YouTube Music Locks Lyrics Behind Premium Paywall, Frustrating Free Users

Daily Technology

10/02/2026

YouTube Music is reportedly implementing a significant change for its free users, limiting access to song lyrics. Previously available to all, lyrics will now be restricted, pushing users towards a paid subscription to fully enjoy this feature. This move by Google's music streaming service aligns with a broader industry trend of monetizing popular functionalities.

Key Takeaways

Free YouTube Music users will face limitations on viewing song lyrics.
Access to full lyrics will likely require a YouTube Music Premium subscription.
This change mirrors similar moves by competitors like Spotify and Apple Music.

Lyrics Become a Premium Perk

Free users of YouTube Music will reportedly be able to view song lyrics only a limited number of times, with estimates suggesting around five uses. After reaching this limit, only the first two lines of a song will be displayed, with the remainder blocked. Users will then be presented with an advertisement encouraging them to upgrade to the Premium version to regain full lyric access.

The YouTube Music Premium subscription, priced at $11 per month, offers an ad-free experience, the ability to switch between audio and video versions of songs, and offline listening capabilities. While the exact rollout date and reset mechanism for the lyric view limit remain unconfirmed by YouTube, reports suggest the feature has been in testing.

Industry-Wide Trend

YouTube Music is not the only major music streaming platform to restrict features for free users or bundle them with premium tiers. Spotify recently announced a new beta feature, "About the Song," offering trivia and background information, but also stated that only Premium users who download songs for offline listening will have access to lyrics for those tracks. Similarly, Apple Music provides time-synced lyrics for a karaoke-like experience, but this is exclusively for its Premium subscribers.

This shift highlights a growing strategy among tech companies to convert free users into paying subscribers by placing popular or convenient features behind a paywall. However, for lyrics specifically, many users note that this information is often readily available through a simple web search, raising questions about the perceived value of this restriction within the YouTube Music ecosystem.

Questions persist regarding when the lyric limit will reset for free users and the precise timeline for this change to be implemented globally. As of recent testing, some users have not yet observed these limitations.

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