Pakistan Music Industry

It’s a beautiful trend that is setting in the music industry of Pakistan nowadays. No more are the artists releasing their albums through a record label. Instead, what quite a few good names in the music industry have done is what you’d call a proactive viral marketing. But that is a lecture in marketing and not relevant to our write-up. So, let’s just stick to our subject for now and forget the scattered thoughts. Music has become a very serious business now. And the record companies play a major role in promoting the artists. Somehow, the artists have reached out to make a direct connection with their audience, bypassing record labels and their promotion, in the process saving them some percentage of the earnings. Names like Overload, Mekaal Hasan and quite a few others have launched their entire albums on the internet that is available for download. This has its pros and cons, the pros being somewhat more beneficial for the artists. An advertising based approach that targets the consumer – in this case the listener themselves – the direct access of the artist’s music on the internet assures that the entire album reaches the market. So distribution has been made redundant. The internet, which in the urban areas is usually a fast connection access, has taken over homes for entertainment. Music, movies, TV shows etc. all are available to be viewed and if you’re lucky enough to have a large LCD screen its all wireless connections.

So internet is making its way to almost every urban home; it’s much easier for the listener to get interactive with downloading albums, sharing comments and here’s the catch - visiting the artist’s website that would otherwise never be seen or probably would once in a blue moon. As is evident, there are loads of good reasons to jump from record labels to the medium of the internet. After all, it’s not the album sales in our country that make musicians rich. It is the gigs and tours that they take or are sought for to play abroad that have them rolling in wealth. And the internet is the best choice as the artist can well monitor what’s going on and can ask his manager or whoever looks after the business to hook him some great gigs here and abroad. Voila! No catch and a free ride to the touring camp for the artist. And those website hits? Well, it’s a trend and it seems the viable choice for now. Who knows what lies in the future for music as it’s a rigmarole at this moment? So long.
Do check out Overload’s album on their website now that you don’t have to pay a penny for it. Smile and chuckles! Enjoy the music.