Spotify Rolls Out Lyrics as Native Feature Worldwide

You’ll no longer have an excuse to mess up the lyrics of every song on Spotify.

Spotify launched lyrics as a native feature of its service for all its users — free and paid — globally Thursday, widening a long-awaited product feature to its entire listener base after it was already native to its service in a few large corners of the world.

“Let’s say it plain and simple: It’s easier to jam out to your latest favorite song when you know the words,” explains the Swedish streaming service. “That’s why, beginning today, Spotify is empowering millions of fans around the world to sing louder and more confidently than ever with the launch of Lyrics.”

Spotify has been offering lyrics in India, Latin America, and Southeast Asia since last year, after initially testing it in 2019. This deal with Musixmatch has now expanded to cover all markets where Spotify is available.

Prior to that, the company had a Behind the Lyrics feature — powered by Genius — which included some fun facts about artists and certain lyrics. While some could find it informative or entertaining, a lot of users don’t care. People want to sing along, and for that they need full, real-time lyrics, not trivia.

Here is Spotify’s tutorial on how to access the feature on mobile devices:

1. Tap on the “Now Playing View” on a song.
2. While listening, swipe up from the bottom of the screen.
3. You’ll see track lyrics that scroll in real time as the song is playing!
4. To share, simply tap the “Share” button at the bottom of the lyrics screen and then select the lyrics you want to share—and where you want to share it—via third-party platforms.

Apple Music, Deezer, and Amazon Music all have similar lyrics features, so Spotify is a bit late to the party — at least when it comes to Canadian users of the world’s most popular music streaming service.