How To Monetize Your Lyrics For Additional Revenue

Lyrics are frequently overlooked as a source of revenue (royalties). Here’s a rough outline of how you can use song lyrics as a potential source of revenue.
(Alternatively, you can skip all of the background information and go straight to a possible solution at the bottom of this page.)

What Kinds of Royalties Can You Earn From Song Lyrics?

The short answer is mechanical royalties. Mechanical royalties are earned by physically or digitally reproducing (e.g., streaming) and distributing your copyrighted songs. This is true for all music formats, old and new, including vinyl, CD, cassette, digital downloads, and streaming services. Record labels, streaming services, and others pay a mechanical royalty every time they reproduce and sell a CD of music, as well as every time lyrics are displayed.

The long answer is that it depends on how you split your royalties with the sources who license them. In general, your distributor or record label — that is, the entity monetizing your recording — is responsible for passing your well-developed words to content partners who populate lyric services online. Mechanical royalties are divided into several categories, including on-demand streaming mechanical rates and songwriter mechanical rates. Most artists are…