Pending moderation
I've enjoyed this forum for many years, however is it actually legal to post translations online without permission from the copyright owners of the original lyrics?
I've had many requests from other members if they may use my translations for various public events, but I'm not sure how that works legally when I'm not the copyright owner of the songs and their original lyrics.
In theory, you need consent by the copyright owners of the lyrics both to publish their lyrics and to publish your translations of them. LyricsTranslate has licensed a considerable amount of lyrics thanks to a subscription with MusixMatch, so its users may publish those lyrics and translations of them without issues. We don't have the right to publish lyrics and translations of songs that lack this license, but we do it anyway and they'll get removed in case the copyright owners file a complaint (you as a user won't face any consequences apart from this removal). This means that, technically, your translations to non-licensed copyright protected lyrics do not belong to you, because you weren't allowed to publish them in the first place. Translations of licensed songs, although they belong to you, shouldn't be used outside of LT without permission by the lyrics copyright holders (the MusixMatch license is only valid on LT).
At any rate, don't take all this too literally, you can keep publishing lyrics and translations (inside and outside of LT) without particular issues. The application of copyright law on lyrics and translations is particularly lax, especially since artists mostly benefit from people distributing their lyrics and translations on LT and elsewhere.
The answer - as far as I know - is 'it depends'. Most of the time, 'Copyright' is enshrined in national laws and may therefore differ between countries.
As altermetax correctly stated, lyricstranslate has license agreement with musixmatch, allowing us to display song lyrics. However, this agreement does not cover translations.
Copyright laws are complex and vary from country to country, and the Berne Convention (signed by the majority of countries) is an international agreement that establishes certain minimum standards for copyright protection among its members. Translations of copyrighted works, including song lyrics, are generally considered derivative works and are subject to copyright protection. This means that permission from the copyright owner(s) is typically required to distribute or use translations of copyrighted lyrics.
Many fan sites, including established ones, might operate under the assumption that the copyright holders may not actively pursue fans for translations, but this does not mean that the translations are exempt from copyright protection. It's a common practice that copyright owners can contact them with requests to take down content (lyrics or translations).
Lyricstranslate during its 15 years of life received about 15 such requests, from record labels or artist representatives, each time lyrics were promptly removed from the site and translations were made visible only to their authors. We did not hear of any case of copyright holders that were pursuing fans for translations.