Kasi Lyrics Interview

We all have that one trusted site we run to in search for lyrics. With the arrival of Kasi Lyrics, now we can search for any local artist and find the lyrics in any language. We had a chat with the founders of Kasi Lyrics, our very own local music lyrics site and got some insight on what it’s about, what it does and where it’s headed. Enjoy and be inspired.

Youth Village: What is Kasi Lyrics?

Kasi Lyrics: Kasi Lyrics is a lyrics platform for predominately South African Lyrics.

Youth Village: What inspired the idea?

Kasi Lyrics: The one key motivation was the fact that when you look at the majority of lyrics platforms globally they all have a North American and Europe focus and most of their lyrics are largely those of international stars and I thought it would be Cool to have a South African platform for South Africans. In addition the platform was also largely inspired by the genuine demand for local lyrics by South African music lovers.

Youth Village: What sets Kasi Lyrics aside from other lyrics platforms?

Kasi Lyrics: The key differentials would definitely be the amount of time we invest in product design, user experience and the functionality . Whilst a lot more platforms sacrifice design for functionality or functionality for design we strive to strike a balance between the two without denying the users a chance to experience the best of both worlds. Design wise we have a sleek, captivation interface. Functionality wise we have music players embedded to allow users to listen to songs whilst reading through the lyrics. We also have a nice search function that allows users to search any song lyrics of choice. The genre categories also come in handy for users who are looking at exploring. Content wise , we have very comprehensive database with all South African genres. Engagement wise the platform is packaged with social share functions and is build on the notion of user generated content so music lovers can suggest edits, upload new lyrics etc. Currently we also busy building in annotation as a core feature on Kasi Lyrics and I think that alone will set us miles ahead from our competitors.

Youth Village: Who are the founders of Kasi Lyrics?

Kasi Lyrics: The platform was founded Bruce Dube of Nine 80 Digital and B Squared Ideas.

Youth Village: How long has the site been in existence?

Kasi Lyrics: The platform launched in June 2014.

Youth Village: Judging by your large following on social networks, what would you attribute that success to?

Kasi Lyrics: Other than the fact that I think it was a product whose time had come. The artists, media and ours followers have been very supportive and that alone has elevated us massively. We are also putting in the work and constantly thinking through ways to innovate and be better at what we doing and create a user environment that is smooth and as desirable as possible and I think the fruits are starting to come to life slowly but surely.

Youth Village: How easily accessible is the site?

Kasi Lyrics: The site is very user friendly. It is also responsive so mobile users can navigate with ease. All functions available on a desktop can be accessed on a mobile phone.

Youth Village: Is Kasi Lyrics limited to only South African music?

Kasi Lyrics: We have three lyrics platforms at the moment; Kasi Lyrics South Africa www.kasilyrics.co.za which is as the name suggests is a South African platform, we also have Kasi Lyrics Africa www.kasilyrics.com which has a more continental focus and lastly we recently launched Naija Lyrics naijalyrics.ng which is a lyrics platform based in Nigeria.

Youth Village: Why Africa? Why Nigeria?

Kasi Lyrics: The one key reason is really the absence of an African lyrics platform. If you draw contrasts with America and Europe you will note that already there are platforms like MetroLyrics , A-Z , Rapgenius etc and in Africa none. So that in itself created a window of opportunity . Personally I have always sort of envisioned myself as an innovator without borders. So whilst it’s key to build from the grassroots up within our own immediate spaces, I have always sort of felt that the need to create solutions that will impact the continent’s digital landscape is not that other person’s responsibility but mine too in a way and over the years we have been building numerous digital platform across the continent and trying in our own subtle ways to shift the focus for Africa’s development from just being natural resource based to start changing that narrative to say there are other sectors worth investing in and digital media being one of those spaces with untapped potential.

Nigeria is a big economy , the biggest in Africa. It also has the largest population and thinking forward for any internet entrepreneur Nigeria presents massive opportunities as competitive as it is .It’s a country were any entrepreneur who has a vision to establish a continental footprint needs to venture into and with us it was merely a matter of when and not why.

Youth Village: Who takes on the task of writing the lyrics for the site?

Kasi Lyrics: The platform is build on the notion of user generated content meaning music lovers write lyrics to songs they like and send to us. We also receive lyrics from artists . In addition we have a team that also writes and decipher lyrics.

Youth Village: Besides social networks, can people subscribe directly to the site?

Kasi Lyrics: Yes, there is an option to subscribe to our lyrics feed . If you scroll down you will be able to see a text field which requires you to input just your email address.

Youth Village: Does Kasi lyrics focus on a specific genre of music or does it cater for a wide variety?

Kasi Lyrics: Kasi Lyrics has all South African genre’s from Kwaito, Rock, House, Rap, RnB, Jazz, Afrikaans music… basically everything.

Youth Village: What else can one do on the site aside from searching for lyrics?

Kasi Lyrics: Listen to music!, Watch videos! Check out charts which has the hottest songs in the country.

Youth Village: What words of advice do you have for young people who aspire to be internet entrepreneurs like yourselves?

Kasi Lyrics: It’s okay to be different and pave your own path. The new Cool was once the not so Cool so don’t be afraid to go against the grain and in conclusion our circumstances create unique experiences that require unique solutions . I inherently don’t think there is a manual to life so the world is yours .It’s just looking for more crazier people.

Youth Village: How can people visit Kasi Lyrics?

Kasi Lyrics: For South Africa you can visit www.kasilyrics.co.za all other countries are connected to our South Africa platform. You can also connetct with us on Facebook @ https://www.facebook.com/KasiLyrics and Twitter @ https://twitter.com/kasilyrics