The itch or drive to consolidate whatever is left of the music scene has been a concern for Overload frontman Farhad Humayun since the banning of Youtube, which was the main outlet for musicians to be seen and heard globally.
He received countless emails talking about how the Youtube ban had made it increasingly difficult to showcase the talent and work of Pakistan. Humayun felt Overload should try something to empower musicians, and move beyond the feeling of defeat brought on by the ban of Youtube. Inspired by an email from Zoe Viccaji and Zoheb Kazi, Humayun felt that it was time to try his hand at creating a platform for the local market.
“Artists complain a lot, everybody in Pakistan complains a lot,” says Humayun. I am not saying it’s wrong because there is a lot to be dissatisfied about, but it’s become a national characteristic. Some people I suppose are unfortunate and cannot do anything about it, and then there are people who can,” he adds.
In the essence of making a difference, Humayun plans to launch the music portal Riotarts.com, a state-of-the-art website that hopes to provide a multi-faceted platform to promote local artists. The website, with a custom-made video player, will include vast data on local artists, biographies, discographies as well as online streaming. He says that this is part of his bigger plan to make Pakistani music accessible to the world, and also create structures which can bring in revenue for local artists in the future. This is his organised attempt to respond to the Youtube ban.
“Youtube has been closed for two years. It was a global platform for people to show their work, and had all the potential in the world to go viral. Facebook has been cluttered and that will continue, artists will continue to advertise there and we will too, but the purpose of this particular web-channel is to showcase what is being recorded in my studio, in Xulfis, Meekal Hasan’s studio, Emu’s studio or whoever wants to jump on the bandwagon and form a presence,” he says.
Humayun first publicly announced the project on March 2 with Overload at a small concert event that he had organised. According to him, the platform will try to a provide one-stop-spot for local artists to promote their original work both locally and abroad. The challenge, Humayun says, will be getting quality local artists to engage with the site, but he envisions it as a potential game-changer for the industry in the long-term.
He says that if someone in Brazil or El Salvador or even America is interested in Pakistani music, he can’t find it even through Youtube, and there are few resources to guide the user through what to browse. This is an online presence of the musical talent and sensibilities of the Pakistani community, adds Humayun, comparing it to a graffiti wall in the sense that it is for anybody’s art.
At the initial launch of the website, there will be nothing for sale but Humayun is in conversation with telecom providers to add possible services that can be bought. Humayun says with the possibility that 3G will be available in the country by the spring, the website would become accessible to people in the remotest areas and villages across the country.
“At this point, we are trying to engage with people and show them that there is this much talent and there is this much potential, and this is a business, and it’s a totally a legit profession, so slowly we will grow the musician community and create presence and strength, but more importantly an ideology similar to what the fashion industry has done,” says Humayun.
In the meantime, he says he is in contact with several producers and musicians for this venture. He says the site will not focus on those musicians who are already signed with labels. Taking it slow, Humayun says there will be no formal launch, only a casual post of the link on his profile and from there, he says he will see where it will go.
“This is what is needed at this point I think, we will take peoples suggestions, since it’s not an enterprise or a business, I just want people to slowly engage with it, see what they feel about it. I will basically just share the link when it comes out,” says Humayun.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 15th, 2014.
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