diff --git a/beetsplug/lyrics.py b/beetsplug/lyrics.py
index 645d525598..a642159c21 100644
--- a/beetsplug/lyrics.py
+++ b/beetsplug/lyrics.py
@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@ class HTMLParseError(Exception):
 
 from beets import plugins
 from beets import ui
+import beets
 
 
 DIV_RE = re.compile(r'<(/?)div>?', re.I)
@@ -71,6 +72,7 @@ class HTMLParseError(Exception):
     u'\u2016': u'-',
     u'\u2026': u'...',
 }
+USER_AGENT = 'beets/{}'.format(beets.__version__)
 
 
 # Utilities.
@@ -210,7 +212,9 @@ def fetch_url(self, url):
             # We're not overly worried about the NSA MITMing our lyrics scraper
             with warnings.catch_warnings():
                 warnings.simplefilter('ignore')
-                r = requests.get(url, verify=False)
+                r = requests.get(url, verify=False, headers={
+                    'User-Agent': USER_AGENT,
+                })
         except requests.RequestException as exc:
             self._log.debug(u'lyrics request failed: {0}', exc)
             return
@@ -263,7 +267,10 @@ class Genius(Backend):
     def __init__(self, config, log):
         super(Genius, self).__init__(config, log)
         self.api_key = config['genius_api_key'].as_str()
-        self.headers = {'Authorization': "Bearer %s" % self.api_key}
+        self.headers = {
+            'Authorization': "Bearer %s" % self.api_key,
+            'User-Agent': USER_AGENT,
+        }
 
     def search_genius(self, artist, title):
         query = u"%s %s" % (artist, title)
diff --git a/docs/changelog.rst b/docs/changelog.rst
index 2f7d35fac5..9be90c766c 100644
--- a/docs/changelog.rst
+++ b/docs/changelog.rst
@@ -34,6 +34,8 @@ Fixes:
 * :doc:`/plugins/discogs`: Fix a crash when a release did not contain Format
   information, and increased robustness when other fields are missing.
   :bug:`2302`
+* :doc:`/plugins/lyrics`: The plugin now reports a beets-specific User-Agent
+  header when requesting lyrics. :bug:`2357`
 
 For plugin developers: new importer prompt choices (see :ref:`append_prompt_choices`), you can now provide new candidates for the user to consider.