Being able to read the lyrics as a song plays is a very slept on part of music discovery. It allows listeners to completely eliminate assumption about what an artist is saying, and lets them sing along as they go. Lyric videos have always been very popular on Youtube, and artists are now making lyric books and merch featuring lyrics as well.
Spotify’s lyrics feature, which allows users to view lyrics in real time while a song is playing, makes music more interactive and engaging. Thus, making lyrics accessible and synced with your music on streaming platforms like Spotify enhances the listening experience and provides additional context to your music.
In this article, we will focus on how to become a verified artist on Musixmatch to add lyrics to Spotify.
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Key takeaways
- Having lyrics accessible on a music catalog platform like Spotify is crucial for enhancing the user experience
- Join Musixmatch as an artist and verify your profile
- Link your Musixmatch artist account with your streaming platform artist pages to get access to your music
- Select the (released) song you want to add lyrics to
- Add lyrics, sync them line by line, and add credits for your collaborators
- Wait a day or two and your lyrics will be available!
1. Musixmatch
Musixmatch is Spotify’s official partner through which Spotify lyrics are added, as it does not host a service to do it through the platform. They are in charge of licensing and syncing lyrics to users around the world (except in Japan, where Spotify is partnered with the platform PetitLyrics).
Musixmatch can be used by both artists and listeners. As a listener, if you notice that a song doesn’t have lyrics, you are able to add them through the platform, but they will not get uploaded and synced until approved by the artist and their team.
Therefore, if you’re an artist, it’s more efficient to upload them yourself; you’ll save time and know the lyrics are completely accurate. If a user uploads the wrong lyrics, you run the risk of having to go back and forth and eventually doing it yourself anyways.
2. Become a verified artist on Musixmatch
The first step to adding lyrics to Spotify is becoming a verified artist on the Musixmatch website here. You’ll be asked to fill in some information about who you are and the role you play in a project (artist, manager, label).
The onboarding process is very straightforward and only takes a few minutes to complete. Musixmatch will be able to verify your profile in just a couple days.
3. Add your lyrics and follow the text guidelines
Once you’re a verified artist, you’ll have to search for and select released music of yours so they can link you to the right discography. It’s important to note that you cannot add lyrics to an upcoming release – the song must be out to do so.
You’ll then be able to see your releases in the music section of your artist profile. If you don’t see songs that are already on streaming platforms, you can click on the “Add Missing Release” link at the bottom of the page.
Each song will have three main tasks you can perform: Lyrics, Sync, and Credits. To add song lyrics first, click on “Lyrics” and begin entering them in the space provided.
Make sure to follow the guidelines to avoid errors and delays in the review process. Here is a full overview of Musixmatch’s guidelines for perfectly formatting your lyrics. You can also just follow the virtual assistant on the right hand side of the lyrics page while typing to see if there are any format suggestions or errors.
4. Things to keep in mind when transcribing lyrics
Simply put, think of writing your lyrics as if you’re setting up a karaoke version of your song. You want to make it as easy as possible for your listeners to follow along in real time as the song plays. Here are some tips to remember:
- Make sure you type all the words that are sung or spoken instead of including multipliers like (x2), or titles like verse or chorus (there is an option to label them already)
- Backing vocal words should be written in parentheses
- If there is another artist that is featured on your track for a verse or during a chorus, do not write their name in the lyrics when they come in – you can do this in the credits sections
- You can transcribe ooh’s and aah’s and other sounds if they play a big role in the lyrics of the song
Accurately transcribing each song lyric is crucial for ensuring that listeners can fully understand and engage with the music.
5. Sync your lyrics
Next, you can sync lyrics with your song in real time by clicking “Sync”. Play the song (there will be a play button on the top of the display) and click on each line right before the words are sung.
Again, the timing should allow for someone to use your lyrics page for karaoke, so lines appearing right before they start is a good idea. Once you’ve done that, Musixmatch’s AI will have cleaned up the details, and you’ll be able to listen and edit line by line to make sure you’re happy with it.
6. Add credits
You’ve got the lyrics and sync down, now don’t forget to add credits to your song! Make sure to correctly identify the song title and artist name when adding credits to ensure accuracy. In the credits section, you can add everyone who contributed to the project, including songwriters, producers, and musicians. You’ll be able to select tags from a drop down menu to credit each person for the role or roles they played in the song.
7. Time to submit
Now that you’ve completed the lyrics, sync, and credits sections, it’s time to submit your changes! There can be a delay of up to 24 hours for the lyrics to become visible on Spotify due to the time required for Spotify to update its lyrics database, but they’ll be added soon after your submission.
If you’ve submitted lyrics as a user, this may be a longer process.
8. How to add lyrics to Spotify and other platforms
By using Musixmatch, your lyrics are not only added to Spotify, but they are also made available to these following platforms:
- Apple Music
- Amazon Music
- Tidal
- Shazam
- Jio Saavn
- Google search results
- YouTube Music
- Bing search results
- Yandex
8. Extra benefits
In addition to making your music more engaging on streaming platforms, there are now real-time lyric features on social media platforms like Instagram stories to improve the user experience, so you may get some attention from that as well!
Musixmatch also offers the ability to create and customize lyric videos for social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.
Additionally, you can also create your own Genius lyrics page for your song, input additional information and insight about the meaning or story behind it, and engage with your audience on a deeper level through crowd-sourced annotations and in-depth explanations.
| Read also: How to grow your streams on Spotify?
Need help with marketing your music or dealing with the administrative side of things? Get in touch directly with managers, publishers, and labels by using Groover!
| Read also: How to make a lyric video?
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