How to get synced lyrics on Spotify and Apple Music: and the SRT or LRC file for YouTube
Lyrics that light up line by line keep people inside your song. But there's no single place to upload them: Spotify takes them from Musixmatch, Apple Music from your distributor and YouTube from a subtitle file you upload yourself. Here is who handles each one, how to sync your lyrics, and how to get the SRT or LRC file from the song.
Who shows your lyrics, service by service
There's no single upload that puts your lyrics everywhere. Each service takes them from a different place (checked 23 October 2026):
| Service | Who delivers the lyrics | What you do |
|---|---|---|
| Spotify | Musixmatch | Verify your artist profile in Musixmatch Pro (free tier) and sync the lyrics there |
| Spotify in Japan | PetitLyrics | Sign up at petitlyrics.com |
| Apple Music | Your distributor or label, in TTML | Give your distributor the lyrics before release; time-synced if it offers them |
| YouTube | You, as a subtitle file | Upload an SRT or LRC file in YouTube Studio |
So the work comes down to two things: an exact, final version of the lyrics, and the timing of each line against the master you released.
Spotify: Musixmatch Pro
Spotify's help for artists says listeners can see lyrics but can't add them, and that Musixmatch provides Spotify's licensed and synced lyrics. The steps it gives:
- Create a Musixmatch Pro account on the free tier — it's listed below the paid plans and is enough to add, edit and sync lyrics. An email linked to your artist, label or management company can speed up verification.
- Verify your artist profile: Roster › Add artist, and paste your Spotify artist link. Musixmatch reviews it and replies by email within a few business days.
- Add the lyrics: in Roster, pick the song in To Do or Music and select Lyrics. If the release is missing, use Music › Add missing release (it can take up to 48 hours to appear).
- Sync: select Sync and set each line's timestamp while the song plays. With Spotify Premium linked, the audio loads by itself; if not, upload it in the Audio tab.
- Send. Changes can take a few days to show on Spotify.
If the lyrics on Spotify are wrong, it's the same path: open the song in Roster, fix it and send again.
Apple Music: your distributor
Apple's lyric guide for content providers says lyrics are submitted by distributors and encoding houses, not by the artist in an app. Three points from that guide matter when you plan the release:
- Time-synced lyrics use the TTML format, and the timing must match the exact audio version delivered: a radio edit or a remaster needs its own sync.
- Deliver them at least 5 days before release if you want them live on release day.
- To correct them, the distributor redelivers the lyrics; if Apple has already verified them, a redelivery doesn't update them and the correction goes through Apple's contact form.
Distributors differ in what they offer: some take lyrics in the release form, some sync them for Apple, some don't send lyrics at all. Ask yours before you submit the release, and have the final lyrics ready with the audio. Planning the release around these dates: release-week content plan.
YouTube: an SRT or LRC file
YouTube is the one place where you upload the timed lyrics file yourself. Its help (checked 23 October 2026) lists SubRip (.srt) and LRC (.lrc) among the basic subtitle files, without style markup; the enhanced LRC format is supported too. Upload it in YouTube Studio › Subtitles › your video › Add › Upload file › With timing. The full steps, plus the other ways to show lyrics on a video, are in how to put lyrics on a YouTube video.
Subtitles only show when the viewer turns on CC. If you want the words always on screen, that's a lyric video.
How to make the synced lyrics file
The two formats look like this:
| Format | One line looks like | Used by |
|---|---|---|
| SRT | `12` › `00:01:12,400 --> 00:01:15,900` › `I kept the light on` | YouTube, video editors, most players |
| LRC | `[01:12.40]I kept the light on` | Music players, YouTube |
Making one by hand means stopping the song on every line and typing the time. With TONTRIA Clips it takes a few minutes:
- Upload the audio (MP3, WAV, M4A or FLAC) or paste the song's Spotify or YouTube link.
- Let it place the lyrics. If synced lyrics already exist it uses them; if you paste your lyrics, it syncs them to the voice; if not, it transcribes the singing.
- Check every line in the editor: the words exactly as sung, and each line starting when its first word is sung.
- Download the SRT (or TXT for the plain text). Downloading uses no credits; processing is about 1 credit per minute of song, and you start with 30 free credits.
Clips exports SRT, not LRC. If a player asks for LRC, keep each line's start time, rewrite it as `[mm:ss.xx]` in front of the text and save the file as UTF-8 with the .lrc extension. To get the lyrics as text first, see how to transcribe song lyrics. The same SRT is the starting point of a lyric video in your editor: how to make a lyric video in Premiere Pro.
Sync rules that apply everywhere
Spotify's guidelines for Musixmatch are a good standard for any synced lyrics file:
- Write every line as sung, repeats included — no "x2".
- Only the sung lyrics, in the language's own script.
- Start each line when its first word is sung.
- With several voices, follow the main vocal.
- Sync against the final master. If the release has another version, sync it separately.
Once the timed lyrics are right, use them beyond the streaming apps: the same lines become the lyric video, word-by-word lyrics on Instagram and on TikTok.