Spotify announced updates to its built-in lyrics feature on Wednesday, introducing offline lyrics for Premium users, globally available translations, and a new placement in the app for easier access.
The updated lyrics feature will now appear directly beneath the album artwork or the short looping video that plays with the song, a change aimed at boosting user engagement based on testing feedback. Users can still share snippets of their favorite lyrics on social media from the Now Playing view.
The offline lyrics option is exclusive to Premium subscribers, with Spotify hoping it will encourage upgrades from free users. Meanwhile, lyrics translations, first launched in 2022, will now be accessible globally, expanding from the 25 markets previously supported.
Users can tap the translate icon on the lyrics card to view the translation beneath the original lyrics, automatically using the device’s language setting.
Spotify will also roll out lyric previews to all users on iOS and Android devices, both smartphones and tablets.
The company first tested lyrics extensively starting in 2019 and globally launched real-time lyrics in 2021 after earlier limited releases.
Before that, Spotify partnered with Genius for its “Behind the Lyrics” feature, which combined partial lyrics with song trivia. The recent changes continue Spotify’s efforts to enhance the lyrics experience as a potential tool to convert free users into paid subscribers.
