Getting your lyrics on Spotify, Apple Music and Instagram: who supplies them and how to submit

Most independent artists assume lyrics travel with the release: you type them into your distributor's upload form, and they appear under the song on every app. Sometimes that is roughly true. More often, the lyrics a listener sees on Spotify or in an Instagram Story come from a separate company that licenses lyrics, and that company needs to hear from you directly.

This guide maps who supplies lyrics to which platform, then gives the steps for each. If you are still writing the words, start with our lyric writing basics. If you are sorting out the codes and credits that travel with a release, see metadata, ISRC, ISWC and split sheets.

Who supplies lyrics to whom

There are three routes worth knowing.

• Musixmatch. Spotify's own artist help page says artists add lyrics through Musixmatch, which supplies Spotify's licensed, synced lyrics. The distributor DigDis lists Musixmatch as the lyrics partner for Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Tidal, Instagram, Facebook, Shazam and others. That is a distributor's summary, not each platform's statement, so treat the full list as a guide rather than a contract.
• Apple's own delivery pipeline. Apple accepts lyrics directly from distributors and encoding houses as part of the release delivery.
• LyricFind. A Toronto-based licensed lyrics provider that has shown lyrics in Google Search since 2016 and has licensing deals with music publishers.

One exception that catches people out: Spotify says listeners in Japan get lyrics from PetitLyrics, not Musixmatch, and you sign up with PetitLyrics separately.

Spotify: the Musixmatch steps

Spotify documents the process in four steps. In our reading, this is the route that covers the most apps for the least effort, because the same verified Musixmatch profile feeds several services.

1. Sign up for Musixmatch Pro. Spotify says "the free tier plan is all you need to add, edit, and sync lyrics on Spotify." Use an email at your own artist, label or management domain if you have one; Spotify notes it can speed up verification.
2. Verify your artist profile. In Musixmatch Pro, go to Roster, choose Add artist and paste your Spotify artist URL. Musixmatch reviews it and emails you, which Spotify says takes "a few business days."
3. Add or edit lyrics. Under Roster, pick the song, open Lyrics, edit and send. If a release is missing, use Add missing release under Music; Spotify says it can take up to 48 hours to appear.
4. Sync. Pick the song again, choose Sync and set each line's timestamp. Spotify's rule is to "sync each line when the first word of the line is sung."

Published changes can take a few days to show on Spotify.

Spotify's formatting rules

These come straight from Spotify's guidelines, and they are where most rejections start:

• Transcribe everything, including repeated lines and sections. No "x2" shortcuts.
• Transcribe only what is sung or spoken in the audio.
• Tag sections such as #VERSE and #CHORUS.
• Write in the song's native script. A Hindi lyric goes in Devanagari, not romanised.
• Where several voices overlap, follow the main vocal.

The native-script rule matters for Indian and other multilingual artists. A romanised version may be what your fans search for, but it is not what the guidelines ask for.

Apple Music: deliver with the release

Apple's partner documentation is plain: lyrics "must be accurate and match audio," and lyrics metadata "must be delivered 5 days prior to your release date" to be live on release day. Time-synced lyrics go in as TTML files, and Apple says time-sync "must be applied to the exact audio version you are providing." A radio edit, a clean version and an extended mix each need their own timing.

What that means in practice:

1. Check whether your distributor has a lyrics field, and whether it sends synced lyrics or only plain text. Our distributor comparison is a starting point; confirm on the distributor's own help pages.
2. Upload final lyrics at least a week before release day, which leaves a margin over Apple's five days.
3. After release, if the Apple Music page shows wrong lyrics, the person with the Profile Editor role in Apple Music for Artists can add and edit them, according to our guide.

Instagram and Facebook: also Musixmatch

Meta's own help pages do not say where Instagram's lyrics come from. Distributors are consistent about it, though. Ditto Music's guide says you add time-synced lyrics in Musixmatch, and "once your lyrics have been approved by MusixMatch, you'll be able to find them in Instagram Stories." From there, a fan opens a Story, adds the music sticker, picks your song and chooses the section and style of the lyric display.

So if you completed the Spotify steps above, you have most likely done the Instagram work too. Check by searching your own song in the music sticker a few days after approval.

Timing: before or after release?

DigDis notes that on the free route, lyrics can only be added once the track has been processed and published, and that a paid Musixmatch Pro tier lets you submit before release so lyrics are live on day one. We have not been able to confirm the current tier names and prices on Musixmatch's own site, so check them yourself before paying for anything.

A realistic free schedule:

• Release day: song goes live.
• Day 1: claim the Musixmatch profile with your Spotify URL.
• Within a week: verification email arrives; add and sync lyrics.
• A few days later: lyrics appear on Spotify and in the Instagram sticker.

What we think

Lyrics are treated as an afterthought in the release checklist, and that is a mistake. Synced lyrics are one of the few places where a listener spends time with your words rather than your hook. On a phone, the lyric view is the closest thing streaming has to a printed lyric sheet in a sleeve.

The setup also says something uncomfortable about who controls your work. Your words reach most apps through a licensing company that is not your distributor and not the platform. If you do nothing, a fan or a third party may transcribe them, possibly badly, and that transcription becomes the version millions read. Claiming your profile is a small job that puts the artist back in charge of the text.

Our advice is to treat lyrics as release assets with an owner. Keep a master lyric file per song, written in native script, with every repeat written out, and versioned alongside your stems. Write the sync once, check it on the exact master you delivered, and redo it for every edit. For songs with co-writers, agree the final text at the same time as the splits, because a lyric that is "nearly right" on Spotify is the one that will be screenshotted and shared.