How to add your lyrics to Apple Music, Instagram, Spotify, Deezer and more

Musixmatch is the world's largest music lyrics catalog with over 7M songs registered and advanced features like real-time synced lyrics, which is why some of the most popular streaming and download platforms, including Spotify, Facebook, Amazon Music, Apple Music, Tidal and Shazam, have chosen to integrate with Musixmatch to display lyrics for their users.

If you want to submit your lyrics on these platforms, the first step is to create a Musixmatch profile and get verified.

For new releases, the lyrics and timestamp details for tracks need to be added via Musixmatch’s verified artist link once the track is released. If you want to add lyrics to a song that is already released, search to see if it is already available in the Musixmatch catalog. If you’re not able to find track lyrics in Musixmatch’s catalog, log in via the verified artist link and submit the lyrics.

If you do find the lyrics you’re looking for in the catalog, but the lyrics are not appearing on Instagram, use this form to report a lyrics issue to Facebook. The Facebook team will then investigate the issue and notify Musixmatch if needed.

To get started, go on the Musixmatch website and look for your artist’s profile or tracks.

You can click on the “Are you the artist? Verify your lyrics now!” button on the cover art:

Let’s switch to another profile we have verified: Kill Her First. You can click on a track where the lyrics aren’t yet added and click on the round button “Add Lyrics”.

You can easily read the guidelines to add your lyrics properly. There are five steps:

• Transcribe
• Format
• Sync
• Translate
• Structure

We will only discuss the first 3 as they are the steps required to get your lyrics on Instagram.

First, you need to listen to the song. If it’s yours, you might need to skip this step but if you’re the manager or the label or even the fan, you can listen to it again so you can add the lyrics and not copy paste them from an unreliable source. More information in the Musixmatch Guidelines.

You have to break transcriptions up into individual lines and double breaks for separations. All first letters and proper nouns need to have capital letters, the rest should be small letters. The back vocals can be added in parenthesis and you have to respect the punctuation. More information in the Musixmatch Guidelines.

Once you have finished adding the lyrics following the guidelines, you can click on “Send Lyrics” and they’re online on Musixmatch!

To sync the lyrics, you need to download the desktop Musixmatch App. Then, watch this video and follow the instructions.

Open Musixmatch and from Musixmatch, click on “Open Spotify”.

Play the song you want to sync and you should have the lyrics on the app.

Now, it’s time to listen several times to this track to sync the lyrics with the timing and to add the instrumental parts / leave them blank.

Once you’ve checked it again and corrected the time, you can send it. It’ll be on Instagram a few days later and you’ll be able to share your music with the lyrics! Not just for you, your fans will love it too!

Deezer also offers a third-party solution with LyricsFind, so that independent artists and labels can directly add their lyrics to the platform. For that, you will need to gather the following information in a .doc file for each of your tracks:

• Artist(s)

• Song Title

• Contributing Writers

• Publishing Company

• Lyrics

• LRC (timestamp) data

• Duration

• Translations Language

• Translated Lyrics

Once you’ve got it all ready, you can get in contact with LyricFind and send them the information here: support@lyricfind.com.

One of the perks of having your lyrics on Deezer is the multitude of features that the platform offers to users, such as ‘Lyrics on Cast’ - which, as the name indicates, allows users to cast lyrics on a TV Screen via Chromecast. Users are also able to apply two different sorts of lyrics to display: ‘Sing-a-long’, in which listeners are guided through the song with synchronised lyrics shown on the screen, or ‘Score mode’ with fixed lyrics on one screen.

Deezer’s lyrics tool also allows mobile users to share lyrics to Instagram Stories and search by lyrics, a feature available for all tracks that include sing-along-lyrics. Simply include at least four words from the song’s lyrics. We’ll do the rest and help you find your desired track.

Your first stop should be genius.com. This lyrics platform is the number one website that pops up when you enter “a song title + lyrics” on Google. Getting your own lyrics on genius.com is super simple, so you shouldn’t miss out on connecting with your fans there.

Genius was founded in 2009 as a platform for rap lyrics. It quickly expanded and now serves lyrics to over 100 million people each month. The platform works similar to Wikipedia — anyone can enter lyrics and contribute to the community, just by clicking the "ADD A SONG" link at the top of the page.

Submitting lyrics to Genius follows a similar process to Musixmatch. First, you will need to get a verified Genius profile, which is an easy process:

1. Create and fill in your Genius account
   Go to genius.com and create an account. Edit your profile with an avatar, cover art and bio. This is mandatory to get your profile verified.

2. Register the lyrics for at least one of your songs
   Search for the song first to make sure it isn't already on Genius. If not, click on ADD SONG, Fill in the song facts (producers, writers, audio, etc) and type out the lyrics.

3. Apply for verification
   Apply to get verified using the genius verification form. The Genius team will process your request within 3 weeks.

Having your profile verified on Genius is a smart move for an independent artist as it allows you to share accurate lyrics, hidden meanings/stories behind songs/song lyrics, and even to reach out to their fans that are already annotating their art on the site. It also

Genius obviously wants lyrics to look clean and concise and the text itself should be as correct as possible. You should make sure the spelling is correct and standardized and the lyrics are easy to read and well-organized. Genius provides further grammar & formatting instructions on that on their website, so everyone is on the same page.

When you get to the status of a “trusted” community member you can also directly edit lyrics that have already been added. If a fan entered the lyrics to one of your songs for example and there is a mistake, you just click the "Edit Lyrics" button above the lyrics or below the page's header and make the changes.

Genius is currently in the process of rolling out a proposed lyric edits feature, which allows users and non-users to propose edits to lyrics that they normally wouldn't have access to edit on their own. Once a proposal has been submitted, it must be reviewed before being integrated into the lyrics. There is a thread on the rollout of this feature.Check it out if you want to stay up-to-date.

So, what exactly do I need to do to add lyrics to Genius.com? Here’s a list:

1. The name of the artist or the band

2. The track title

3. The release date

4. The main genre (there aren’t too many options, but they count as tags)

5. The lyrics (be sure to read the transcription guide as mentioned above)

6. The name of the producer

7. The composers & lyricists

8. A link to a YouTube video

9. An artwork URL (i.e from your Bandcamp or your website)

At the moment Google uses LyricFind to display lyrics in the Google Search Results. When you enter a “song title” + “lyrics” you will very likely get the lyrics displayed right at the top of the page. But how do you get your lyrics on LyricFind?

LyricFind currently licenses lyrics from over 5,000 music publishers around the world, including all majors, but also through global partners. If you are already signed with one of those partners you can just opt in to LyricFind’s licensing agreement and voilá.

If you simply just want to upload your lyrics without further ado – that’s possible too! Just send them a .doc file with the following information for all your tracks:

• Artist(s)
• Song Title
• Contributing Writers
• Publishing Company
• Lyrics
• LRC (timestamp) data
• Duration
• Translations Language
• Translated Lyrics

Once you’ve gathered everything, simply get in touch with LyricFind at support@lyricfind.com and wait for further instructions.

When you upload your music (a single track, an EP or album) on your Bandcamp, you can add plenty of information related to your song such as recording credits, performers, links...and your lyrics!

It’s very simple, you just need to add your lyrics in the right box called “lyrics” when you edit your release on Bandcamp:

Once your release is public, your fans will be able to see and sing your lyrics while listening to the song!

If you do not post videos on YouTube yet, we recommend creating a channel and getting started as it is a great place to be discovered and engage with your fans. Once you have even only one video with your music - it could be anything like a Lyric Video, Music Video, a simple background image with your music featured - you have the possibility to add your lyrics in the description of the video.

When you upload your video or after you have published it, you can always edit your description. In this description, you can leave a part for your lyrics so people can sing along!

This is very easy and it’s a great thing for your fans!

You’ve already done a lot to give the opportunity to your community to know the lyrics of your songs but in case you want to do more, there are plenty of websites where you can only publish your lyrics. Usually, it requests the artist/band name, the track title and the lyrics. You can have a look at Lyrics.com, AZ Lyrics, MetroLyrics, Songtexte, FindMusicbyLyrics & Lyricsfreak.