YouTube Music reportedly starts pay walling lyrics for free users

According to third-party media, some free YouTube Music accounts can only view full lyrics for a limited number of songs before the app starts blurring the remainder of the lyrics and prompting users to subscribe. The on-screen message reportedly reads “Unlock lyrics with Premium,” and a banner shows how many lyric views remain.

Further reports describe a similar UI on the Now Playing screen’s lyrics tab: a card indicating “You have [x] views remaining” alongside the Premium upsell. After the limit is reached, only the first few lines of lyrics remain visible, while the rest have been blurred and cannot be scrolled.

Is this a test or a wider rollout?

Third-party media describes the situation as based on multiple user reports and notes that Google previously tested lyrics as a Premium-only lever.

Meanwhile, the lyrics paywall “looks to be” rolling out more broadly after months of testing, but doesn’t specify whether the “five free” limit resets monthly.

What we don’t know yet

Two key details remain unconfirmed. First, whether the cap is truly five songs per month (as per reports) or simply five lyric views before requiring Premium. Second, the scope: some users may be seeing it now while others aren’t, which could indicate a staged rollout or account-level experiment..