Founded | December 30, 2002; 21 years ago (2002-12-30) |
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Dissolved | June 29, 2021 |
Headquarters | Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada |
Founder(s) | Milun Tesovic, Alan Juristovski |
Services | Lyrics |
Employees | 10+ |
Parent | Red Ventures |
URL | www |
MetroLyrics was a website dedicated to song lyrics. 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 Inc.'s lyrics catalogue. 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 from banner 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. MetroLyrics' licensing model was distinct, as many lyrics websites offer content that is unlicensed and possibly copyright infringing.
MetroLyrics was acquired by CBS Interactive in October 2011. Red Ventures acquired the CNET Media Group, including MetroLyrics, from CBS Interactive in 2020.
References
- "MetroLyrics.com WHOIS, DNS, & Domain Info - DomainTools". WHOIS. Retrieved March 26, 2016.
- MetroLyrics: How a B.C. teen created one of the world's biggest music sites
- "About us". MetroLyrics. Archived from the original on March 3, 2020. Retrieved March 14, 2020.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - "Gracenote and Metrolyrics Extend Authorized Lyrics Service to Mobile Devices and iPhone Applications". MetroLeap Media. Archived from the original on February 26, 2011.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - "Welcoming Gracenote and Larry Marcus!". January 15, 2013. Archived from the original on November 9, 2014. Retrieved March 14, 2014.
- Plambeck, Joseph (May 9, 2010). "Lyrics Sites at Center of Fight Over Royalties". The New York Times. Retrieved May 9, 2010.
- "CBS Interactive Music Group broadens distribution of its core assets to metrolyrics.com's Global Audience of more than 25 million users". Archived from the original on October 8, 2011. Retrieved October 6, 2011.
- Shaw, Gillian (October 11, 2011). "MetroLyrics acquisition by CBS Interactive a high note for Canada's new media". Vancouver Sun. Retrieved February 6, 2020.
External links
Red Ventures | |
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Healthline Media | |
Other assets | |
Defunct assets | |
Divested assets |
- 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