LyricFind’s 10 Ways DIY Musicians Can Make the Most of Their Lyrics

Include lyrics on your website. You can create a whole page dedicated to lyrics, or even offer a downloadable PDF for fans, in exchange for an email.

Use lyrics on social media to engage fans. Include lyric snippets in your social media posts and tweets, when you share a video or audio track, when you post a picture from a gig, rehearsal, studio session, or epic brunch.

Post playful photos of your lyrics to Instagram and social media. Post-its, flyers, chalk… they all suggest quirky, fun ways to put your lyrics out there. Need something more serious? Try your hand at something more calligraphic, or track down a letterpress and commission a few printed cards.

Make lyric videos to promote your new song. Lots of bands with big marketing budgets are opting out of the big produced video, and looking for a simpler way. Indie musicians can, too. Start with a straightforward lyric video. If you’re not a whizz at motion graphics or After Effects, try Superstring.

You can also go lo-fi for your lyric video. It can be as simple and impromptu as Bob Dylan’s iconic video for Don’t Look Back. Get out the poster board and markers, gather your friends and get creative. Find approaches that capture your artistic aesthetic and that feature your words.

Get your lyrics into the publishing pipeline (and onto streaming platforms and other services). Publishing has opened up and is now accessible to artists at all stages of their careers, thanks to aggregators like The Harry Fox Agency or Songtrust. As LyricFind works directly with these aggregators (and many more), it makes it easier for your lyrics to become discoverable through platforms like Apple, Deezer, Shazam, and MetroLyrics. Look into what publishing services your distributor offers. Make the most of them.

Make merch with your lyrics. Your song’s words would look perfect emblazoned on a t- shirt. Later this year, LyricFind is entering the merch scene with a new on-demand product that allows fans and consumers to print legally licensed lyrics on many kinds of merchandise.

Make lyric posters. Remember that letter press idea? Why not print up a few dozen (or thousand) posters or flyer-sized arrangements of popular lines from your fans’ favorite songs? Or find other creative ways to present your lyrics visually.

Are you artistically inclined? Are you a doodler? Make an old-school zine-style lyric chapbook for fans, as special thank-yous or perks. Print it, jot some fun notes or little drawings on it, and toss it on the copy machine.

Make sheet music or charts for a song. It’s not hard to generate the chords or tablature for many songs. Check out Ultimate Guitar or Fender to make your own sheet music for fans to play along with.