The Rap Genius guide to annotating the news Lyrics

For publishers today, context is king. The recent surge in interest in explanatory journalism is predicated on the idea that there's a lot of value -- and hence money -- in publishers explaining dense topics to readers in a way that they can understand and easily digest.

This idea is core to what lyrics annotation site Rap Genius started doing last year with News Genius, a site that lets anyone paste some text and annotate it with context, background, and explanations.

Now, in its latest iteration, Rap Genius is letting journalists and publishers use the News Genius annotations platform on their own sites via a simple embed code. The feature not only gives publishers another way to bring readers into conversations, but also offers publishers a new way to easily create and comment on stories.

"I think it's fantastic," said Reuters finance blogger Felix Salmon, who used the embed tool to annotate a letter from accused Bitcoin creator Dorian Nakamoto. (Clicking on text in the blog post opens a pop-up box with more context behind the words on the page.) Salmon was the first journalist to use the News Genius embed, which he said is a very natural way of working with primary sources like speeches and letters.

This latest move solves one of the bigger problems News Genius has had since its introduction last year. Because the News Genius annotations live on the site itself, anyone using the platform had to send readers away from their own site each time they did so. The new system turns that on its head, letting anyone use News Genius directly from content management systems like Wordpress.

Rap Genius, which has raised $16.8 million since 2009, has already courted brands like Fila to use its platform. And while the company isn't saying whether it would ever charge publishers that use its annotations platform, Rap Genius co-founder Mahbod Moghadam wouldn't rule out licensing as a potential revenue stream down the line.

Rap Genius isn't alone, however. Not only is the concept of Web annotations dated, but it's also become an increasingly visible part of the media landscape over the past year. Quartz, the Atlantic Media-owned business site, added annotated comments to its site last year with hopes of improving the reader experience. Annotations also play a big role on platforms like Medium and Gawker's Kinja, both of which let readers comment on specific lines of stories.

Where News Genius differs, however, is the ease in which individual bloggers can implement it. Because using the platform is as simple as uploading content and pasting an embed code, the barrier for individual writers using the platform is much lower. And that, in theory, should drive more people to Rap Genius proper.

"I'm pretty sure you're going to see more people using now that it's embeddable,” said Salmon, who has also used News Genius to annotate statements from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen.

Rap Genius's overall vision is a lot more ambitious, if a tad starry-eyed. Mahbod Moghadam not only imagines a time when every site will use some version of News Genius alongside their stories, but also a time when annotations are core to the Web itself. "Kids will grow up not being able to imagine a text that's not annotated," he fantasized.

That idea isn't new either. Venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, co-inventor of Mosiac, the first widely used web browser, invested in Rap Genius in 2012 largely because the company is creating the annotation layer of the Web that he was never able to make himself.

"I often wonder how the Internet would have turned out differently if users had been able to annotate everything – to add new layers of knowledge to all knowledge, on and on, ad infinitum," Andreessen wrote . "And so, 20 years later, Rap Genius finally gives us the opportunity to find out."

How to Format Lyrics:

  • Type out all lyrics, even repeating song parts like the chorus
  • Lyrics should be broken down into individual lines
  • Use section headers above different song parts like [Verse], [Chorus], etc.
  • Use italics (<i>lyric</i>) and bold (<b>lyric</b>) to distinguish between different vocalists in the same song part
  • If you don’t understand a lyric, use [?]

To learn more, check out our transcription guide or visit our transcribers forum

About

Genius Annotation

While young, News Genius will make it easier for journalists to add extra to news stories. Welcome to the age of context.

This story was originally posted on Digiday.

Q&A

Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning

Credits
Tags
Comments