After ripping lyrics away from its free (ad-supported) users last year, Spotify has announced that they’re coming back, but with a monthly limit in place.
Lyrics first launched in Spotify back in early 2020. The long-awaited feature was a welcome addition to the app across all platforms, but users noticed late last year and more so earlier this year that, suddenly, Spotify was requiring a Premium subscription to use the feature.
Just as quickly as they left, though, lyrics have returned for Spotify free users, as some users have noticed. Spotify confirmed the return to TechCrunch, explaining:
At Spotify, we’re always testing and iterating. This means the availability of our features can vary across tiers and between markets and devices. Over the coming weeks, we’ll be expanding lyrics availability for Spotify Free users so more people can enjoy viewing more lyrics, globally.
Spotify never addresses why lyrics were removed from free users in the first place, but the company did say (outside of its statement) that it has raised the limit on how many song lyrics a free user can see on a monthly basis well above the previous limit of three per month.
Update: Speaking to 9to5Google, Spotify explains (on background) that the new monthly limit is higher than anyone would ever reach, and higher than any single user has even neared. The actual number isn’t being made public, though.
The change, Spotify says, is rolling out “over the coming weeks” to all users, but many free users have already seen the change go live within their apps.
More on Spotify:
- Spotify adds cheaper ‘Basic’ plans without audiobooks
- Gemini appears to be adding a Spotify extension
- Spotify HiFi offering will come as an add-on at $5 per month, reports say
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