In the early 1910s, Genius appeared to be a pretty promising site. The startup that controlled it had received significant funding and its simple idea of allowing anyone to comment and explain the lyrics of rap songs seemed to open up numerous growth prospects in other sectors as well. One of its extravagant founders claimed that Genius aimed to be bigger than Facebook, and one of its most prominent backers said the site's ambition was to “write down the world”.
Instead, for Genius came troubled years, full of problems and controversies, and now the company, which had reached over 100 million dollars in investments, has been sold – according to many observers, sold out – for 80 million dollars. MediaLab.Ai bought it, a Californian company that Bloomberg explained specializes in buying sites whose name is at least a little famous on the internet, but which now seem to have very little to say. Usually to then squeeze out what little is left of it.
The story of Genius began in the summer of 2009 when its founders – Mahbod Moghadam, Tom Lehman and Ilan Zechory, all three Yale graduates – argued over the meaning of the lyrics of a song by rapper Cam'ron, thus deciding to make a site that would allow each user to add context and explanations to the lyrics of rap songs, often full of quotes and references that many miss.
The first name of the site was Rap Exegesis (“rap exegesis”), then it became Rap Genius and later, when the added songs became all genres, only Genius. Over the years, this part of Genius hasn't changed much: it publishes the lyrics of the songs, with some parts highlighted and the corresponding comments and explanations from users. In the case of the most famous songs, the site is often rich and useful even in its Italian version: for example for those who want to understand or find out more about the lyrics of the songs of Marracash, Sfera Ebbasta or tha Supreme.
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In addition to the possibilities it offered to music lovers, Genius already in its early years made itself known for the eccentricity of its founders, in reference to whom in 2013 Vox wrote that they were known for certain “bizarre antics”, for their notoriously lavish parties, for admitting to having used a whole range of drugs and for insulting, among others, Mark Zuckerberg and Warren Buffett (the latter directly from Genius' twitter profile).
In the years in which she was growing up, among other things coming to make deals with Spotify and Apple Music, Genius also had to contend with the criticisms of those who accused her of checking the comments on the site little and badly, with the discovery of the fact that to gain positions in the Google searches the site had used improper practices and, above all, with a series of not small copyright problems. For years, in fact, Genius had put the lyrics of the songs on his website without paying the relative rights.
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On closer inspection, however, Genius' main problem (common to several other tech startups) was finding a way to make money. He had received many, but he was spending as many and above all he did not seem to have any idea how to make money. For example, a 2014 article related that Zechory, one of the founders, laughed when, during a hiring interview, a computer engineer asked him what plans Genius had to start generating profits.
Nevertheless, after having solved some of his problems with Google and with the record companies, Genius got back on his feet and among other things he also came to make interesting deals first with Spotify and then with Apple Music. Meanwhile, the company looked beyond music: to poetry and literature (the Divine Comedy is noted on Genius), but also to any other type of digital text, starting with those published by the websites of 'information.
The idea, never materialized, was to become the reference service to which every other site should have turned to ensure that each of its text could be commented on, on the basis of a system similar to the one with which Wikipedia works, but based on the ” Genius IQ ”, a points system to show who the most assiduous, effective and appreciated commentators were. In almost dystopian terms, its founders came to speak of the “Genius IQ” as something that, according to them, could have consequences on people's lives even beyond the internet, in real everyday life.
However, it did not take long to ascertain that Genius' plans had a serious underlying problem: very few sites were interested in taking advantage of the services it offered, understandably believing that the sections dedicated to comments and social interactions were already sufficient.
Genius has therefore remained a site of comments and explanations of mostly musical texts and above all rap or trap. With a lot of money spent and little earned, the fate of which will now depend on what MediaLab.Ai will decide, which has already announced some layoffs, but has not yet explained what it will do with Genius.
