Spotify Rolls Out Lyrics Feature Globally For Free And Paying Users

Popular audio streaming and media services platform- Spotify is announcing its plans to finally roll out its real-time lyrics feature globally. Before the announcement, Spotify had only offered this feature to a limited selection of countries.

Although lyrics will be provided by Musixmatch, a platform that has claimed to offer lyrics to “over 8 million” titles, these lyrics will henceforth be accessible across the platform where the Spotify app exists. The platforms listed are iOS, Android, desktop computers, gaming consoles, and smart TVs. Another interesting is that Spotify says this feature will be made available to both free and premium listeners and will be available across the “majority” of its music library. Asides from getting in the groove as you sing the lyrics to a song, there’s also the addition of a social element that allows you to share lyrics to social media.

According to Spotify, here’s how to access the lyrics and share them:

On the Spotify mobile app

Tap on the “Now Playing View” on a song.

While listening, swipe up from the bottom of the screen. You’ll find lyrics to the track scrolling in real-time as the song continues playing!

To share your lyrics, simply tap the “Share” button located at the bottom of the lyrics screen and then select the lyrics you want to share — and where you want to share them — via third-party platforms.

On the Spotify desktop app

From the “Now Playing” bar, click on the microphone icon while a song is playing and you’ll find the track lyrics that scroll in real-time as the song plays.

On the SpotifyTV app

Open the “Now Playing View” on a song. Then navigate to the right corner to the “Lyrics button” and select if you want to enable Lyrics. Once enabled, you’ll find the lyrics in the “Now Playing” View.

Spotify has had a complicated history with lyrics. In 2015, Spotify announced a partnership with Musixmatch for the business of displaying song lyrics until 2016 when both companies parted ways. Since then a “Behind the Lyrics” feature partnership was offered with Genius. Feature users found it interesting because it offered background information on songs, but it’s less useful for karaoke sessions. Although it offered lyrics in some markets, like Japan, the western markets like the US didn’t receive the spread of the feature.

The company has further disclosed that the feature will be available on the big screen via its app for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV, Samsung, Roku, LG, Sky, and Comcast. With this expansion, Lyrics will now be available in all markets where Spotify is offered, eliminating one of the big competitive advantages these rivals have over Spotify.