YouTube Music simply paywalled this primary characteristic for some customers

There are three main gamers within the music streaming house that most individuals are inclined to favor: Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube Music. All of them are competing for subscribers, with Spotify just lately launching its lossless audio characteristic to draw new customers, after delaying the characteristic for years.

One benefit YouTube Music has over each Spotify and Apple Music is that it’s bundled with YouTube Premium. This implies you not solely get ad-free movies on YouTube, the biggest video platform on the planet, however you additionally get ad-free entry to YouTube Music, which boasts a music library as intensive as Spotify’s and Apple Music’s. Regardless of this profit, it seems YouTube Music is now testing a brand new option to encourage free customers to start out paying for its service.

In accordance with a quite colorfully worded put up on Reddit (through Android Authority), YouTube Music has begun to implement a paywall for viewing music lyrics. A Reddit person named Xinfinte was utilizing YouTube Music to view lyrics after they all of the sudden acquired a pop-up stating they solely had three lyric views remaining, after which they would want to subscribe to Premium to see extra.

It is unclear whether or not that is only a take a look at or one thing YouTube is rolling out to all its free customers, however the transfer is already dealing with backlash.

Spotify already tried this 12 months and needed to reverse course

YouTube Music may simply be testing this

This is not the primary time a music streaming service has tried to cover music lyrics behind a paywall. Final 12 months, Spotify did the identical factor when it all of the sudden began charging for music lyrics, which had all the time been free, telling free customers to subscribe to Premium to see them. After dealing with vital backlash on-line, Spotify shortly reversed this decision and made lyrics free for all customers once more.

On Reddit, some customers counsel that YouTube may be utilizing third-party companies like LyricFind and MusixMatch to show music lyrics, which may very well be why it’s testing making the characteristic a Premium perk, because it in all probability prices YouTube to function these on its platform. Nevertheless, many customers stay pissed off by the change, with one Redditor saying, “The audacity of YouTube when individuals can simply Google lyrics at no cost.”

Some customers on Reddit appear okay with the change, one saying, “I truly don’t have any downside with this. Lyrics can be found in every single place on the web and placing them proper the place you hearken to music is certainly a price added service.”

Once more, it is value noting that it is unclear whether or not this can be a everlasting addition to YouTube Music or only a take a look at. Some Reddit customers report they are not encountering any paywall in relation to music lyrics, main many to consider it’s merely a take a look at for a small group of customers.

If it is only a take a look at, YouTube nonetheless may change its thoughts. Spotify tried one thing comparable and pulled again, so YouTube Music may do the identical and be taught from Spotify’s errors, relying on the backlash.