BMW recently started asking customers to pay $18 per month for heated seats, and an extra $10 in monthly fee for pre-warmed steering wheel. Mercedes also demands that you spend $1,200 per year to unlock faster acceleration. If that sounds bad, brace for impact.
Spotify has started testing a new "feature" (read: money-milking capitalist sin) that puts the song lyrics behind a paywall. To put it simply, you need to buy a Premium subscription in order to view the words that your favorite singer is crooning. Or mumbling.
![Spotify Premium for lyrics.](https://athenil.com/content/images/2023/09/image.png)
Spotify told The Verge that this is just a test. But if history is any indication, this test will soon become a feature. Netflix did similar tests for over a year as part of its password crackdown, and that experiment has now become an expensive liability for all tightwads.
Of course, not everybody is happy with this cash-grab test on Spotify. Not all of us listen to songs that are in our first language. Then there is the accessibility factor for folks living with hearing issues. I'll let this tweet do the talking.
Bit ableist of Spotify if this is true.. didn’t choose to be deaf and need lyrics to understand and enjoy music damn https://t.co/1CN7yK6Yim
— Emma 🩶 (@EmLovesYUNGBLUD) September 5, 2023