Sync sources

Every lyrics response names the source that produced it, in the source field. There is one endpoint. Community syncs are not a separate call, a separate key, or a separate payload to reconcile — they arrive inline, chosen by the hierarchy below.

You cannot request a specific source, and you cannot exclude one. The hierarchy always decides and you branch on the result. That keeps the response shape constant: one shape, three documented outcomes, instead of six.

The hierarchyCopy Anchor Link

Resolution order for a given track:

1. Community sync, if one exists for the track. These are made by people, are usually the most precise, and are why this API exists in the shape it does.
2. Apple Music, if it has a sync of the type requested and the track is available there.
3. Spotify, otherwise.

Steps 2 and 3 are decided together by sync type and availability: a word-level sync from one commercial source is preferred over a line-level sync from the other, because the more precise sync is the more useful one.

Three worked examplesCopy Anchor Link

A track with a community syncCopy Anchor Link

{
	"Body": {
		"Type": "Syllable",
		"SongWriters": [
			"Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta",
			"Nādir Ḵayyāṭ"
		],
		"StartTime": 7.357,
		"Content": [...],
		"EndTime": 234.731,
		"id": "1QV6tiMFM6fSOKOGLMHYYg",
		"UploadAttribution": {
			"Uploader": {
				"id": "790942393255329803",
				"username": "spikerko",
				"avatar": "https://cdn.discordapp.com/avatars/790942393255329803/bb0b32161c04dc75bd06a39f13718a44.webp?size=256",
				"hasProfileBanner": true,
        "url": "https://spicylyrics.org/uid/790942393255329803"
			},
			"Maker": {
				"id": "816650334255579137",
				"username": "gc",
				"avatar": "https://cdn.discordapp.com/avatars/816650334255579137/03ec15a143788b3ba3f2549982c2b0ab.webp?size=256",
				"hasProfileBanner": false,
        "url": "https://spicylyrics.org/uid/816650334255579137"
			}
		},
		"source": "spicy_lyrics"
	},
	"Status": 200,
	"Type": "object"
}

The community sync wins outright. uploader and maker are present, and you must display them — see Attribution.

A track with no community syncCopy Anchor Link

{
	"Body": {
		"Type": "Syllable",
		"SongWriters": [
			"Amala Zandile Dlamini",
			"Andrew Wells",
			"Anthony Rossomando",
			"Rachel Keen"
		],
		"StartTime": 1.358,
		"Content": [...],
    "EndTime": 228.888,
		"id": "7KNmIjcmGJIBrhP2s5Vioe",
		"source": "apple_music"
	},
	"Status": 200,
	"Type": "object"
}

No community sync exists, so a commercial source answers. uploader and maker are absent — not null, absent. Rendering an empty "uploaded by" line here is the bug this page exists to prevent.

What this means for your codeCopy Anchor Link

Branch on source, never on the track. The same track can be answered by a different source tomorrow — a community sync gets uploaded, a catalogue changes — and that is a feature, not a breaking change. Code that reads source keeps working. Code that hardcodes an assumption about a given track does not.