Spotify on Wednesday announced several updates to its built-in lyrics feature, including global access to lyric translations, the ability to view lyrics offline, and a change in how lyrics appear within the app.
The updates build on a series of adjustments Spotify has made to lyrics over the years as it experiments with using the feature to encourage free users to upgrade to paid subscriptions. That effort notably included an attempt to restrict lyrics behind a paywall in 2024, before Spotify later eased those limits following widespread user backlash.
With this latest update, Spotify is introducing offline lyrics access, a feature exclusive to Premium subscribers. The company hopes the addition will provide another incentive for users on the free tier to move to a paid plan.
Spotify is also changing how lyrics are displayed during playback. Under the new design, lyrics will appear directly beneath the album artwork or the short looping video that accompanies a track. According to Spotify, internal user testing showed that placing lyrics in this more prominent position led to higher engagement. The company noted that users will still be able to share lyric snippets to social media from the Now Playing view.
This redesigned lyrics experience — which Spotify calls lyric previews — will roll out globally to both free and paid users on iOS and Android apps.
In addition, Spotify is expanding its lyrics translations feature, which was first launched in 2022. Previously limited to 25 markets, translations will now be available globally. When a translation is offered for a song, users can tap a translate icon on the lyrics card to display the translated text beneath the original lyrics. Spotify says the translation will default to the language set on the user’s device.
Spotify has historically been slow to fully roll out lyrics across its platform, mainly due to licensing constraints. After years of consumer demand, the company introduced real-time lyrics worldwide in 2021, following a limited launch in a few dozen markets the year before and testing that dated back to 2019. Before that, Spotify partnered with Genius on its “Behind the Lyrics” feature, which blended partial lyrics with song trivia and contextual information.
