YouTube Music starts rolling out premium paywall for song lyrics

YouTube Music is now widely introducing a premium paywall for accessing full song lyrics, after initial testing months ago, marking a major shift for users worldwide. Lyrics, once freely available, now require a YouTube Music premium subscription. Free users can view lyrics for up to five songs before encountering restrictions. When this limit is reached, only the first few lines remain visible, while the rest of the lyrics are blurred and unscrollable.

The “Now Playing” screen features a new card in its middle tab. This card displays the number of lyric views remaining and prompts users to unlock full lyrics with a premium subscription. These changes have been met with strong backlash, as many users criticize the move for restricting a popular feature.

This follows a similar path previously taken by Spotify. The latter introduced a lyrics paywall in May 2024 after initial testing, but quickly reversed course following user outcry. The YouTube Music rollout of the paid lyrics feature, however, appears to be proceeding on a global scale despite ongoing negative feedback.