What Is Transcribing? The Genius community prides itself on having accurate lyrics for new releases first. We're also constantly trying to grow our database by adding old songs and more obscure tracks. How To Add Lyrics Anyone can add a new song by clicking the "ADD SONG" link at the top of the page. —> More on adding lyrics How To Format Lyrics Genius prides itself in maintaining hygienic lyric formatting Focus on spelling and grammar Don't capitalize every word Always use apostrophes when writing contractions Transcribe all lyrics as the artist says them Break transcriptions up into individual lines Use section headers Don't transcribe every ad-lib Use standardized spellings Type out all lyrics, even when a section is repeated If you don't understand a lyric, use "[?]" How To Edit Lyrics Most users can edit lyrics. —> More on editing lyrics What Else Does Genius Transcribe? Genius transcribes EVERYTHING! Whether it be musicals, poetry, scripts, or anything else, we're on top of it. Want to Dive Deeper? But wait, there's more! Since you know the basics and have now become hooked on transcribing, here's how you can take your transcription game to the next level:
Release Calendars
Transcribing from and updating our release calendars are a great way to help out! Whenever you transcribe a song found on the release calendar, you can either edit or leave a comment on the annotation, indicating that the song is up.
Join the @transcribers forum!
Subscribing to the @transcribers forum is a major key to becoming a top notch transcriber. Here, you'll get updates, new transcription requests, and general conversation around transcription topics. If subscribed, you'll also get notifications when someone around the site needs your help.
Transcribing high traffic pages
We've all been here before — everybody wants to transcribe the biggest song releases. When everybody tries to transcribe at the same time, it only makes the process more strenuous and time-consuming. There is currently no way to entirely prevent other users from attempting to transcribe while you are, but here are some tips: How to transcribe high traffic songs High traffic song etiquette Shell Pages What is a shell page? What songs should be shelled? How to make shell pages Contact Everyone in the @transcribers forum can answer questions about their transcription experience on Genius. If you have any questions, feel free to hit up Stephen (@streetlights)!