Many Spotify users have noticed something strange in the past few days: the song lyrics that usually appear below the song they're playing have suddenly been locked behind a paywall. Instead, they've only seen a notification that says, "Enjoy lyrics on Spotify Premium," with a link to sign up. Many Spotify listeners aren't happy about the new status quo, of course.
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Spotify tells us that the feature is just a test. “At Spotify, we regularly run a number of tests, some of which lead to improvements to our broader user experience, and others simply serve as important lessons learned,” says CJ Stanley, Spotify’s co-head of communications. “We have no further news to share at this time.” Stanley later added that “as per our usual practices, we are currently testing this with a limited number of users in two markets,” without specifying which markets, how many users, or how long the test will last.
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While it's possible that Spotify will bring back lyrics for free for users, it's certainly true that the company is looking for anything it can do to convince users to pay. After spending billions on podcasts and audiobooks without much success, it seems that the company has largely abandoned the idea that exclusive content is the path to wealth. Instead, it seems that the company is looking at modernizing other features that users could pay for. This is especially important as the price of its Premium subscription, like many other streaming, continues to rise.
Source of information: theverge.com
