what is a contributor
What is a contributor?A Genius contributor is any Genius user with more than 300 IQ who is not an editor, mediator, moderator, verified artist, or member of staff. They are the lifeblood of the Genius Community and as a collective, account for the majority of Genius contributions. Contributors can earn IQ from transcribing songs, annotating, entering metadata, answering questions, and suggesting improvements to contributions---here's a full list of ways to earn IQ. Depending on the quality of their contributions, contributors may be promoted to the editor or mediator role.
What can contributors do?Transcribe songs: Adding songs to the site is super important! But it's also important that they look as neat as possible → So make sure you're doing it right and click here to learn more about adding songs!
Create annotations: If a song is locked, you'll need 600 IQ to annotate →  Click here to learn more about annotations!
Edit metadata: You'll need 300 IQ to start editing metadata → Click here to learn more about editing metadata.
Propose edits and leave suggestions: If you'd like to make an improvement to an existing annotation, you can either leave a suggestion or propose an edit. You cannot propose edits to verified annotations →  The suggestion section can also be used to contact others in the community and work collaboratively with them on a song page!
Edit lyrics: Contributors can edit most lyrics. However, they won't be able to edit them if they've been verified by the artist, or if the song page has more than 5,000 pageviews → Right now the best way to edit lyrics is to "Edit Lyrics" then "Propose This Edit" when done as shown here. If it hasn't been reviewed then feel free to post on this thread and someone may come fix them for you.
Answer questions: Once you become a contributor you'll be able to answer questions. Make sure you're only adding valuable information! →  Click here to learn more about answering questions!
Become a verified artist: You will only receive the green name if you work solely on your own stuff. Otherwise you'll be considered a Community artist and your name won't be in green  → Fill out the form on this page to be verified!
Participate in forums: You can create forum discussions and post in existing threads as long as they are not closed → Please adhere to our community policy.
Send messages: This is a crowdsourced community, so we encourage everyone to communicate with each other. Messaging should never be used to harass another user → Again, see our community policy.
Can contributors become editors?YES! However, you must show that you can make high quality annotations. If you think you're ready to become an editor tag @mentors in the suggestions section of your best annotation. Someone will come take a look and reach out to you about the editor role.  For more information about becoming an editor follow this link.
Contributors are also eligible for the mediator role. If that sounds like something you're into, send a message to @Empath and he'll show you how to get started.
Additional reading for contributors• Using formatting and markdown:  Are you italicizing album titles, putting song names in quotation marks, and linking properly? -> More on formatting
• Writing great song bios: Does my bio contain all of the necessary information? -> More on writing bios
• Refining Language:  How can you make a good annotation even better? Strong writing! -> More on refining language
• Contextualizing: Provide as much context as possible. Don't assume the reader knows everything. -> More on contextualizing
• Avoiding Stretches:  Stay objective and grounded! -> More on avoiding stretches
• Annotating Problematic Lyrics:  Don't reinforce stereotypes or hate speech!  -> More on annotating problematic lyrics
• Structuring annotations: Does my annotation flow nicely? -> More on annotation structure
• How to approach surface level lyrics:  Doing research is key. -> More on annotating surface level lyrics
• Lyric corrections: Are the lyrics right? You can't have a good annotation without correct lyrics. -> More on correcting lyrics
• Annotating songs that have more than one language: -> More on annotating songs that have more than one language
If you haven't got around to it, please familiarize yourself with our Ten Annotation Commandments.
If you have a question that hasn't been answered on this page, check out our Genius FAQ, or send a message to one of the community staff members: @ewokABdevito, @Empath, @Streetlights, and @Michael