Genius (company)
Genius is an American digital media company founded on August 27, 2009, by Tom Lehman, Ilan Zechory, and Mahbod Moghadam. Its website serves as an online music encyclopedia allowing users to provide annotations and interpretation to song lyrics, news stories, sources, poetry, and documents.
Type of business
Worldwide
MediaLab AI, Inc.[2]
- Tom Lehman
- Ilan Zechory
- Mahbod Moghadam
- Ilan Zechory (former)
- Miki Toliver King (current)
Tom Lehman[3]
Required for editing, annotating, and transcribing
October 20, 2009[4] (as Rap Genius)
Originally launched as Rap Genius, with a focus on hip-hop music, the company attracted the attention and support of celebrities, and venture capital enabling further growth.[1] The site expanded in 2014 to cover other forms of media, such as pop, literature, R&B, and added an annotation-embedded platform. That same year, an iPhone app was released. To reflect these new goals, the site relaunched as Genius in July 2014. An Android version was released in August 2015,[5] and in 2016 and 2017, the company began producing music-focused original video content and hosting live events and concerts.
Key people[edit]
As of 2021, key staff members and advisors to Genius include co-founders Tom Lehman and Ilan Zechory (resigned as president in 2021), additional board members and investors Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowitz, Dan Gilbert, and Steve Stoute;[62][63] Chief Content Officer Brendan Frederick,[47] VP of Content Strategy Rob Markman,[45] Chief Strategy Officer Ben Gross, President Miki King, CFO Nakuj Vittal, CTO Andrew Warner, and Site Director Stephen Niday.[90]
On March 11, 2021, Genius named Miki Toliver King, the Washington Post's chief marketing officer, as its new president, replacing co-founder Ilan Zechory. Zechory will remain on the company's board of directors and continue to be involved in strategy. King commented to Variety Magazine, "Never has there been a more important time for the work of artists and creators to reverberate around the world, with Genius as its driving force. I am honored to leverage my career-long commitment to connecting audiences to the content they value most." She joined the company in the second quarter of 2021 and will oversee revenue, content, audience operations, and marketing alongside co-founder and CEO Tom Lehman.[91]
Top artists contributing to Genius include Lorde, Frank Ocean, Jaden Smith, Lin-Manuel Miranda,[53] Selena Gomez, Phoebe Ryan, DJ Khaled, Nas,[6] Eminem,[48] Rivers Cuomo, and Rick Rubin.[48]
