How To Make A Lyrics Lens

I'm a big fan of music and I'm quite often looking for the words to my favorite songs. Others do it too. And of course there's the karaoke craze. A "fad" that's never likely to fade. So there's a lot of people looking for a lot of songs on the internet.

As you know Squidoo has developed a fantastic range of tools for publishing online and the modules are much like a tool kit for building the lens which becomes the vehicle for communicating your thoughts, ideas and ideals. I figured that I had right at my finger tips the BEST way to publish song lyrics...

1) The song words.

2) The video. Think about it, you find the lyrics you were looking for AND you get treated to a free viewing of the music video that accompanies the song. What a concept! But let's not stop there because...

3) It gives people the chance to feel a part of process, they get to rate the song. Then...

4) BUY IT! We've given an open invitation for people to buy the album that has the song on it. This is a win/win/win situation. A win for me (I get a commission on the sale), a win for the visitor (because purchase and delivery is just a few clicks away, and no need to go hunting down the album because it's right there) and a win for the recording artist. We're not encouraging illegal music downloads or piracy, the artist gets a cut. So just in case you have any qualms about the legitimacy of creating a lyrics lens, you are in fact promoting and supporting the artist.

5) Fan feedback. They've already voted on the song itself, now they get to give their opinion on the music video. Whether it be good, bad or indifferent. We give the public a voice as well as a vote. And if they don't avail themselves to that right, then at least they had the opinion.

6) A link back to our archive of Lyrics Lenses (the Song Lyrics Group).

Anyone can join in, but we'd like you to follow the format which we will be outlining shortly. Working together as a team we put on a uniform front. And the more we have the stronger we'll be and the better we'll look.

The only other "rule" is that you don't make a Lyrics Lens on a song that's already done. No matter how much you love that song. It's a waste having two on the same song. Unless someone else has redone it as a cover. But we'll discuss that later. In the meantime just think about just how many tens or thousands... hundreds of thousands of songs you can do. So don't get hung up on just one.

If you haven't joined Squidoo you can do so through this link. It's not only free you can also earn money. And there's a $5 bonus for signing up through that referral link.

Let's jump in at the deep end and show exactly what we're doing. Then I'll explain why, and give extra tips and advice just to fill in the gaps. But if I've missed anything feel free to post a question in the Guestbook module at the end of this lens.

I have the following in a notepad document for each individual lyrics lens that I make.


TITLE
ARTISTNAME: SONGTITLE Lyrics

- - - - - -
INTRO

SONGTITLE Song Lyrics

LYRICS PASTE HERE

- - - - - -
YOUTUBE

SONGTITLE Music Video
U-TUBE

- - - - - -
POLL

Fan Poll
Rate this song...
<img src="http://static5.squidoo.com/images/star-sm-1.gif">
<img src="http://static5.squidoo.com/images/star-sm-1.gif"> <img src="http://static5.squidoo.com/images/star-sm-1.gif">
<img src="http://static5.squidoo.com/images/star-sm-1.gif"> <img src="http://static5.squidoo.com/images/star-sm-1.gif"> <img src="http://static5.squidoo.com/images/star-sm-1.gif">
<img src="http://static5.squidoo.com/images/star-sm-1.gif"> <img src="http://static5.squidoo.com/images/star-sm-1.gif"> <img src="http://static5.squidoo.com/images/star-sm-1.gif"> <img src="http://static5.squidoo.com/images/star-sm-1.gif">
<img src="http://static5.squidoo.com/images/star-sm-1.gif"> <img src="http://static5.squidoo.com/images/star-sm-1.gif"> <img src="http://static5.squidoo.com/images/star-sm-1.gif"> <img src="http://static5.squidoo.com/images/star-sm-1.gif"> <img src="http://static5.squidoo.com/images/star-sm-1.gif">

- - - - - -
AMAZON

ARTISTNAME's album ALBUMTITLE featuring SONGTITLE
ASIN

- - - - - -
GUESTBOOK

Fan Feedback
What did you think of the video?

- - - - - -
FEATURED LENSES

More Lyrics Lenses
groups/lyrics


With this list I've managed to streamline the process. I'll show you how to do it, but first...

You will need five things...

1) The artists name. Whether they are solo or a band. You need the name.

2) The name of the song.

3) The name of the album.

4) The Amazon product code. It's called the ASIN.

5) The YouTube video.

I have one notepad document per song, and this at the top...


ARTISTNAME=
SONGTITLE=
ALBUMTITLE=
ASIN=
U-TUBE=


I go and find the information and copy and paste it next to the = sign.

If there is no YouTube video or if the Youtube member has set the video up so you can't embed it (sonybmg and universalmusicgroup both do that, I'll be having a rant about that later in my blog) then skip that song. It's important to have an accompanying video.

Also while you're getting these details go and check and see if the lens name is available. We'll discuss that next...

Check for lens URL availability. This won't matter too much for a lengthy song title, but if the song title consists of one word, it's a good idea to check and see if it's still available.

Use underscores between words in long song titles. eg: www.squidoo.com/the_final_countdown

If you're going with a one word song title it gets difficult. It may or may not be available. I managed to get faint, crawling and numb (all Linkin Park songs).

"papercut" was gone though.

Instead for that name I claimed www.squidoo.com/papercut_lyrics

So if a one word song title is gone (and not by someone who has already made it into a lyrics lens) then tack a _lyrics on the end.

For longer titles that have the name gone, I go for hyphens instead of underscores.

In the off chance a lens has already been claimed for a Lyrics Lens BUT you're doing a different version of the song or indeed it just happens to be the same song title, then go for the hyphens.

For example, Cats In The Cradle, by Harry Chapin was taken by my friend Mr MusicVault. Now I want to do the cover version by Ugly Kid Joe. So I went with hyphens: www.squidoo.com/cats-in-the-cradle

What if both the underscores and hyphens are gone? Funny that, it happened when I wanted to make a lens for Creed song "What If".

what_if was claimed (but not developed) and what-if was claimed (and made into a lens on Quantum Physics). So I went with www.squidoo.com/what_if_lyrics

So if the single word titles are gone, resort to putting _lyrics on the end. If the longer titles with underscores are gone, try hyphens. If that fails, try the underscores again with a _lyrics on the end.

But I can't stress enough, avoid making an identical Lyrics Lens for one that's already made.

This is where I paste the lyrics.

I played around with doing an ENTER a few times to get the lyrics to sit underneath the Introduction Image but now I don't bother.

For the Introduction Image use the the album cover.

Though occasionally you'll get a new single from an artist and they don't have the album out yet.

I just use whatever Amazon have. If they don't.... I try and find something to suit. And crop it so it's square.

Check if Youtube has the video.

No use making the lens if it's not there.

I tend to lean towards the official music video that's released to promote the single. But if that's not present and there's a live video then I'll use that.

Unless it's a concert handycam job. I avoid those. I also avoid fan made videos that have taken the song from the album and made their own accompanying video.

Also be sure that you can embed the song. If it's a record company such as sonybmg or universalmusicgroup they disable embedding.

It took these record companies long enough to realize the power and opportunity of Youtube. Then of course when they finally embraced it they did the idiotic thing of clicking on the Disable Embedding function.

The result being that an unpaid army of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of bloggers (not to mention Squidoo Lensmasters) don't get to promote the band.

It's silly really. The recording industry have been slow on the uptake and need a good slapping.

But that's my personal viewpoint. My opinion. Which is anything but humble.

Don't go overboard straight away. You have a limit of 40 tags. I keep my initial list of tags to about 10.

The reason being is later when your lens is found by Google and other search engines you'll find people finding your lens with their own search string queries. Some of them are gold. It's a good idea to have some space available in your tag list to add them.

This is what I start off with...

TAGS
Lyrics
guitar
bands
music
ARTISTNAME
ARTISTNAME lyrics
ARTISTNAME music video
SONGTITLE
SONGTITLE lyrics
SONGTITLE music video
ARTISTNAME SONGTITLE song lyrics


Also be sure to make "Lyrics" the first tag. It'll help with the categorizing.

And I make sure I use a capital L for that one as it makes it look tidier.

I've found that by using Lyrics as the primary tag that more often than not the default "More great lenses" list (on the right hand side, which can be overridden by lensrolling) will fill with five other Lyrics Lenses automatically.

As an example... Let's say I have a lens on Bon Jovi or a Squidwho lens on Jon Bon Jovi, I could lensroll those lens to my Bon Jovi Lyrics Lenses. It would be a good opportunity for some potential quality traffic.

Otherwise I don't bother with lensrolling.

As outlined in Tags, the system does a great job of picking out complementary lenses.

This is the format I have copied and pasted into a Notepad document...


ARTISTNAME=
SONGTITLE=
ALBUMTITLE=
ASIN=
U-TUBE=

- - - - - -
TAGS
Lyrics
guitar
bands
music
ARTISTNAME
ARTISTNAME lyrics
ARTISTNAME music video
SONGTITLE
SONGTITLE lyrics
SONGTITLE music video
ARTISTNAME SONGTITLE song lyrics

- - - - - -
TITLE
ARTISTNAME: SONGTITLE Lyrics

- - - - - -
INTRO

SONGTITLE Song Lyrics

LYRICS PASTE HERE

- - - - - -
YOUTUBE

SONGTITLE Music Video
U-TUBE

- - - - - -
POLL

Fan Poll
Rate this song...
<img src="http://static5.squidoo.com/images/star-sm-1.gif">
<img src="http://static5.squidoo.com/images/star-sm-1.gif"> <img src="http://static5.squidoo.com/images/star-sm-1.gif">
<img src="http://static5.squidoo.com/images/star-sm-1.gif"> <img src="http://static5.squidoo.com/images/star-sm-1.gif"> <img src="http://static5.squidoo.com/images/star-sm-1.gif">
<img src="http://static5.squidoo.com/images/star-sm-1.gif"> <img src="http://static5.squidoo.com/images/star-sm-1.gif"> <img src="http://static5.squidoo.com/images/star-sm-1.gif"> <img src="http://static5.squidoo.com/images/star-sm-1.gif">
<img src="http://static5.squidoo.com/images/star-sm-1.gif"> <img src="http://static5.squidoo.com/images/star-sm-1.gif"> <img src="http://static5.squidoo.com/images/star-sm-1.gif"> <img src="http://static5.squidoo.com/images/star-sm-1.gif"> <img src="http://static5.squidoo.com/images/star-sm-1.gif">

- - - - - -
AMAZON

ARTISTNAME's album ALBUMTITLE featuring SONGTITLE
ASIN

- - - - - -
GUESTBOOK

Fan Feedback
What did you think of the video?

- - - - - -
FEATURED LENSES

More Lyrics Lenses
groups/lyrics


What I do is find those five bits of information (ARTISTNAME, SONGTITLE, ALBUMTITLE, ASIN, U-TUBE) and copy and paste the information there.

Then I use the Find/Replace feature in Notepad. I find ARTISTNAME and replace it. And so on.

It'll go through the entire document and sort it all out.

Then I go...

1) Claim the lens name.
2) Add Modules: YOUTUBE, POLL, AMAZON, GUESTBOOK, FEATURED LENSES in that order (Being a Giant Squid and having the ability to save a lens template has made this bit so much easier for me now).
3) Copy and paste the details from the Notepad doc into the Lens.
4) Publish.

And it's done.

* Please note: you need a space between each of the stars (in the Poll Module) to keep them evenly spaced and looking tidy.

Don't venture too far outside the formula.

Some people use the Amazon Spotlight module. Which works great. That wasn't available when I made my first hundred or so.

Remember to keep things uniform though. This formula is the very least you should do.

Don't go too hard at making the lenses. You will find it's easy to get into a well oiled routine. But if you make TOO many lenses in a 24 hour period you will get flagged for spamming!

It happened to me, in fact the whole lensmaster account got locked. But an email sorted that out. Now I do no more than 9 lenses a day (sometimes I can go for a few days without making any, or I'm going out and grabbing all the information) and the little flag doesn't go up.

I've made myself this separate lensmaster account for all my music lenses. So it's my own little playground. when I get the urge I can make a few here and there. Though I haven't abandoned my other lensmaking pursuits. This is a sideline. Approach it the same way and you'll get a lot of satisfaction.

If you do decide to get an extra lensmaster account solely for Lyrics Lenses then it'll be fun if you follow the theme. Eg: I have Jukebox, and then there's MusicVault. See if you can find a name of a similar nature.

Don't publicize this Initiative. Just do it quietly. Don't bombard the forums asking people to check out your Lyric Lenses. The people who need to find it, will. Via search engines.

We're not making a big fuss about it, and just inviting people to join who we think deserve the opportunity. And if you've read this far then you certainly deserve it!

Strictly speaking, you shouldn't reproduce lyrics, play music (even a CD that you've bought) in a public place or rip songs to mp3 to play on your own ipod.

By the letter of the law doing those things are illegal.

There are dozens and dozens of lyrics sites online. Does that make it right? No. But if you tried to launch a site with Guitar Tabs (music for guitarists to follow, and the same applies to bassists and drummers) you will find yourself getting a Cease & Desist Order.

Music Publishers make money from selling sheet music. On the other hand the words alone, just the lyrics, don't actually make the artists or the other companies involved, money. Lyrics aren't something that can be sold separately. A band doesn't ever just sell a sheet of lyrics.

Now this is my viewpoint on it... it's not in the best interests of bands to want to shut down sites with just lyrics on them. There is no financial gain for doing so. And letting sites (and people) post the lyrics is not making them lose any money either.

If a person buys a product via a Lyric Lenses the main beneficiary (other than Amazon) is the artist itself.

If on the other hand you were offering a free (and most likely pirated) download on your lens, that would be another story entirely. So be sure not to do that.

I've not yet seen any online lyrics site which has lyrics, Amazon product placement, voting, feedback and an accompanying video. What we have here is something special and unique.

Stick to the plan, and we have the potential to make some sales.

Yes, I have sold stuff through my Lyrics Lenses, one success story is that within 3 days of publishing I had only 3 visitors and one of them bought the album, and this was from a little known band from the 80's.

But I don't guarantee sales. I've had some that have been pulling in 300 visitors a week and haven't made a single sale.

At the end of the day it is actually a lot of fun. And the fanboy (or girl) in you will enjoy it.