Lyrics on YouTube Music, one of the streaming platform’s most basic features, has now been turned into a premium-exclusive perk.

The previously free feature was introduced in 2020, but multiple reports say Google, the parent company of YouTube, has been testing the change since September 2024 with a limited number of users. There is also speculation that YouTube may have made the change to recoup costs spent on lyric aggregators like Musixmatch.

Under the latest update, YouTube Music lets non-premium users view lyrics five times for free. After that, only the first two lines of lyrics will be available, while the rest will be blurred out. Users also see a banner at the top of the card that says, “You have 0 views remaining. Unlock lyrics with Premium.”

There hasn’t been an official update from Google about the change. Meanwhile, the company reported earlier in the week that it has “over 325 million paid subscriptions across consumer services, with strong adoption for Google One and YouTube Premium.”

This update follows a similar move from Spotify last year, but user backlash forced it to reinstate the feature for free users two months later.

Meanwhile, Spotify recently added a new beta feature, “About the Song,” which provides users with trivia and background information for certain tracks. The feature is currently available to Premium users in the US, UK, New Zealand, and Australia, ahead of wider rollout expected in the coming months.

Editor’s note: The final paragraph on Spotify’s “About the Song” feature was added after initial publication to provide additional industry context.