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Apple Music adds lyrics from Genius

Apple Music will be the official player on Genius' site too.

Joan E. Solsman Former Senior Reporter
Joan E. Solsman was CNET's senior media reporter, covering the intersection of entertainment and technology. She's reported from locations spanning from Disneyland to Serbian refugee camps, and she previously wrote for Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal. She bikes to get almost everywhere and has been doored only once.
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Joan E. Solsman
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Apple Music has grown popular quickly largely thanks to the ubiquity of the iPhone. 

James Martin/CNET

Apple Music is linking itself up with Genius, the source for annotated song lyrics previously known as Rap Genius. Genius will provide lyrics to "thousands" of songs on Apple Music itself, and Apple Music subscribers who visit Genius can play any song in full on that song's page.

As streaming becomes the most common way people listen to tunes, Apple Music and Spotify have emerged as the leaders in the race to dominate subscription music. Though Spotify remains the biggest streaming service by both listeners and subscribers, Apple Music has taken the lead in the US, the world's biggest market for recorded music. With mostly identical music libraries, both Spotify and Apple Music chase ways to differentiate themselves from one another; lyrics from Genius are Apple's latest move.

Watch this: Apple Music vs. Spotify: Music streaming battle

"Being able to read lyrics and annotations on Genius while you listen along on Apple Music is a dream Genius experience," Ben Gross, the chief strategy officer of Genius, said in a statement Tuesday. The Apple Music player is available on Genius.com's desktop and iOS mobile website, and in its iOS app. 

Genius began as a site that provided hip-hop lyrics and packed them with linked factoids about music and artists, but it has since widened its mission to support annotations across internet content.

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