Spotify upgrades its lyrics feature with offline access, more translations | TechCrunch

Spotify announced changes to its built-in lyrics feature on Wednesday, including globally available lyrics translations, offering the ability to view lyrics offline and moving the feature within the app.

The changes follow other tweaks the streamer has made to texts over the years, hoping to use the feature as a tool to convert free users into subscribers. It started when Spotify tried to play paywall lyrics in 2024, before losing control later that year after numerous complaints.

Now the company is hoping the new offline text feature – which will only be offered to Premium subscribers – could encourage users to upgrade.

In the new environment, the lyrics will also be repositioned so that they appear directly below the album art or a short looping video that plays alongside the music. Spotify says it’s important to move lyrics to this more prominent location after user tests suggested it increased engagement with the feature. (It’s still possible to share popular snippets of lyrics to social media from the Now Playing view, the company noted.)

Dubbed Lyrics Previews by Spotify, the feature will roll out globally to both free and paid customers on the iOS and Android apps for smartphones and tablets.

In addition, text translations that were first introduced in 2022 will now be available globally. This is an expansion from the 25 markets supported last year. When translations are available, you can tap the translation icon on the text tab to view the translation below the original text. The translation will default to whatever your device’s language is, Spotify says.

In past years, Spotify has been slow to introduce lyrics to its app, mainly due to licensing issues. After years of consumer demand for the feature, the company finally rolled out real-time lyrics to global users in 2021 after a smaller launch in a few dozen markets the previous year and tests that lasted until 2019. Before that, Spotify partnered with Genius for a “behind the lyrics” feature that combined partial lyrics with song tidbits.