YouTube Music has reportedly started luring its free listeners into a paid subscription by, you guessed it, restricting access to full lyrics. Free users appear to be limited to five full lyrics per month, with only the first few lines of a lyric visible while the rest are blurred.
As far as I can tell, full access is only available if you opt for the YouTube Music Premium ($10.99 per month) or YouTube Premium ($13.99 per month) subscriptions.
A new restriction for free users
When asked by Android Authority about the development, Google responded by saying that it was just a test of the paywall.
“We are conducting an experiment with a small percentage of ad-supported users that may impact their ability to repeatedly access the lyrics feature,” Google clarifies.
It also notes that the experiments do not affect “the majority” of global users; You shouldn’t see any changes to the lyrics feature.
While the company’s statement about routinely conducting experiments on YouTube Music to improve the user experience is fairly general, there are numerous user reports about song lyrics being inaccessible that suggest it may not be an experiment after all.
If it’s an experiment, it should go away soon
As noted in the report, free YouTube Music users can still access the Lyrics tab, but only with a warning at the top reminding them of remaining views and the message “Unlock Lyrics with Premium.”
While we won’t go so far as to say that Google is intentionally hiding song lyrics from users to force them to pay for the subscription, it’s concerning that the company is calling it an “experiment.”
If it becomes visible to more people in the near future, it would be less of an experiment and more of a calculated attempt to convert free YouTube Music users into paid users.
