YouTube Music tests live verses with more up-to-date Projecting UI
Live lyrics will be added to YouTube Music as part of a new Casting UI that some users have already received.
While Projecting YouTube Music from an Android telephone to a Chromecast Ultra, one Reddit client today is seeing another UI. The artwork for the album, the name of the song, and the artist used to be centered on the screen. Now, they’re off to the right with left-aligned text. This clears a path for live verses that look with the ongoing section featured in white. A blurry version of the artwork remains in the background.
You will receive a “list of credited songwriters” at the end of the song. Additionally, U/PmMeYourChromebook notes that the previous centered UI returns when lyrics are unavailable.
Today, live lyrics for casting YouTube music are not widely used. We attempted Cast sessions to a Chromecast of the second generation and the Chromecast with Google TV without success.
Following a partnership with MusixMatch that led to increased coverage, YouTube Music informed users in October to anticipate “even more Lyric features in the future.” According to Google, “positive impact on lyrics consumption rates since launch” has been observed. YouTube asked free users what features they wanted earlier this month and gave them the option to choose “improvements to lyrics.”
This would also be a nice feature for the Nest Hub and other Smart Displays. Google Play Music offered it in the latter part of 2018 and Spotify picked it up this year, both of which make use of the same lyrics backend.
Unlike Spotify and Apple, YouTube Music’s Now Playing screen’s lyrics are static and do not change color as a track plays. It is highly likely that it will also be available on mobile devices; however, it is not yet clear whether Now Playing will undergo a redesign to place a greater emphasis on lyrics or whether customers will still need to open the middle tab first. On Android, the user interface was recently updated to remove the dislike button and implement left-aligned text, which is currently popular.
