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Spotify, the popular music streaming platform, is now testing a new paid feature for its subscribers who wish to view lyrics, according to Billboard. However, social media users have criticized the company for this update, pointing out that the feature is against deaf people as they won't be able to go through the lyrics to enjoy the music.
The price of Spotify Premium varies across countries, but in the US, it ranges from $5 to $17. The music platform often comes up with numerous offers to lower the prices and make the subscriptions more affordable for people. There have been numerous instances when Spotify gave its users free premium membership for several months.
Spotify Premium prices fall in different ranges, know all about subscription plans
There are different prices of Spotify Premium, and they range from $10.99 to $5.99 per month. The price for an individual after offer for one account per month is $10.99. For dual accounts, the price range is $14.99 per month, for 6 accounts, the price is $16.99 per month, and for a student account, the price is $5.99 per month.
It is also worth noting that, at the time of writing this article, an offer is currently underway. It promises that you don't have to pay anything for 3 months of premium if you subscribe within 20 hours.
Moreover, the company said that their monthly users who are using the free account have recently increased by around 34 per cent in the last year. Meanwhile, the paid subscribers on the music streaming platform have increased by 17 per cent.
Social media users react to Spotify's test of lyrics for the premium-only feature
When news of the music streaming platform trying out the feature of lyrics for premium members only broke online, netizens were quick to slam the company for this move.
Several social media users shared hilarious memes about how ads on the music platforms kill their vibes. However, some people noted that it is an insensitive feature as well, since the deaf community won't be able to go through the lyrics without paying money for it.
The audio service's representative also released a statement in which they said,
"At Spotify, we routinely conduct a number of tests, some of those tests end up paving the way for our broader user experience and others serve only as an important learning."
The representative further said,
"In keeping with our standard practices, we’re currently testing this with a limited number of users in a pair of markets. We don’t have any further news to share at this time."
The music streaming platform's PR executive CJ Stanley explained that this feature is currently not permanent as they are just testing it with a limited number of users and in just a limited range of markets.
Stanley further said that as the company is trying out this feature, it could mean that this might be implemented in the near future if all the checks are fine.
