Spotify U-turn sees must-have feature return for free

Spotify is letting its free users access lyrics for tracks again, after having locked it behind a paywall.

There will be a monthly limit on access, but it's apparently extremely high.

Near the end of last year, Spotify prompted specific backlash when it yoinked away access to its lyrics system, which let users see the lyrics to songs they were listening to in-app.

Previously a free feature, access to lyrics became limited unless you had a Premium account, letting people on free plans see song lyrics just three times a month. Now, though, after months of griping, it's seemingly rolling back that change on iPhone and Android .

After some users noticed that they were once again able to see lyrics whenever they liked, Spotify confirmed that it had made a change. This has seen the monthly limit on how many lyrics you can access raised to so high a point that no user has apparently got near it.

That's a weird way to roll back the change, which had clearly been intended to funnel people towards monthly memberships, but perhaps it's Spotify's way of saving face and still being able to claim there's a limit of some sort.

In a statement to TechCrunch about the change, Spotify said: "At Spotify, we’re always testing and iterating. This means the availability of our features can vary across tiers and between markets and devices.

"Over the coming weeks, we’ll be expanding lyrics availability for Spotify Free users so more people can enjoy viewing more lyrics, globally."

That doesn't actually tell us a huge amount more, but it confirms that if you can't currently access as many lyric lists as you'd like, you probably should be able to in the coming weeks as the change rolls out more widely.

So, while it might not be the most impactful tweak, this can nonetheless be chalked up as a minor victory for those hoping to keep free features in Spotify's ecosystem - one that is more and more geared towards getting people to pay for access to their favourite music and playlists.

Given that only roughly a third of its monthly users are Premium members, it's no surprise that this is a big part of Spotify's strategy right now.