Allowing for equal opportunities among artists, the music discovery app, talent development, streaming service, and live event company have taken the African music industry by storm in the short time they’ve been active. In the midst of their live music session series on YouTube and their current search of artists to create a girl band, the company continuously promotes and produces high-quality content for the world to see. Erik Grönwall, a co-founder of Hitchat, had sat down with us to talk more about the company and what the team has in store.
A social media app, music academy, and record label all in one? And I’ve learned that the company is currently creating a girl group? That’s so incredible! How has the team been able to juggle all of these responsibilities?
Yes, that’s right. We try to not separate the different departments too much, Hitchat is Hitchat, but internally we have a good structure to work with all the different responsibilities. One tech team, one marketing team, one talent development team etc.
How was it when initially getting Hitchat off the ground? Was it easy getting artists on board for this project?
It’s been a journey! We basically got hit by Corona and the lockdown just when we started to get momentum, so we had to shut down the academy and just focus on digital content creation. I think the talents during our pilot have been amazing and they trusted us from day one. Being an artist myself I know you are always a bit skeptical when a new company approaches you and offer you a contract (who are these guys? why should I trust them?). I would like to thank our talent and team member Mr H who helped us get in touch with a lot of talent locally and supported us from day one. Also a big thank you to all talents for giving us a chance to work with your talent.
Since its creation, how have you seen the app change the music industry landscape in Africa? Where do you see it going in the future?
We are still in our infancy so I wouldn’t say the app has changed anything worth mentioning in the music industry landscape in Africa as of now. However I believe Hitchat as a company has made a huge difference for talents and fans in the area we are active in, which is Philippi, Cape Town. We have a scaleable model and want to create entertainment and expand to other townships in South Africa starting next year.
I’d love to talk a little more about your live session series both on YouTube and the Live Summer Session. How do you find artists to perform during these events?
Thanks to a good marketing team and local connections thanks to influencers like Mr H. Anyone is welcome to perform and our casting managers approach the talents that have that extra star quality. From there we can start working with them and provide them with choreography and vocal coach sessions etc.
For YouTube in particular, how long does it take to set up and record the set?
We only have super heroes in our team so I would say 5-8 hours to shoot the video and do a photo shoot.
I was reading through a few comments on Hitchat’s social media platforms and this one had caught my eye: “I don’t understand the language but the song is good to my soul”. How does it feel knowing the company’s and the artist’s works are breaking through language barriers?
Wow. Amazing. We are all about entertainment in township areas and we want to create a safe environment for people to have fun and to share and listen to fantastic performances. If we can also help our artists achieve global stardom and reach new markets then we are a very happy company.
Hitchat
