Premium Tune: Spotify's lyrics behind paywall; no more song repeats

Swedish music streaming giant, Spotify, is testing a new strategy to incentivize users to subscribe to its premium services. In-app lyrics, which appear beneath the playing song, are now locked behind a paywall, prompting users to sign up for Spotify Premium.

If you want to listen to the same song on repeat, you will have to pay. There’s a new limit as to how many times you can play the same song in a day before you get a message “Choose songs to play again tomorrow”. Spotify has not implemented a 24-hours restriction on the same, yet.

Instead of displaying lyrics, non-premium users receive a notification bubble stating, “Enjoy lyrics on Spotify Premium,” with a sign-up link. Spotify's co-head of global communications, C.J. Stanley, confirmed the feature is currently in a testing phase, but no further details were disclosed.

Spotify's move to make lyrics premium-only follows a recent hike in its premium subscription prices in various global markets. Premium Individual plan in the US now costs $10.99, up from $9.99, as part of the price increase strategy.

Despite the price hike, Spotify reported significant growth, with a 34% increase in monthly users of its ad-supported tier over the last year, totaling 343 million users. The platform also saw a 17% rise in monthly paying listeners, reaching 220 million. Spotify has recently introducing its AI-powered personalized music feature 'DJ' to more countries worldwide, aiming to enhance user experience and engagement.