Google insists YouTube Music’s paywalled lyrics are just a ‘limited experiment’

YouTube Music has reportedly started nudging its free listeners toward a paid subscription by, you guessed it, limiting access to full song lyrics. Free users seemed to be capped at five complete song lyrics per month, post which, only the first few lines of a song’s lyrics are visible, while the rest are blurred.

Full access, as far as I can tell, is only available if you cough up for the YouTube Music Premium ($10.99 per month) or YouTube Premium ($13.99 per month) subscriptions.

A new restriction for free users

Upon being asked about the development by Android Authority, Google has played it cool by stating that it’s merely testing the paywall.

“We are running an experiment with a small percentage of ad-supported users that may impact their ability to access the lyrics feature repeatedly,” clarifies Google.

It also notes that the experimenting isn’t affecting “the majority” of its global users; they shouldn’t see any changes to the lyrics feature.

While the company’s statement about routinely running experiments on YouTube Music to improve users’ experience is quite generic, there are plenty of user reports about the inaccessibility of lyrics, suggesting that this might not be a trial after all.

If it’s an experiment, it should go away soon

As mentioned in the report, free YouTube Music users can still access the Lyrics tab, but only with a warning at the top that reminds them about the remaining views and a message that says “Unlock lyrics with Premium.”

While we won’t go so far as to say that Google is intentionally hiding lyrics from users to force them into paying for the subscription, it is concerning that the company is calling it an “experiment.”

If it starts showing up for more people in the near future, it would be considered less of an experiment and more of a calculated push to convert free YouTube Music users into paid ones.