Last year, Spotify launched an experiment and restricted some users of its free version of the service from accessing lyrics. After several months of testing, the company is ready to introduce this restriction for a wider range of users, reports ITC.UA.
So, from now on, those users who want to view the lyrics while listening to a song must pay for a Spotify Premium subscription. In recent days, several Reddit users have written about Spotify’s new restrictions and expressed their disappointment with the company’s moves. The feature that has been free for years now requires users to pay a monthly fee.
Although blocking access to lyrics for paid access is reasonable from a business perspective, it can drive users away. Expanding restrictions on the free tier gradually make the service unusable. By trying to push more users to subscribe to Spotify Premium, the company risks driving them away to competitors that have not imposed similar restrictions.
Currently, Spotify already limits users of the free version of the service to only six skips per hour and forces tracks to play in random order. As a result, the free tier acts like a kind of radio that users have little control over. Meanwhile, YouTube Music’s free plan allows unlimited skips, includes lyrics, skippable ads, and doesn’t force users to shuffle the playlist.
Source: androidauthority