YouTube branded ‘greedy’ after users spot ‘hidden’ change – but it’s not all that it seems

Once upon a time, YouTube was blissfully ad-free, where videos rolled uninterrupted, and nobody had to sit through a countdown. It felt almost too good to last...Then the ads arrived.

But just as many thought monetisation had already hit what some might call peak excess, the platform has seemingly introduced yet another paywalled perk, and it’s left social media users scratching their heads.

This time, it’s lyrics.

Inside the YouTube Music app, song lyrics are reportedly being treated as a premium feature for some users. In other words, if you want to read along, you may need to subscribe to YouTube Premium or YouTube Music Premium.

The change hasn’t appeared for everyone, but according to 9 to 5 Google, YouTube has been testing the feature for months. For some users, the middle tab in the Now Playing screen displays a new notice at the top: "You have [X] views remaining" and "Unlock lyrics with Premium".

iStock

Unsurprisingly, people haven't exactly taken the reports lightly.

One frustrated user wrote: "Scam. This is greedy."

Another added: "When will it stop? We bleed every cent into subs and perks; if you round them up is hundreds of dollars for things that are not worth it because companies are greedy."

A third joked: "One of these days we'll end up having to pay to search for new songs as well."

And another asked: "What's next, having to pay to open the app?"

However, in a statement to Indy100, a YouTube spokesperson shared: "We are running an experiment with a small percentage of ad-supported users that may impact their ability to access the lyrics feature repeatedly."

They added: "We often run experiments on YouTube Music to better inform our decisions around feature improvements. The majority of our global users will not see any changes to the lyrics feature."

There are currently no permanent changes in place, and lyrics are still available for the vast majority of YouTube Music users.

You should also read...

• Oscars to exclusively stream on YouTube in 2029 – but the internet has one big concern
• Fans dub Niko Omilana the 'best YouTuber of all time' after his zero-money world tour

How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel

Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.