Ground Up Chale officially announces the launch of its in-house sync and creative talent division, Ground Up Talent Agency (GUTA).
Launching on a high note, GUTA scores big with an international sync deal for Kwesi Arthur’s hit single, “Winning” featuring Vic Mensa. The anthemic song has made it onto the coveted EA Sports Madden NFL 23 official soundtrack, a win for African youth music, positioning Kwesi Arthur alongside the likes of Nas, Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, Robert Glasper, Bas, and Ty Dolla Sign to highlight a few of the heavy weight contributions.
Released through Ground Up Chale, “Winning” saw global success with radio, receiving airplay on the likes of Hot 97 (New York), YFM, Pluzz FM, Guide Radio (Ghana), Cool FM, The Beat FM (Nigeria), and 5FM, Gagasi FM, Jozi FM, Motsweding FM, YFM (South Africa).
“We are honoured to be part of the Madden 23 game and soundtrack. It is a big win for us personally, and also for Ghanaian and African music as a whole. I believe sync deals like this are the next step in the commercial evolution of African music, and we are happy to be in early on it. We have clear short term and long term goals with GUTA as it pertains to the building of structures that allows African artists to profit commercially globally, and you will see a lot of those ideas play out in the next 12-18 months with our global partners,” shares Eph Yeboah, Head of Partnerships and Creative at GUTA.
“I started Ground Up Chale with a view of giving young African artists a platform to showcase their talents globally. Our first sync for Madden 23 by our in-house agency, GUTA, is another cog in the global machine that we are trying to build here. Our strategy is to create a structure and platform for African artists to maximise their potential worldwide. We believe that African youth music as a sound is taking over globally and will be doing much more in the upcoming years. We’ve always had the talent in Africa, but now is time to put the business structure around it through areas such as brand partnerships and syncs,” adds Glen Sho, Founder and Director of Ground Up Chale.
GUTA’s latest win comes off the back of specialised campaigns for brands such as Beats By Dre, Clarks, Roland, EA Sports, and Belaire just to highlight a few.
With Roland, GUTA worked on industrial placements for their in-focus instruments on major festivals and tours – partnering Roland with key musical directors working on Giveon’s Five Six Tour Two, Wireless Festival, Primavera Sound Barcelona 2022, Fireboy DML’ s Bet 2022 performance, and Becky Hill’s UEFA Euro Women’s 2022 final performance.
GUTA also recently partnered with Belaire – curating artist interviews with Black Sherif, Kwesi Arthur and Quamina MP on Belaire Ceo Brett Berish’s ‘self-made’ series. GUTA project managed the interviews and also led the PR and Gifting of the campaign.
Providing not only a turning point but an entry point to connecting African youth talent and brands to a global market, GUTA is proving to be a much-needed Snyc and Creative Talent Agency servicing both individuals and companies across the African continent.
