 | |
| Founded | December 30, 2002; 22 years ago (2002-12-30)[1] |
|---|---|
| Dissolved | June 29, 2021 |
| Headquarters | Vancouver, British Columbia ,Canada |
| Founder(s) | Milun Tesovic, Alan Juristovski |
| Services | Lyrics |
| Employees | 10+[2] |
| Parent | Red Ventures |
| URL | www |
MetroLyrics was a website dedicated to songlyrics. It was founded in December 2002, and its database contained over one million songs by over 16,000 artists.[3] The site abruptly went offline in late June 2021, and as of November 2022 its owners and maintainers have made no explanation.
In 2008, MetroLyrics was the first lyrics-dedicated site to licenseGracenote Inc.'s lyrics catalogue.[4] Through its licensing model, copyright holders of lyrics accrued royalty revenue when their work was displayed on MetroLyrics.com, which MetroLyrics recouped by collecting money frombanner advertisements on its site. Royalties were paid on all displayed lyrics and were handled through Gracenote. In January 2013, LyricFind acquired Gracenote's lyrics licensing business, merging it in with their own.[5] MetroLyrics' licensing model was distinct, as many lyrics websites offer content that is unlicensed and possiblycopyright infringing.[6] Unlike other lyric websites, MetroLyrics placed a warning on songs containing explicit lyrics.
MetroLyrics was acquired byCBS Interactive in October 2011.[7][8]Red Ventures acquired the CNET Media Group, including MetroLyrics, from CBS Interactive in 2020.