs $14 for both YouTube video and music or $11 for music only. The subscription also removes ads and adds features like downloads and higher-quality video streams.
The new paywall in YouTube Music. Credit: /u/MrYeet22836 and /u/Vegetable_Common188
This change is not without precedent. Spotify began restricting access to lyrics for free users in 2024. However, the response was so ferociously negative that the company backtracked and restored lyric access to those on ad-supported accounts. YouTube Music doesn’t have the same reach as Spotify, which may help soften the social media shame. Many subscribers are also getting the premium service just because they’re paying for ad-free YouTube and may never know there’s been a change to lyric availability.
As Google has ratcheted up restrictions on free YouTube accounts, the service has only made more money. In Google’s most recent earnings report, it reported $60 billion in YouTube revenue across both ads and subscriptions (both YouTube Premium and YouTube TV). That’s almost $10 billion more than last year.
Lyrics in YouTube Music are provided by third parties that Google has to pay, so it’s not surprising that Google is looking for ways to cover the cost. It is, however, a little surprising that the company hasn’t just used AI to generate lyrics for free. Google has recently tested the patience of YouTube users with a spate of AI features, like unannounced AI upscaling, fake DJs, and comment summaries.
This story was updated with Google’s response.
