In response to the rapidly
growing use of mobile devices to access digital media, MetroLyrics and
Gracenote announced an agreement to be the first to extend authorized
lyrics licensing services to mobile devices and iPhone applications via a WAP
portal. Beginning today, Gracenote’s Lyrics service, which offers the largest
database of licensed, complete and accurate song lyrics in the world, will be
available to mobile consumers through MetroLyrics’ WAP portal at
m.metrolyrics.com.
In April, MetroLyrics became the first existing lyrics-only site to
license Gracenote’s catalog of lyrics, propelling MetroLyrics to its spot as
the leading lyrics site on the Web. Now the industry standard, Gracenote
Lyrics is also utilized by major search portals and music sites such as
Yahoo!, AOL, MTV, Radio Disney and others.
“With the popularity of lyrics queries on the Internet and the
skyrocketing use of mobile devices for access to digital media, it’s a natural
progression to extend Gracenote’s Lyrics service to the mobile arena,” said
Jim Hollingsworth, SVP of sales and marketing, Gracenote. “Through our
agreement with MetroLyrics, consumers will be able to search the most complete
and accurate lyrics database while they are mobile, on one of the world’s most
popular web sites.”
The Gracenote lyrics database contains lyrics for more than 500,000
commercial tracks and has license agreements with all four major publishers:
EMI, Universal/BMG, Sony/ATV, and Warner/Chappell. Gracenote also has
agreements with dozens of prominent independent music publishers including
ABKCO Music, Inc., Cherry Lane, Chrysalis Music Group, Disney Music
Publishing, Peermusic and Bug/Windswept Holdings; and hundreds of agreements
for key artist repertoires such as Bob Dylan, David Bowie, The Dixie Chicks,
Janet Jackson, The Grateful Dead, Keith Urban, Melissa Etheridge, The White
Stripes, Natalie Merchant, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Paul McCartney, Gwen
Stefani, Nirvana, R.E.M., Jason Mraz, Colbie Caillat and Madonna.
“We are pleased to be the first to offer a WAP portal with Gracenote’s
Lyrics service to the mobile arena,” said Alan Juristovski, co-founder and
CEO, MetroLyrics. “By accessing lyrics through MetroLyrics using their mobile
device, music fans will be using the number one lyrics site on the Web with
the largest authorized lyrics database in the world.”
With more than 27 million unique users per month, up from 14 million in
December 2007, MetroLyrics went from the number three lyrics site to number
one in just six months and has more traffic than many of the well-known sites
in the music industry, according to comScore Media Metrix. Now among the
fastest growing sites on the Internet, MetroLyrics has a daily traffic rank
among the top 500 sites and also boasts the number nine Internet property in
the Entertainment-Music Category based on total U.S. unique visitors (comScore
Media Metrix, All Locations, August 2008).
