Season 6 Official Review | The Sound of Accra Podcast

[00:00:00] Hey guys, Adrian from The Sound of Accra Podcast here and yeah, here we are in another exotic

[00:00:07] location doing another end of season review. I really can't believe how quickly time has gone

[00:00:13] since um season five was wrapped up and for those of you haven't seen season five look out for link

[00:00:22] here or there or maybe just in the description below and you guys can catch up on what happened

[00:00:27] in season five. But yeah, the funny thing is I was in an exotic location a few weeks ago

[00:00:34] and I should have done the end of season review there but I didn't get a chance to but

[00:00:40] you know lo and behold I've had another opportunity to go to another country and here I am in lovely

[00:00:48] Zimbabwe. Yeah, Harare Zimbabwe just in the Harare gardens at the moment and I thought

[00:00:54] just take some time for my schedule just to quickly do the end of season review.

[00:01:00] Hopefully you guys enjoy this one as you have in previous season reviews and I'll say once again

[00:01:05] at the end of every season I always find myself abroad in one lovely location,

[00:01:12] one exotic location to another and this time I find myself in Zimbabwe. So we're going to tackle

[00:01:17] the end of season okay we're going to tackle the end of season review of season six of Sound

[00:01:24] of Choir podcast. So in regards to this season let's go for it so I believe of this season we had

[00:01:32] 12 episodes we had 12 episodes of this season I was planning to do about 15 but what happened

[00:01:39] was that one of the episodes that I wanted to include in this season I had to leave out because

[00:01:44] of the sound quality so I will talk about the some of the challenges that I faced in the season as I

[00:01:49] usually do and there was a couple other episodes that I wasn't able to do with some of my favorite

[00:01:55] brands in Ghana. It happened due to some misunderstanding some confusions and lack

[00:02:01] of availability so we will get through that at some point but anyway I'm going to talk about season

[00:02:07] six first and foremost I want to say from a production standpoint and from a content standpoint

[00:02:12] I believe it was a lot better than it was from season five from the production to the content

[00:02:22] what else can I say so in regards to season six so we had 12 episodes just just to recap again

[00:02:31] so we have 12 episodes and if we recap the 12 episodes that we had we had we kicked off with

[00:02:37] in terms of 12 episodes we kicked off with Tree Learning Center I thought this would be a good

[00:02:43] episode to do a to launch the season with because I think with tree this is something that relates

[00:02:49] to every Ghanaian and it's something that the diasporans are always trying to learn and I think

[00:02:55] it was something that is important for us to learn more about the history and more about the deeper

[00:02:59] meaning behind trees so I thought this would be a good episode to launch the season with.

[00:03:03] We also had a chat with we also had a chat with Carlton Coffey who is one of the journalists over

[00:03:10] at Asasi FM who's one of the radio stations in Ghana and we had a lovely chat about the

[00:03:17] state of journalism and the past the present and the future and I think from a Ghanaian journalism

[00:03:23] standpoint it's a really really important episode because we've seen Ghanaian journalism evolve over

[00:03:28] the years I mean you've seen mediums such as radio, tv you know evolve and now you have podcasts

[00:03:35] and they have youtube and you have other things which have come into the mix so I think this is

[00:03:40] a really interesting episode for those of you who are in media who are in content creation even radio

[00:03:46] some form of journalism even if it's written journalism I highly highly encourage all of you

[00:03:51] to check out the episode that's a really really strong episode and then we talked about then we

[00:03:57] talked to Amang Jampu about the future of entrepreneurship we talked about things like

[00:04:01] sustainability, scale-ups, startups and solving problems on the continent which is a really really

[00:04:06] fascinating episode I don't think it has the amount of downloads and views that it really deserves

[00:04:12] we had also had a chat with you know some of the agriculture entrepreneurs you know such as Nana

[00:04:18] Coffey and Gideon which are fantastic tastic guests I highly recommend that because I think it's one of

[00:04:23] my favorite episodes in the whole season had a great conversation with Rochelle the

[00:04:28] the youtuber entrepreneur you know who launched you know a couple of you know fast food joints

[00:04:35] in Nigeria and Ghana and also is a veteran youtuber and you know a well-known you know

[00:04:42] influencer so that episode really really performed well not just on youtube but of course on social

[00:04:47] media I think in terms of if you want to look at the clips that perform the best in social media

[00:04:53] you look at Rochelle you're thinking Rochelle's episodes and you're thinking also Rocky

[00:04:58] Dawadi's episode as well those two episodes had very high performing clips on social media

[00:05:03] I mean tens of thousands of views on on instagram some of their clips and so many likes but it's not

[00:05:09] always about the likes not about the views about the content and about other things but in terms of

[00:05:13] performing clips I think Rochelle is definitely up there we also had a chat with Anders Barber

[00:05:19] you know where we discussed you know we discussed you know Ghanaian barbers I mean who I mean how

[00:05:25] many podcasts have you heard that discuss you know the state of Ghanaian barbers and the industry and

[00:05:31] you know what's happening in industry you know are people able to survive and what they're charging

[00:05:36] and what's the future industry like you know and how does you know Ghanaian barbers benchmark or

[00:05:42] compare to other other barbers around the world I mean you know I think one of the one of the

[00:05:47] amazing things that Anders Barber said is that there was one guy who flew in to Ghana had a

[00:05:53] haircut and he said it was the best haircut in his life and this guy's from America and you can

[00:05:58] imagine how many barbers how many top barbers exist in America compared to someone in Ghana I

[00:06:03] think this is a great achievement and I think what I took away from this episode is that Ghanaian

[00:06:08] barbers should be proud in terms of what we are capable of doing and at the same time Ghanaian

[00:06:13] should definitely charge more to you know to you know to show their worth and to show their value

[00:06:19] we also had a chat with Cyril Quazzo and he he's the co-founder of the GCR network that's the Gold

[00:06:26] Coast Report that's Ghana's biggest podcast empire Ghana's biggest podcast network essentially and

[00:06:32] we had a chat about how they started you know the the genesis and where they are now and their

[00:06:37] learnings and you know what we can learn from running you know a podcast network and some of

[00:06:42] the challenges he's faced some of the lows he's faced also some of the highs he's faced I've had

[00:06:46] some people message me personally say that's the best episode that that we've ever done on the Sound

[00:06:51] of the Choir podcast and that's really really nice to hear we also had a chat with Christina Carmel

[00:06:58] who is a music journalist not necessarily a news journalist like Carlton Coffey but a

[00:07:05] what do you call it a music journalist and you know we talked about her journey you know moving

[00:07:10] to Ghana and you know launching her her tv show out here and you know and discussing the state of

[00:07:15] Afrobeats in the state of African music in in Ghana I mean it was quite interesting to hear

[00:07:21] about you know what her experiences she went through as a lady in the industry and also how

[00:07:26] some artists in Ghana or even Africa have the wrong priorities you know they aren't business

[00:07:33] minded enough they're more focused on entertainment than rather business it's quite it was quite

[00:07:38] interesting to hear that from her I also had a chat with Anthony you know who is the founder of

[00:07:44] Shack Express which is Ghana's first super app and we discussed you know what it took for him to get

[00:07:50] to the point of building a super app you know we talked about you know the bikes how important

[00:07:56] you know electric bikes are in terms of you know taking off sustainability goals in the country

[00:08:01] and in the world and and how employing women has helped to shape his business and other interesting

[00:08:07] things so go and check out that episode we also spoke to Raki Dawani as I mentioned earlier on

[00:08:11] who had one of the best performing clips on social media not just in terms of views but in terms of

[00:08:16] likes and we talked about activism, social impact, we talked about his music and we talked about what

[00:08:24] kind of music is meaningful and why you know you know some of this meaningful music isn't around

[00:08:30] anymore and we also talked about you know the power of music and the power of coming together

[00:08:35] as Africans to make a positive change so I highly recommend that episode again another episode that

[00:08:40] hasn't had enough hasn't had the attention it deserves I really recommend you guys go out and

[00:08:44] check it out and also the season finale we had Nana Boateng and who is the CEO founder of Black

[00:08:52] and Famous which is one of Ghana's top luxury African wares I highly recommend you guys go and

[00:08:58] check that one out really really insightful episode in terms of you know how he started and

[00:09:04] you know the kind of people he uses the kind of influences he collaborates with to get the

[00:09:10] get the word out there and also you know how he's this is how he goes about designing you know what

[00:09:17] what he designs and you know just all of the infrastructure and operations behind it which

[00:09:22] is very very very interesting and and you know he really kind of shared how it isn't easy to

[00:09:28] you know launch a fashion brand and you know and to keep up with expectations but also to evolve

[00:09:33] and to be you know to run in your own lane at the same time so that was a very fascinating episode

[00:09:38] so the um the goal of this season the goal of this season on this season six of the sound like

[00:09:43] rap podcast was to really really really you know try and find some of Ghana's top movies and shakers

[00:09:49] you know from across different industries as possible so that was fashion that was film tv

[00:09:55] music entrepreneurship real estate you know just all of these different industries you know and then

[00:10:00] just bring all of these people together including entrepreneurship so bringing all these different

[00:10:05] people together to really showcase some Ghanaian excellence that you guys can really be inspired

[00:10:10] from learn from and apply those meaningful takeaways that you can apply to your life

[00:10:14] business and career as i always talk about it at the beginning of every episode um so yeah i really

[00:10:19] think season six was a success um i think you know in terms of the views and the downloads i think

[00:10:25] they performed pretty well um considering you know the size of the channel on youtube as well

[00:10:31] um considering the size of the team we have a very small team at the moment and also i also want to

[00:10:37] say that i think production was much better i think in terms of you know the positives that i

[00:10:43] can take from the season i think sticking to the same studio as much as possible throughout the

[00:10:47] whole season an actual studio not using a space but studio really really really helped you know

[00:10:54] to stay consistent and to not really have that many issues um i'll also say you know bringing more

[00:11:01] people on board to the team getting more freelancers on board to support the fratana crowd podcast team

[00:11:06] really helped us to you know get some of the get some of the off-site episodes done such as black

[00:11:12] and famous we went to black and famous uh studio um in east lagon his store in east lagon to go and

[00:11:19] get episode done he also went to you know one of the episodes they weren't able to release he was

[00:11:24] went to their premises in east lagon weren't able to release unfortunately but you know you know

[00:11:30] having freelancers on board to support us to get the content done that really supported us that

[00:11:34] really helped us um i think also having you know a lot of our own equipment this time coming to

[00:11:41] coming to ghana with my own equipment really really helped um with the podcast rather than

[00:11:47] having to rely on renting um equipment and being disappointed which is some of the learnings i took

[00:11:53] from you know season five which i may have mentioned in the review if you guys have checked

[00:11:57] that out you know the review that i did in uh in portugal and then also what i'd also say is um i

[00:12:04] think you know being able to attract you know you know high-profile guests at such quick you know

[00:12:13] time really really helped me to get the season done and dusted before you know leaving ghana

[00:12:19] because i think the brand's equity is really proving itself to to really attract you know um

[00:12:25] to really attract you know higher profile guests and to really attract guests at a quicker pace

[00:12:31] and i think that really helps when you have a limited time in ghana to record how many of our

[00:12:35] episodes you know to go back and forth with guests can really waste time you know there were other

[00:12:40] guests as i mentioned i wanted to record but some of the guests were delaying um so i think it really

[00:12:45] helped also to reach out to a lot more guests knowing that maybe maybe one or two maybe a few

[00:12:52] of them may not be able to make it so that i had uh you know at least so that i can at least leave

[00:12:58] the country but with a certain amount of episodes so i don't go you know um out of ghana empty-handed

[00:13:04] so i think you know reaching out to more guests than i than i needed helped because there's always

[00:13:10] people that would drop out etc that really helped and also the brand equity of the podcast has really

[00:13:15] helped me to attract higher profile guests at a quicker pace so that we can you know get episodes

[00:13:21] done and turned over much much much much quickly um and i think also coming with different cameras

[00:13:29] you know and even more lighting you know and you know and sticking to a schedule and having the

[00:13:35] booking system all of these different things that i've implemented in season six has really

[00:13:39] really helped it to be a success okay let's talk about what i would do differently now what would i

[00:13:47] do differently in terms of season six well i think in terms of season six i would actually

[00:13:52] next time i would use actual microphones um in terms of actual podcast microphones rather than

[00:13:58] you know using wireless mics which which work fantastic you know i've we you know we invested

[00:14:03] in you know really good you know high quality you know wireless mics compared to season five

[00:14:08] which the quality wasn't really good i would admit um i think if we used high quality podcast

[00:14:14] mics i believe this would have really really really helped um but unfortunately you know i think

[00:14:20] because of time and because i wanted to work on a lighter basis where i wanted to work i wanted

[00:14:27] to operate like a travel podcast where if i needed to go to someone's space you know it wouldn't take

[00:14:33] me too long you know it wouldn't be too difficult to travel you know to carry the equipment around

[00:14:38] and things like that and it wouldn't be as difficult you know to to get you know the setup i think next

[00:14:45] time if i have the ability to go around with podcast microphones i think the sound will be

[00:14:50] much more crisper and i think the episodes will probably perform better in turn because

[00:14:54] i always preach audio first in podcasts if your audio quality can't be what it needs to be

[00:14:59] then there's no point of of the of the video you understand um the video won't be as nice to watch

[00:15:06] so yeah i'll probably take you know more microphones next time i'll probably take a third

[00:15:11] camera next time and also i'll shoot in 4k even more this time we had we had some challenges with

[00:15:18] um batteries and charges and things like that so we weren't always able to you know shoot you know in

[00:15:25] in 4k you know mostly we had to shoot in hd but next time you want to make sure that i shoot in

[00:15:31] 4k come with better lenses come with more cameras come with a bigger team you know and i think some

[00:15:39] of the negotiations that we were doing regarding sponsorships another thing i will do is i'll start

[00:15:44] these a lot earlier maybe before i get to Ghana so that there's no disappointments there were some

[00:15:48] negotiations that fell through of course you guys saw that workspace global came through in the end

[00:15:53] and sponsored season six you know we've had a sponsor for the for the podcast every season since

[00:15:59] season three and what space global came through make sure you try them for free workspace global

[00:16:05] dot com also leave a link in the description below they came through and sponsored us and you know

[00:16:09] and they've been fantastic to work with so shout out to workspace global you know and the team for

[00:16:15] you know for for your support and for you know helping to to make this podcast you know reality

[00:16:20] the season reality um but yeah i'll definitely start negotiations for sponsorships a lot earlier

[00:16:26] that's something definitely i'll do um you know knowing how africa works we definitely have to

[00:16:31] start things earlier and have to you know adjust your expectations so i think that is it in terms

[00:16:36] of season six i think i've captured quite a few things in terms of you know what i wanted to

[00:16:42] touch upon about season six i'm really pleased with the body of work i think people really enjoy

[00:16:47] the body of work we've had lots of interesting comments that have come through from season six

[00:16:53] and season six is also open doors you know to other opportunities on the sound of a crowd podcast

[00:16:59] um so yeah really thanks for your testimonials really thank you guys for you all the comments

[00:17:04] that you've shared really really i'm grateful um but there's something i do want to say

[00:17:11] from next season onwards which is season seven which has already been started recording

[00:17:16] um in a different country in london we are going to take the seasons in a different direction

[00:17:25] so um more of this to come in terms of why we're going to take it in that direction and you know

[00:17:33] why we also think it's the best way forward but yeah essentially season six is the last season

[00:17:39] of the format that you guys have seen um for all of these years at least for now from season seven

[00:17:46] there's going to be a different format in terms of how we how we go about dropping seasons of

[00:17:52] the podcast so i want you guys to look out for for um for more for our deeper explanation

[00:17:59] in terms of why we're changing the seasons and how we go about the seasons but other than that

[00:18:05] i hope you guys have a lovely day have a lovely evening whatever you guys are doing thank you for

[00:18:09] watching season six if you haven't watched season six or listened to season six check the links

[00:18:13] below in the description below or on the screen if any links pop up on the screen please check

[00:18:18] those out um season six is out now available um thank you for anyone who's listened to listened

[00:18:24] or watched the episode or reacted to any of our social media posts or newsletters or emails or

[00:18:29] blogs everything is really much appreciated and if you guys ever have any feedback for us please

[00:18:35] let us know um you know feel free to reach out to us info at soundofacloud.com if you want to send us

[00:18:40] an email if you have any feedback or you or you want to maybe partner with us or maybe you want

[00:18:46] to sponsor a future season or even a different series you know we now do multiple series rather

[00:18:52] than just seasons um and you know thankfully one of the series that we now um do is fintech friday

[00:18:59] which is sponsored recently by binance africa so thank you bionic africa for sponsoring us

[00:19:04] you know we are now attracting you know worldwide huge brands and so you know the sound of crowd

[00:19:10] podcast is now starting to become you know bigger than a podcast so i want to thank you guys for all

[00:19:16] of your support for us for us to get this far it's almost been five years in the making any feedback

[00:19:20] you have for us for our content or anything anything that we put out please let us know

[00:19:25] we'll have links in the description we can get in touch with us once again email info at the

[00:19:29] soundofacloud.com if you do want to sponsor any series or a new season or any of our podcast

[00:19:35] segments also get in touch with us you know fill out the sponsorship form on our website or drop us

[00:19:40] an email info at the soundofacloud.com okay starting to get dark here in uh zimbabwe just

[00:19:48] in the harari gardens um yeah gonna go probably find some food soon you know everyone heard some

[00:19:56] singing you know some worshipping you know in the gardens which is really lovely to hear

[00:20:02] yeah and for those of you who want to know my thoughts in zimbabwe i think it's a beautiful

[00:20:06] place actually um at least harari is a beautiful place very different to ghana you know beautiful

[00:20:12] people wonderful people um but yes quite it's quite different it's quite different to what i'm

[00:20:18] used to in ghana um you know there's there's there's things that you know are different or

[00:20:25] better in some aspects to ghana and there's also things that are different or better who sorry

[00:20:29] there are things that are different or not better in some aspects um to ghana so but yeah i'm

[00:20:35] definitely recommend you guys coming out here if you can um but other than that thank you guys for

[00:20:40] listening and we'll catch you the next season end of season review take care