Spotify users can now search for songs by lyrics if you can't remember its name

The update is available on both iPhones and Android devices

Adam Smith
Wednesday 07 October 2020 16:08 BST
Comments
(Omid Armin)

Your support helps us to tell the story

This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.

The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.

Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.

Spotify users will now be able to search for song lyrics in its iPhone and Android apps.

This will allow users who do not know the title, album, or artist of the song will be able to type in the lyrics inton the Spotify search bar to find them.

Many songs can share similar lyrics, and so Spotify will show a list of recommendations with a “Lyrics match” label underneath the artist’s name.

Spotify product designer Lina Wang first tweeted about the update.

As well as both of Spotify’s mobile apps, the feature is also available through its desktop client.

Spotify did not say how many languages the lyrics search function works with, but at time of writing lyrics in English, French, Korean, and Russian all surfaced results.

However, lyrics in Chinese and Arabic did not bring up their respective songs, despite being on Spotify.

While such a feature will be useful for Spotify users, it is not the only music streaming service to offer it.  

Apple Music has had the ability to search for songs using their lyrics since 2018.

Currently, it is unclear whether the update will affect the ability of smart speakers using Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant or Google Assistant to search for music.

It is also not known what company is working with Spotify to provide transcriptions for lyrics, although the streaming service has partnered with both Musixmatch and Genius in the past.

The Independent has reached out to Spotify for clarification.

Recently, Spotify also announced the launch of video podcasts, which come free to both Free and Premium Spotify users.

To watch video podcasts, navigate to the show’s feed and pick and episode, which will then play on desktop or mobile – both for iPhones and Android users.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in