How to get lyrics on Spotify

“Getting lyrics on Spotify” means two different things. If you’re a listener, tap the Now Playing bar and scroll down to Lyrics. If you’re an artist and want the words on your own songs, you don’t do it in Spotify for Artists. Spotify gets its lyrics from Musixmatch, so you claim your artist on Musixmatch Pro, verify it, and submit the lyrics there. The free plan covers it. This covers Spotify’s and Musixmatch’s help pages, plus the lyrics policies of seven distributors, as of Sep 24, 2026.

Where Spotify lyrics come from

Musixmatch provides the licensed and synced lyrics on Spotify, and Spotify’s help page for artists sends you there to add, edit or sync your own. That page doesn’t mention any lyrics tool inside Spotify for Artists. The one exception is Japan, where PetitLyrics handles lyrics for listeners and you sign up with PetitLyrics instead. Spotify shows lyrics to listeners on both the free and Premium tiers, though not on every song or every device. So if your song has no lyrics card today, nothing is wrong with the release. Nobody has sent Musixmatch the words yet.

Both halves of that are on Spotify’s page about managing your lyrics on Spotify, and the listener side is on its view lyrics page.

There are two kinds of lyrics, and Spotify takes both. Plain lyrics are just the text. Synced lyrics are timed line by line, so the words scroll as the song plays. Musixmatch’s list of where your lyrics go shows Spotify with plain lyrics, line-by-line sync and translations, but not word-by-word sync. That one’s for Instagram and Facebook.

Synced lyrics matter more than they used to. On Feb 4, 2026, Spotify started rolling out lyric previews that show the words under the album art or the Canvas clip on phones and tablets, for free and Premium listeners. If you’ve made a Canvas, the words now sit right on top of it. Our Canvas guide covers the specs.

The whole route runs through Musixmatch, and the first gate there is proving the artist is you.

Getting verified on Musixmatch

Verifying on Musixmatch takes two checks: claiming your artist in the Roster tab of Musixmatch Pro with your Spotify artist link, and, on the free plan, confirming your identity with a government photo ID. Musixmatch treats these as separate steps and needs both before your lyrics can go to Spotify. The prerequisites are a release that’s already public, ideally on both Spotify and Apple Music, and your Spotify artist link. A paid plan skips the ID check and verifies the artist within one workday, according to Musixmatch. Musixmatch reviews every artist claim by hand and emails you if it can’t approve one.

The steps are on Musixmatch’s pages for adding and verifying an artist and verifying your identity. The ID check runs through Stripe, and you can use your phone camera, a webcam or an uploaded file.

Most rejections come down to your catalog, not you. Musixmatch’s page on why a verification can’t be approved lists three problems:

• An empty discography. Your single is on Spotify but hasn’t reached Apple Music yet. Musixmatch can’t see pre-releases, so wait until it’s public on both.
• No release in common. Your first two songs only went to Spotify and the next two only to Apple Music. Ask your distributor to send the full catalog to both.
• The wrong or a split profile. You pasted the link of another artist with your name, or your songs sit on two Spotify profiles. Your distributor can ask Spotify or Apple to merge them.

You can resubmit once every 7 days for the same artist, so fix the catalog before you try again. It’s a bit deflating to be told you aren’t you. It’s usually a metadata problem your distributor can sort out.

Once the claim goes through, the question everyone asks next is how long all this takes.

How long lyrics take to show up on Spotify

Lyrics usually show up on Spotify a few days after you send them from Musixmatch Pro, but artist verification comes first, and on the free plan that can take up to 30 days. Musixmatch says it sends lyrics from verified artists to Spotify within one working day, and that Spotify usually takes a few days after that. It doesn’t publish an exact timeframe for Spotify. The official pages also disagree on verification: Spotify’s help page says Musixmatch replies within a few business days, while Musixmatch’s own verification page says up to 30 days, or one workday with a paid plan.

The sending times are on Musixmatch’s page about when lyrics appear on streaming platforms, and the 30 days is on its page about how long verification takes. Plan for the long end. If it’s faster, great.

While you wait, the song page in Musixmatch Pro tells you where things stand:

• No status. No lyrics added yet.
• Delivered to Musixmatch. The lyrics are live on Musixmatch but haven’t gone to Spotify. Musixmatch names three causes: you added them on musixmatch.com or the Lyrics Finder app instead of Musixmatch Pro, the artist isn’t on your Roster, or you’re on the free plan and haven’t verified your ID.
• Delivered to Partners. Spotify has them. There’s nothing left to do but wait.

Want lyrics live on release day? Musixmatch lets you add lyrics before the release date, but only on the Artist Grow tier or higher, and at least five days ahead. On the free plan you add them after release. And if a brand-new song doesn’t show up in Musixmatch Pro yet, Spotify’s page says to add it under Music, then Add missing release. Musixmatch says a release added that way appears within 48 hours, usually in less than an hour.

Some distributors offer a way around your own Musixmatch account. Most don’t.

Can your distributor send lyrics to Spotify?

DistroKid is the only one of the seven distributors TheDebutRoom tracks that delivers lyrics to Spotify itself, and only synced lyrics, through its paid Lyric Blaster add-on powered by Musixmatch. TuneCore, UnitedMasters, Ditto and Amuse send lyrics from the upload form to Apple Music (Ditto adds a few smaller stores) and point you to Musixmatch for Spotify. CD Baby doesn’t deliver lyrics and recommends Musixmatch and LyricFind. LANDR connects you to Musixmatch from its dashboard. TheDebutRoom checked each distributor’s help center on Sep 24, 2026. For almost everyone, your own Musixmatch account is the route to Spotify, whichever distributor you use.

Musixmatch also says you don’t need to leave your distributor to use it. Here’s what each help center says:

Two of those are shortcuts worth knowing. Amuse says artists who connect Spotify for Artists get verified on Musixmatch within a minute or two, which skips the wait from the last section. LANDR’s version sits under Distribute, then Promotion, then Lyrics, and it notes you still need Spotify Premium to add and sync lyrics for Spotify.

DistroKid works differently, so read the fine print. Its lyrics page says plain lyrics are free on every plan and go to Apple Music, YouTube Music, LyricFind and Google, but Spotify only appears under synced lyrics, which need Lyric Blaster. You submit plain lyrics at distrokid.com/lyrics first. DistroKid reviews them in about a day, then you sync them by holding the space bar while each line plays. It says lyrics take about one to two weeks to go live, and that cover songs can’t get lyrics delivered at all.

Still choosing a distributor? Lyrics shouldn’t decide it, since Musixmatch works with all of them. The best music distribution services roundup compares the things that do.

That leaves the money question: is any of this worth paying for?

Do you have to pay to get lyrics on Spotify?

TheDebutRoom’s view: don’t pay for lyrics on Spotify until the free route has actually let you down, because Musixmatch’s free plan already covers adding, editing and syncing them. Musixmatch says the free tier sends your lyrics to Spotify, Apple Music and Instagram. What money buys is speed and convenience: faster verification, AI tools that transcribe and sync for you, and lyrics that go live on release day. None of that changes whether your lyrics appear on Spotify. It changes how soon and how much typing you do. For an artist with a handful of songs, an evening of typing and syncing costs nothing.

The free and paid split is on Musixmatch’s is Musixmatch Pro free page. Paid plans also add lyric videos and professional transcription.

There are real cases where paying makes sense. Match yours:

• You release singles every few weeks and want lyrics on day one. Pre-release lyrics need Artist Grow or higher on Musixmatch. That’s the clearest reason to pay.
• Your free verification is stuck. A paid plan verifies within one workday and skips the ID check. If you’re on Amuse, try its free fast-track first.
• Most of your songs have a featured artist. Musixmatch locks lyrics on featured songs for free users, and editing them takes a paid plan.
• You’re on DistroKid and never want another login. Lyric Blaster keeps everything in DistroKid, but it’s synced lyrics only and a yearly fee per artist. Our DistroKid pricing breakdown covers what the plans themselves include.

If none of those fit you, stay on the free plan. Be wary of anyone in your DMs selling “guaranteed” Spotify lyrics. The official route is free, and Musixmatch reviews every artist claim by hand.

More on what you can control from your side is in the Spotify for Artists hub.

Add your lyrics to Spotify, step by step

Adding lyrics to Spotify takes five steps: wait until the song is live and copy your Spotify artist link, create a free Musixmatch Pro account, claim your artist and verify your ID, add the lyrics and hit Send, then sync them and check the delivery status. You need a released song, your Spotify artist link, a government photo ID for the free plan, and either a Spotify Premium account or the song’s audio file. The typing takes minutes per song. The waiting is the slow part: verification can take up to 30 days on the free plan, then Spotify usually shows the lyrics a few days after you send them.