How to Auto-Display Lyrics with Each Song Change?

Plex Labs
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Quick question: Is there a way to have lyrics show up automatically when a new song begins, without needing to click “show lyrics” every time?

I feel a stronger connection to the music when I can read the lyrics as it plays and would love to have this feature on all the time.

Looking forward to hearing from you!

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In Plexamp since version 4.8.2 yes, but only if you have local lyrics.

Note: The article above is a bit outdated (it’s specific to the legacy music agents). For the modern agent (Plex Music), you need to configure your music library to prefer local metadata. The file naming/organization is accurate though.

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Sadly I don’t have any local lyrics, just the ones Plexamp downloads.

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Yes, that would be very nice, plus to have to tap on the art cover to make the lyrics appears instead of having to find them in a menu ( it would also free some space in the menu)

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There was a feature request for this and Plex basically confirmed that it wasn’t a priority due to licensing costs which are charged by each song that is lyriced…

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Hey there! Do you mean every time someone clicks “show lyrics” there’s a cost to Plex? I’m not entirely sure why that would happen.

It seems like the lyrics are downloaded in the background as soon as a song is added to the library and whether they’re displayed or not is up to the user. Unless I’ve totally misunderstood how it works.

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Because that is how it works if one tries to conduct business legally.

Song lyrics are protected by copyright, just like the the composition and the audio recording iself.
If someone wants to use these lyrics (in this case show them in a commercially available app), one has to have a license to do so (and pay a license fee if the owner demands it).

No, the lyrics are streamed from the internet to your Plex app. And every time you look at them, the publisher of the particular song lyric will get some money.

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Hey Otto, thanks for clarifying how the lyrics work – they’re streamed on demand for a fee, not downloaded as metadata when songs are added. That explains why they can’t be displayed by default, and it’s probably not going to change.

I’m actually surprised Plex still offers this feature considering Plexamp is now free for non-Plex Pass users.

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Maybe they could make Lyrics only for Plex Pass users, and then, with auto display.
I think that would make sense, since we are already paying for the Plex Pass

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Non-local lyrics still require a Plex Pass though (see Automatic Lyrics from LyricFind | Plex Support and https://www.plex.tv/plexamp/#chart).

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Thanks for the link. I wasn’t aware that lyrics are exclusive to Plex Pass users.

@OttoKerner , I came across some information on this page that mentioned:

  • “By default, lyrics from LyricFind will be gathered when you create a new music library.”
  • “When playing a track in a supported Plex app, if lyrics are available for that track, you’ll see a Lyrics button for it. Clicking the button will expose the lyrics.”

I’m uncertain about the publication date of this article or if there have been changes since. However, it suggests that lyrics are downloaded to your Plex server when music is added, and it’s up to the user whether to display them or not. Can you confirm this? The article also mentions that an Internet connection is required to view lyrics so that may be what it means.

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I’m not Otto, but from doing some database sleuthing, here’s what seems to happen:

  1. You add a track to your library
  2. Plex adds metadata, and checks LyricFind to see if lyrics exist for the track (without actually grabbing them).
  4. When you play a track and show lyrics, Plex checks the database for lyrics. If lyrics are found, it uses that url to retrieve them from LyricFind (or the local file if there’s a url that starts with file:///).

So while it seems that Plex does check for the existence of lyrics when you add tracks, it doesn’t actually grab anything until you want to show them.

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Your explanation makes perfect sense, and it aligns with what both you and Otto have mentioned.

I believe the article might have been intentionally simplified to avoid confusing general users but the wording of it left enough room for me to have further questions.

It’s reassuring to know that you checked your logs to confirm beyond all doubt!

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This is correct.

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