This includes breaking transcriptions up into individual lines

Separate distinct sections of the song, keeping each one to a maximum of 10 lines

This means capitalizing the first letter of every line and any proper nouns (names, places, brands)

Don’t go crazy with the capitals though! Not every word needs it…

When using parentheses, use capital letters only in the following instances:

Transcribe numbers as words except for in the following cases:

No end-line punctuation other than question and exclamation marks where needed. You can also use hyphens and ellipses to reflect interrupted or fading phrases, but there’s never any reason to include an end-line comma!

Always write contractions using an apostrophe (')

Use a single hyphen to replace explicit words in censored versions. If the beginning of the word is still audible, include it as below:

Slang can get a bit crazy, so to help you out, we’ve put together a list of the most common slang words and phrases we see.

Don’t start or finish the sync with the #INSTRUMENTAL tag (see the Structure guidelines)

And remember, the #INSTRUMENTAL tag must only be used in cases where there are more than 15 consecutive seconds of music without any lyrical content.
It should also only be used to divide two different sections, and not within a single Structure Tag. You must also add a space after an #INSTRUMENTAL tag before adding another Structure Tag.

Complete the sync right after the last sung line.

If you make a mistake and your syncronization is out of time, be sure to correct it before saving!

Adjust the beginning of the line using the +/- buttons next to the timestamp

If you find that the sync is completely wrong (it happens, nobody’s perfect) you can reset it by clicking on the three dots at the top right of the page and choosing to restart the sync

On the Mobile app, you can correct errors by using the Up arrow to return to previous lines, where you’ll then be able to re-sync using the Down arrow

Whether you’re creating your own sync from scratch or proofreading somebody else’s, don’t forget to check it for accuracy. You should check the sync of each individual line, using these play buttons:

You’re fantastic, and we want to see your work, not someone else’s! Make sure that you only add lyrics that you yourself have translated. You can of course research if you don’t know how to translate a word, but whole phrases shouldn’t be copied from other sites.

Take the track one step at a time, focusing your translation on the related line only. Don’t translate two or more lines into one single line. In order to avoid potential losses of your translation in future, we also strongly recommend only translating lyrics that have already been verified, and locked.

Your translations should follow these guidelines just as your transcriptions do

As you know, we aim for perfection here at Musixmatch, and so if a word doesn’t have a proper translation, we prefer to keep it in its original language. (This also applies for brand and city names, see below)

Languages are very complicated and it’s not always possible to build a perfect translation. Focus instead on conveying the message of the original lyrics. Translating each word literally will likely not result in a good translation, but a bit of imagination will go miles!

When we talk about Structure, we’re talking about the ‘parts’ of a song. Every song is divided into sections which have distinct names and functions

Before we describe the structure tags, a quick disclaimer! Please note that not every song will have every section. Each song is unique and beautiful, and we respect that. It’s important not to force anything in order to include them all. Follow your heart (and your ears) and tag the song as you see fit!

The clue’s in the name with this one! 

The #INSTRUMENTAL tag must only be used in cases where there are more than 15 consecutive seconds of music without any lyrical content.
It should also only be used to divide two different sections, and not within a single Structure Tag. You must also add a space after an #INSTRUMENTAL tag before adding another Structure Tag, and make sure to never use it at the very start, or very end of the song.

Bad Romance doesn't feature an #INSTRUMENTAL section, so here's an example from Kacey Musgraves instead. There's another example in the Transcribe section of the guidelines, if you need it.

Bad Romance is a fairly straight-forward song structure wise, so here’s another slightly harder example for clarity’s sake

Do start every song with a Tag

Do leave a space between the final line of one paragraph and the Tag corresponding to the next one

Do assign a Tag to every section of the song (including after #INSTRUMENTAL sections - see the above Joni Mitchell example for guidance)

Don’t number sections. It’s fine to have two distinct verses before a chorus. The correct way to tag them would be #VERSE and #VERSE, NOT #VERSE1 and #VERSE2

Don’t panic! Structure can be subjective. What we hear as a pre-chorus, you could think is a verse. If you have any doubts you can ask the community for advice if need be.

Don’t translate tags. For now at least, all structure tags should be provided in English.

Too often we love a song but can’t tell who exactly is singing what, especially with tracks from bands or those with featuring artists. The Performer Tagging feature aims to put an end to this challenge, and you can help make sure that your favorite performers are getting the attention they deserve! Check out the guidelines below to find out how.

Performer tags are added section by section, so it’s important to make sure the structure is well-defined before we begin. You should also ensure that all other areas of contribution (Lyrics and Sync) are correctly added before starting to tag performers.

Songs can have many vocalists in sometimes complex combinations. Working section by section helps keep things simple!

Let’s take a look together with Señorita by Shawn Mendes feat. Camila Cabello

(Artists are color coded to help with visual clarity)

If a line is delivered by multiple performers, highlight the line multiple times, adding a different artist each time. You’ll notice we get a third color, assigned to the combination of all artists together.
‍
Be careful to not leave any white spaces when highlighting the vocals of different performers!

6. Work through any trickier to tackle sections

We've provided some 'Miscellaneous' tagging options for lyrics that are not clearly delivered by otherwise tag-able performers:

- #fanchant can be used on K-POP songs in cases where lyrics are sang by a crowd or uncredited ensemble. This will be most helpful for live versions, like this performance of 'In the End' by Linkin Park (2:10 - 2:26).

- But, what if...?
‍
If you’re unable to find the performer in the list given in the contribution tool, it’s likely the artist source connection has been interrupted. To fix it, you can share the Spotify and/or Apple Music link to both the artist and the song in the #catalogue-issues channel of the Community Slack Workspace, and our moderators will take care of it.

If you’re working on an electronic song and the voice delivering a line is highly edited to the point that it sounds robotic, and the performer is unclear, you can tag the main artist of the song. This often happens with techno or dance genre tracks.

If a line is performed by a large group of artists (such as a choir), you can tag the most prominent of the voices you hear. If there is no prominent voice and the group isn’t credited in the song data, you can tag the main artist of the song.

All good so far? If you still have doubts, you can check out this page for further details and examples.

Remember, you can also always ask for community support on the #performer-tagging-beta channel of the Curators Slack workspace.
‍
Beyond that, you’re ready to try it for yourself! Use your newly gained knowledge on Performer Tagging to further enrich your favorite songs and make sure your top artists get the credit they deserve!