When you upload your music online, your goal is to be heard. And to be heard, listeners need to find you. That's why many artists opt-in to run Spotify Ads. There are many ways to be found, such as setting up an ad campaign via Base for Music. But don't neglect the fact that you have to inform your lyrics. Your music is not taught, it is an audio file. Google only reads texts. So for SEO, the more text you can publish online, the better. It is therefore logical that putting your lyrics online is a vector for new listeners.1 : Digital distributorsTo upload your music, you use Distrokid, Tunecore, Spinnup, Amuse, or a similar service. Distrokid and Spinnup offer the possibility to fill in your lyrics when you upload your music. If you are using another distributor, check with them before uploading to make sure they do this.Most of them do. On the practical side, your lyrics will be available on social networks. Instagram comes to mind, it's very important for the virality of your music that your lyrics can be found there. To be clear: the more you use the features of social networks, the more the algorithm will appreciate you. To learn more, check out our friendly guide on the Spotify Algorithm.Sometimes you may find these steps too time-consuming compared to the benefits they bring. The more squarely you are on your side, the more your music will be listened to.Getting back to the distributors, be aware that they are dependent on the streaming platforms. They can guarantee that your lyrics will be sent to the stores, but not that the stores will put them online. In fact, streaming platforms tend to select which lyrics to display, depending on the importance of the artist. Sign up for our newsletter to get the first access to our extensive reviews on music distributors.2 : GeniusGenius, which should no longer be called Rap Genius, is probably the most interesting lyrics platform. And this appeal comes from its DNA. Initially the platform was created to help rap listeners understand some of the more complex phases of their favourite artists. A community was built around the explanation of lyrics, bringing together millions of users.In 2013, the platform opened up to other musical genres, to become more generalist. It has grown to such an extent that major artists now include their lyrics on Genius as part of their communication strategy. So much so that they can even have their own verified profile to explain their lyrics themselves. Recently, for example, French rapper Damso annotated his music himself, with humour, creating a buzz around his lyrics.So putting your lyrics on Genius is a good thing to consider for SEO in Google results. But unfortunately, it stops there. Indeed, it is not enough to put your lyrics on Genius to see them appear on streaming platforms. Even though Genius and Spotify have been partners for a few years now. The collaboration of the 2 industry giants is only materializing around a few American artists for the moment. We imagine it's a copyright thing, but maybe in time the bridge between Genius and Spotify will be systematized. In the meantime, get in the habit of uploading your lyrics, and explaining them.3 : MusixmatchLike Genius, Musixmatch is its own entity. For example, when you enter your lyrics into Distrokid, the lyrics will be sent to Musixmatch. The beauty of Musixmatch is that the user can listen to their music directly through the application, for example by connecting their Spotify account. Musixmatch then scrolls the lyrics live.So by uploading your music, you can reach a new target audience of Musixmatch users, who number 73 million worldwide to date. But the real interest is also in the fact that Google will display your lyrics in position zero of the search results, when people search for your track. Google's zero position is when you can read the result on Google directly, without having to leave the search engine.In 2020, Musixmatch announced that it had been chosen by Spotify to handle the integration of lyrics into its platform. If this is indeed the case, it turns out that for the moment, it is still far from what the app itself can offer.4 : Lyricsfind (BOEM)Lyricfind is a platform that will allow you to do the same thing as with Musixmatch, that is to say to make your lyrics arrive in position zero of a Google search result. But above all, Lyricfind is the way to license your lyrics internationally. The idea behind it is to receive remuneration when your lyrics are seen and/or used.In France, you have to go through the BOEM to distribute your lyrics on Lyricfind. BOEM is the acronym for the Base d'œuvres de l'édition musicale. It is an entity of the CSDEM, the chamber of commerce of the music publishing industry.If you've read this far, you'll have learned that distributing your lyrics online can bring you three important benefits: a better referencing of your Google tracks, an optimization of the sharing of your music on social networks (Insta & FB), as well as a potential additional income.Besides using lyrics, you can reach a broader audiences with Base For Music - a simple tool to help you keep the success of your new song by targeting your ads strategically to the right audiences.We generate your sponsored campaigns through a simplified dashboard across popular social platforms like Spotify, Facebook, TikTok, and Youtube. To know more, read our ranking for the top 4 Social Ads platforms.Sign-up for our newsletter to receive all the tips & tricks on the Music Industry!
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