Hit Makers Clash Over 100,000

For the first time in the history of music reality shows in Ghana, MTN has come up with one that will have a significant and meaningful impact on careers of the contestants. The MTN Hit Maker, by its content and concept, is so far more helpful to wannabe musicians than all the other music reality shows the country has seen. �Unlike other shows, the �Hit Maker� is for contestants who already have recorded at least a demo and you are allowed to compete with only your own song that was composed and recorded by you the contestant. The idea is to keep them in one house where they compete among themselves by performing their own songs which we make them record on a weekly basis. Meaning, the longer a contestant stays in the contest, the more songs he or she gets recorded for free and mind you, we have brought together some of the best music producers in the country to help in recording the songs for the contestants,� Ivan Quashigah, producer and director of the show explained to NEWS-ONE. The icing on the cake is that the overall winner walks home with a cool GH�100,000 and a huge promotional package Mr. Quashigah, Chief Executive Officer of Farmhouse Productions, explained further to NEWS-ONE that because MTN Hit Maker was a huge platform, the contestants would enjoy free promotion of their songs, unlike other upcoming musicians who would go through the hustle of getting radio DJs to promote their songs. The fact is that most of the contestants who competed in the several music reality shows that have been organized so far (names withheld for now) cannot boast of a song, or even a demo. They simply pass through the competition by performing the works of other artistes, after which they leave the competition empty-handed. But with the MTN Hit Maker, at least each of the contestants would be leaving the competition with not less than two professionally recorded tracks. Ivan Quashigah explained that eviction would start next week because organizers had decided to give the contestants some grace period to settle down. He said viewers could participate in the competition by voting for their favourite contestant on MTN short code 1327. The final 12 finalists were selected from a total of 1700 persons who submitted their demos. The number was shortlisted to 150, then to 48 before the final number of 12. They are allowed to compete with any genre of music. Judges for the competition are Bessa Simons, a seasoned producer and keyboardist who is also the vice president of the Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA), Ofie Kodjoe, a renowned singer and composer and Zapp Mallet, Ghana�s celebrated sound engineer and producer.