A Booming Industry?

In a documentary currently under production at ARY digital-we explore the phenomenal growth in media, and look at some of its repercussions on the music industry, and society as a whole.

For me personally, the experience has been particularly eye opening-its forced me to look afresh at an industry I only ever took for granted in the past, and has given me a new insight into the most pressing social issues we face.

With the unprecedented explosion in media outlets, have come new challenges as well as new synergies for the music industry; which has made it a particularly exciting time to survey this relationship.

Growth in the new media industry is hardly unprecedented internationally-infact it remains one of the more dynamic sectors, even in developed countries. But with breakneck liberalisation of media policy, Pakistan has of late witnessed an extraordinary revolution in its media industry. As television, and to an extent the internet have permeated further through our society, the effects are perhaps more significant than even we realise. What many term as a paradigm shift- a major upheaval in the way media and society come together.

In the eye of this storm lies the predictable relationship between music and media. As TV and the internet have become more common, the transformed demographic of the average listener has had tangible effects on the music being produced. There is a greater international consciousness awell, and Pakistan now stands at the forefront of contemporary trends. From bubblegum pop to folk rock-the newest mutations of what is (arguably) populist music are now readily at home here.

This means that the music industry is one that is gaining a self assurance and identity like no other. But it remains in tremendous flux- beleaguered nonetheless, with problems both new and old, as well as glimmers of hope on the horizon.

An old concern that still remains a thorn in the side of the music business is the very unorthodox business model that lies at the heart of our music industry. There remain no functioning recording labels, and with them have gone all hopes of royalties or intellectual property rights in music. Instead, artists rely on one of a handful of ‘distribution companies’ that buy the completed albums from artists and are then the sole beneficiaries of all proceeds. With artists having to arrange personal financing to establish there careers. Its resulted in a phenomenal loss of talented musicians, and an even more crippling lack of professionalism. This has meant that a music career in Pakistan has remained at best, an entrepreneurial activity on the personal level.

Which is not to say that the situation remains one of incorrigible hopelessness. On the contrary, media’s greater influence has brought with it novel solutions to old problems, which is why documenting this change remains a present and pertinent need.

Now as businesses and even TV channels step into the fray by bankrolling musicians- controversy never remains far and there are fears that some of the cures may well prove to be worse than the ailments.

Branding or ‘crass commercialism’ for example has come to be considered a pariah of sorts with almost all commentators on the industry—although it must be noted, not with the musicians themselves—who allege that artists, by agreeing for sponsors to add advertisements to songs and videos sell out there calling. Its claimed that by allowing large corporations to ‘brand’ their artistic creativity, musicians essentially allow materialistic considerations sully the music industry. The musicians (on the whole) in turn argue that branding is one of the few opportunities that have to make a livelihood, and if it means that there videos (and even sometimes there songs) must feature anything from hard boiled candy to carbonated cola, then so be it.

But the need for start-up capital, or a corporate branding contract have resulted in deep fissures within the industry. For those artists who don’t have the initial capital or readily bankable assets, fall into the wayside. Understandably so, for when selling domestic consumables and not the music itself is the overriding concern, the whole system becomes more than a little skewed.

Even more worryingly, the vast majority of our proletarian music seems to be excluded from the newly popular media outlets. Consequentially, it’s hard to ignore the serious editorial bent bordering on elitism. Contentiously perhaps, the documentary investigates whether in this sea change, our music, or atleast the what is showcased on television has become essentially discriminatory. Despite the very real risk of running an exercise in semantics-we deal with the very evident dichotomy that has emerged between the haves and the have-nots. The have-nots often being the truly popular artists, but whose work is hardly featured, whilst the other flank is populated with the comparatively less popular, westernised breed of musicians-branded with the almost ironic misnomer of ‘pop’ acts. The startling empirical evidence I (informally) gathered during the filming suggest that even the likes of Junoon are often unheard of in Urban centres like Karachi. I think this is an issue that has much greater relevance to Pakistan, as we wrestle with a society that is increasingly less egalitarian. Indeed it asks important questions about the stratified and rarefied culture that we seem to be developing. I am reminded of a heart rendering interview with Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan I once read where he described how our people only really accepted him once the western world hailed his phenomenal talents. Unfortunately, this is a mistake we continue to make to this very day.

In the end, as much as the documentary has been a fact-based passage through the nebulous world of the music industry. At least for me, its meant much more than that. The issues at hand are ones we must wrestle with, not just confined exclusively to the music business. Its been an oft poignant and deeply telling account of the society I inhabit. Indeed, like all truly inspirational journeys, its taught me as much about myself as it has about the world I set out to understand.