Spotify wants you to pay up for lyrics | TechCrunch Minute

Look I get it pay walls aren't popular But they are cropping up in new ways and In new places including potentially your Favorite music app now Spotify makes a Lot more money from paying subscribers Than from free users and unsurprisingly That means that the music giant wants Folks to move from its free service to Becoming regular paying subscribers and One way that it gets people to convert To actually paying is by offering an Adree experience to those who do file a Credit card with the company but let's Say Spotify wants more people to pay Sooner well it has two options then it Can increase friction in the free Experience or it can make the paid Version better or as we saw this week it Can do both at the very same time thanks To spotify's choice to put lyrics behind Its paywall now this change only became Clear after users began to complain over On Reddit and Spotify has been a little Bit koi whether or not they're testing This change or if it will be a new Feature the company told Tech wrench Simply that quote spotify's features can Vary over time between markets and Across devices now the response Indicates the change to lyrics may be More than just a test but that Spotify Isn't yet prepared to make an official Announcement about which markets it will Come to still I'm just going to say this

It does appear that the direction here Is clear now you might be super annoyed By Spotify moving a small but very Useful feature behind its own pay wall After all who doesn't like to get stuff For free in this specific case with Lyrics however ever there's the added Annoyance that lyrics are already Available online so what Spotify is Trying to charge for seems a little bit OD because it's already only a click Away and free but you have to understand The situation that Spotify is in so let Me ask a question Spotify offers access To digital music largely the same Catalog as other music services so the Company has to stand out in other ways So what should it do well the answer to That question is partially why Spotify Got so into podcast C the other year or Recently why they've moved into Audiobooks trying to diversify and stand Out this is the same reason why Spotify's yearly personalized user Listening Roundup is a really big deal It's a perk that you get for choosing Spotify over a rival streaming service But all those things might help you pick Spotify over arrival but they may also Not be enough to actually make you pay And that means for Spotify that growth Can be harder to come by than you might Expect the fact that Spotify offers Mostly the same music as other services

Also means that it's harder to drive Higher prices doubly so when arch rival Apple music is just one small piece of The larger and super wealthy Apple Corporation why does that matter well if Spotify raises its prices to drive Growth Apple might not follow suit and Then Spotify would see its own paid Users flee over to Apple's cheaper and Similar service so what can it do well It can try to get free users to pay up Sooner and more frequently right enter Restrictions on lyrics to the service It's a small move but one that I think Says a lot about Spotify and its Rivals And the state of smaller tech companies Like Spotify and how they compete or try To with the larger tech companies out There that operate in a host of markets Instead of just one more tomorrow