Lyrics now locked behind paid subscriptions
YouTube Music has begun a wide rollout of a Premium paywall for song lyrics, following several months of testing. Users now need either a YouTube Premium or YouTube Music Premium subscription to view full lyrics within the app.
When the change is active on an account, the lyrics tab in the Now Playing screen displays a notice stating how many free views remain, along with a prompt to “Unlock lyrics with Premium.” Once the free limit is reached, only the first few lines of lyrics are visible, while the rest are blurred and cannot be scrolled.
Five free lyric views before lockout
Under the new system, users are allowed up to five free lyric views before the paywall takes effect. After that point, full lyrics become inaccessible without a paid subscription, marking a significant shift from YouTube Music’s previous approach, where lyrics were freely available.
The rollout appears to be global, suggesting that Google is moving ahead decisively with monetizing a feature that many users consider essential.
Pricing and subscription options
In the United States, YouTube Music Premium costs $10.99 per month and includes ad-free listening, background playback, offline downloads, and AI-powered features such as Ask Music. The broader YouTube Premium subscription costs $13.99 per month and extends those benefits to the main YouTube app.
Part of a broader monetization push
The lyrics paywall aligns with Google’s broader strategy to grow subscription revenue. Earlier this week, the company reported more than 325 million paid subscriptions across its consumer services, driven largely by strong adoption of Google One and YouTube Premium.
In 2025, YouTube generated more than $60 billion in revenue from advertising and subscriptions combined, highlighting the platform’s increasing reliance on paid features to sustain growth.