IU alumnus Andrew Schroyer first heard about the app company from LinkedIn, which prompted him to reach out to its CEO, Seth Miller.
Schroyer is now a co-owner and user experience designer for the app on a team of eight.
“It’s like Snapchat, but for sending raps,” Schroyer said.
Currently the app allows you to send messages to Facebook friends, but soon they hope to create a username base so RapChat users don’t have to be Facebook friends to send raps back and forth.
“A lot of people freestyle to friends for fun and that’s the art of music,” Schroyer said. “You don’t always have the ability to be with your friends so when you’re not with them you can use the app to send raps back and forth. People find it really addicting.”
Unlike other apps, RapChat allows the user to place a producer’s beat behind their raps.
“A lot of feedback we’ve had is our beats are better,” Schroyer said. “At some point I want to get placements for producers to get their beats on there and have it linked to their Facebook and Twitter.”
IU student and RapChat user Sam Theil said he likes the app because it’s helped him improve.
“I’m not the best, but it allows me to have some fun and send raps and ideas to friends,” Theil said.
Although the app’s download rate heavily increased in December, Schroyer said they still have things to improve upon, such as ?making the app available for Android users and not just those with Apple products.
The app also gives users the ability to post on Facebook and Twitter and saves all raps sent to friends.
“We’ve been getting good traffic with that,” Schroyer said. “Raps get retweeted and a lot of other people hear what they rapped and find out about RapChat.”
Thiel encourages other students to download it regardless of skill level.
“Even if you’re the worst rapper or the best rapper, it’s always a lot of fun to mess around with,” Thiel said. “Even if you’re just doing it to mess with people you’ll improve, and there’s no downside.”
