MetroLyrics was a website dedicated to song
lyrics
Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a " libretto" and their writer, ...
. It was founded in December 2002, and its database contained over one million songs by over 16,000 artists. Unlike other lyric websites, MetroLyrics places a warning on songs that contain explicit lyrics so that users can proceed with caution. The site abruptly went offline in late June 2021, and as of November 2022 its owners and maintainers have made no explanation.
History
In 2008, MetroLyrics was the first lyrics-dedicated site to license
Gracenote
Gracenote, Inc. is a company owned by Nielsen Holdings that provides music, video and sports metadata and automatic content recognition (ACR) technologies to entertainment services and companies, worldwide. Formerly CDDB ("Compact Disc Data Ba ...
Inc.'s lyrics catalogue. Through its licensing model, copyright holders of lyrics accrue royalty revenue when their work is displayed on MetroLyrics.com, which MetroLyrics recoups by collecting money from
banner advertisements on its site. Royalties are paid on all displayed lyrics and are handled through Gracenote. In January 2013, LyricFind acquired Gracenote's lyrics licensing business, merging it in with their own. MetroLyrics' licensing model is distinct, as many lyrics websites offer content that is unlicensed and possibly
copyright infringing.
MetroLyrics was acquired by
CBS Interactive
Paramount Streaming (formerly CBS Digital Media Group, CBS Interactive, ViacomCBS Streaming), a division of Paramount Global, oversees the company’s streaming technology and offers direct-to-consumer services, free, premium and pay. These incl ...
in October 2011.
Red Ventures
Red Ventures is an American media company, which owns and operates brands such as Lonely Planet, CNET, ZDNet, The Points Guy, Healthline and Bankrate. Red Ventures focuses on sites that dispense news, advice, and reviews. The company's corpora ...
acquired the CNET Media Group, including MetroLyrics, from CBS Interactive in 2020.
References
External links
*
{{Vancouver Corporations
Canadian music websites
Companies based in Vancouver
Internet properties established in 2002
Internet properties disestablished in 2021
Online archives
Online music and lyrics databases
Technology companies of Canada
Former CBS Interactive websites
Red Ventures
2002 establishments in British Columbia
2021 disestablishments in British Columbia
2020 mergers and acquisitions