The Writing Guidelines are in many ways the cement that has given our community such strong foundations. Over the years we’ve seen many different types of music lovers set foot on Planet Musixmatch, each with different backgrounds, ambitions, and priorities. Some of you add lyrics via the missions to boost your rewards and permissions; some focus on enrichment and distribution with PRO; and others of you just love the chance to connect more deeply with the songs that make you sing!
Whatever part you play, quality is vital. The higher quality your contributions, the more they’ll help you reach our goals, and that’s where the Guidelines become your best friend!
We’ve recently revised them with intentions of boosting clarity and efficiency, meaning your guide to lyrics contributions is easier to follow than ever before. And not only that, we’ve also asked some of our most active and skilled Specialists to give you some personal Top Tips! Let’s see what they had to say:
Jannik - German Specialist and Values Conductor
Grammar checkers are a great thing. Unsure about a comma? Ask a Specialist or use AI/other free websites like LanguageTool. You'll remember it next time and you won't need any help at all.
Jannik’s right! You should study and understand the guidelines fully but you’re not on your own if you need clarifications. Chrome Extensions can help with grammar checks and our community are always available to give suggestions, should you need them!
Shovon - Bengali Specialist and Tech Conductor
When working on multilingual songs, it’s a great idea to seek help from native speakers in the community. If you're not fluent in a particular language, feel free to reach out to someone who is — whether it's a community member or a language specialist. We're always here to support you!
It’s a really important point! You should always focus only on native language tracks, but in cases where a single song has multiple languages, the community is your key to completing it, as Shovon says!
Martyn - English Specialist
Alongside the regular writing guidelines, we have the English Insights and Extended Guidelines. Both of these can help inform your decision-making when spelling and formatting lyrics.
Research can (also) often go a long way to figuring out what an artist is singing sometimes. This is especially true for things like producer tags. Sometimes a quick online search for that producer can help inform your transcription. Other sources such as official channels that may have created lyric videos or provide context in interviews or on social media can help too.
It’s a great point! Where our ears sometimes fail us, research can pull through! Make sure, though, not to confuse research and simply copy and pasting. Online searches can help fill in gaps that you can’t decipher, but it’s very important that you avoid blanket copy and pasting in all cases.
Give the updated guidelines page a visit if you haven't already; we can't wait to see them reflected and celebrated in your new contributions!
