The coronavirus pandemic has halted all get-togethers, and there are people that misses going to parties and singing their hearts out.
Luckily, being able to belt out showtunes in karaoke rooms and living rooms is no longer a thing of the past as Spotify will release a feature that will help with impromptu singalongs.
As of February 9, Spotify is now testing a feature that displays lyrics of songs synced with the music that you are listening to, and this feature is now available in the United States.
Spotify to release live lyrics feature
These live lyrics will show up while you listen to a song. Spotify will be doing A/B testing, so only a subset of its users will actually be able to use the new feature.
While Spotify has said that on-screen lyrics are among its most widely requested features, the whole point of this experiment is to measure users' demand for lyrics in Spotify's US user pool.
The company decline to comment when they were asked about the number of users that the company plans to make the feature available to. However, Spotify released a statement and said that they can confirm they are currently testing their lyrics feature to a select number of users in the United States.
According to a Spotify spokesperson, who had an exclusive interview with Engadget, Spotify routinely conduct a number of tests in an effort to improve user experience.
Some of the tests end up paving the way for broader user experience and others serve only as an important learning. The spokesperson does not have further news to share at this time.
Spotify has experimented with the idea of displaying lyrics alongside music in the past few years, starting with a partnership with Italian music data company Musixmatch that was shut down in 2016.
After that partnership, Spotify pivoted to a more informational approach with help from Genius, when supported songs were played, lyrics would then appear in timed cards together with trivia and historical context of the song and the artist.
Spotify will keep the "Behind the Lyrics" cards, but there is a chance that the music app will push through with its live lyrics in the United States and the Genius-powered feature will be removed.
Live lyrics market
Spotify's approach to lyrics is not really new. Spotify has been testing the feature in different markets in different countries for years, and it was launched in 26 markets including Mexico, Vietnam, Brazil, Thailand, Hong Kong, India and more in the 2020.
Recently, the live lyrics feature was made available to users in South Korea when Spotify was launched in the country this month. Despite this, not every test market ultimately gets access to the feature. Spotify also tested this in Canada, before discontinuing it in June 2020, according to DigitalMusicNews.
Spotify's move puts the company on more even footing with competing services like Deezer and Apple Music. This feature may help Spotify from losing competitors to more rivals that are rich in different types of features.
Although it is launched late, Spotify seems to still thrive amongst users. The stock price of the company has more than doubled since January 2020 and they've hit an all-time high in January 2021.
Related Article: New Spotify Patent Shows It Could Soon Suggest Music by Listening to Your Accent and More
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Written by Sieeka Khan
