This east London startup is bringing DJs together worldwide
What happens when a group of amateur DJs, event promoters, musicians and record label managers come together? Chew.tv happens. That’s the live streaming platform that’s connecting a community of over 350,000 amateur, up-and-coming and professional DJs, producers and personalities from over 130 global countries.
As one of the world’s first music startups to successfully crowdfund a financing round, the team has been backed by a vast group of friends, family and other investors from across Europe, and they’re on the up. Chew's community is made up of DJs and music producers who create and broadcast content from around the world, and it’s that diverse community that’s fed their success to date.
With an audience in almost every country in the world, engaging with other community members and creators on a daily basis lends Chew a real sense of community -- it’s likeminded people sharing their talents, passions and insights with a connected, invested community -- one which is growing every day.
So how does it work? Creators share their musical talents from bedrooms, studios, venues and pretty much anywhere they have access to an internet connection. The connected community can chat live on the platform too, gaining insight and sharing expertise to grow the community of invested, well cared-for subscribers.
Chew’s full-time team consists of CEO and co-founder Wil and CTO Sam, who take care of the day-to-day from Ministry of Startups in London’s Shoreditch area, a hive of startup activity. And it’s clear the team’s London roots are very important to the duo - Wil told Mashable that Chew was founded “to provide a platform for musicians and DJs around the world - there are a number of separate communities that support parts of what a DJ or musician would need, but prior to Chew none were built with livestreaming at the core”. Following the example of what Twitch did for gaming, Chew set out to create a similar offering for the music sphere.
Beyond Wil and Sam’s full-time positions at the company, the team is supported by their marketing and Artist relations headcounts - the struggle of being a startup means reigning in personnel spending. "We've only raised £320,000 over the last two years - partly thanks to our time on the Ignite accelerator at the end of 2014," Wil told Mashable. To that end, the team has “worked on lean budgets, with a lean team. From a personal point of view, I'm incredibly proud (on a daily basis!) of what we've done since founding Chew on such small an amount of capital."
Chew’s vision of connecting worldwide DJs and providing a platform to collaborate, communicate and share musical passion has proven to be a success across the globe, and the future may see the team expand into different verticals, alongside growing their community to represent the huge variety of musical genres enjoyed worldwide. For a couple of east London music enthusiasts, they’re certainly doing alright.
The team are currently crowdfunding for public support, to expand their presence and continue providing their service worldwide. You can show some support for Chew via their crowdfunding page here.
