EMI Pakistan has the distinction of having signed some of the most diverse set of artists to emerge from Pakistan. While the record label first appeared on the horizon in 1948 and shut down years later, it re-started operations in 2010.
INSTEPInterVIEW
Zeeshan Chaudhry from EMI Pakistan talks to Instep about the comeback of the label, the importance of implementing copyright and how the music business needs to evolve.
EMI Pakistan has the distinction of having signed some of the most diverse set of artists to emerge from Pakistan. While the record label first appeared on the horizon in 1948 and shut down years later, it re-started operations in 2010.
Since then, it has not only released new music from the likes of Usman Riaz, Zoheb Hasan and Asad Ahmed but is also on a mission to implement copyright laws and create a sustainable ecosystem of music.
EMI Pakistan revealed to Instep that between the period of 2015-2016, the label paid royalties to Arshad Mahmood, Tina Sani, Haroon Rashid, Fakhir Mahmood, Asad Ahmed, Ali Zafar, Farida Khannum, Ali Haider, Sajjad Ali, Nayyar a Noor, Mohammad Ali Shaiki, Attaullah Khan Ess akhelvi, NahidAkhtar, Ghulam Ali and Munni Begum. Similarly, between 2016 and 2017, the label paid royalties to the likes of Ali Zafar, Usman Riaz, Farida Khannum, Na yyara Noor, Nahid Akhtar and Ghulam Ali.
Discussing this and more, Zeeshan Chaudhry from EMI Pakistan sat down with Instep recently to talk about the comeback of the label, the importance of implementing copyright and how the music business needs to evolve.
Instep: EMI existed for a long time in Pakistan and releaseda lot of records including the likes of Vital Signs, Strings and Junoon. But then the label disappeared only to come back again. What happened?
Zeeshan Chaudhry (ZC): The problem here is that people don’t try to understand things. At the end of the day, the label, like a newspaper or a media entity, is a business and there is a mechanism in doing business. In the case of EMI Pakistan, the CDs and the cassettes, at one point, were ending up back in the factory while piracy was rampant in the country. In such a scenario, there was no way to sustain operations. So, EMI shutdown because of piracy. The government was not paying attention to the issue either and no actions were taken.
But with the passage of time, things began to change and evolve; the physical medium became obsolete and digital medium became commonplace. In addition, the government of Pakistan was facing pressure from the international community on the matter of piracy. Because piracy was not restricted to music alone, piracy of films, software was also an issue. As things began evolving in the right direction, we decided that the time was right to begin operations.
Our key focus is on implementation of copyright so that the ecosystem of music can be supported. The purpose of every record label is to sign an artist and release his material. Release, however, isn’t restricted to a CD. Releasing a record means properly distributing it at different platforms through different sources; it includes nurturing the artist and creating networks that lead to performances. Through this, revenue is generated and that revenue goes to the label and then translates into royalties, which is distributed to the artist.
In Pakistan, radio stations play music all day long. In between those songs, advertisements worth millions of rupees are played,which is pocketed by them but none of that money is used to payfor the music, which means a source of revenue for the artist is lost.
Similarly, on TV channels, music is played but no one pays for that music. So how should an artist make money? In this country, CDs don’t sell and neither do cassettes. TV and radioisn’t paying up. Concerts are not as frequent either.
Instep: If there is a folk song that has been around for decades and is sung and covered by artists over the years and becomes a culture component, how can you as a label take ownership of it? Another example would be how much you charge Coke Studio per song when they are redoing a song that belongs to EMI Pakistan but has been sung by almost everyone.
ZC: The concept of copyright needs to be understood. Here what happens is this: if a song is sung by Atif Aslam, we presume that it’s his song. But that’s not how it really is. It needs to be understood that it’s a song that is written by someone else and is composed by someone else. For example, in Junoon’sentire catalogue, most of the songs are written by Sabir Zafar. If a song is used, particularly by a brand and its being re-recorded and its essence (the composition and the lyrics) is used, the person who deserves the royalties is the lyricist and the composer.
What happens here is that the presumption is that if I’ve sung the song, I deserve the royalties. As for the amount that is paid to EMI Pakistan, we have a rate card. We charge specific fees for certain kinds of usages. For instance, a song used on TV has an XYZ fee and if you use the same song through the Internet, there is an ABC fee. Whether it’s Coke Studio or others, we work with them on bulk issues and not on one song.
Instep: A lot of artists, some new and some old, still belief that record labels are not as supportive and a lot of artists would rather put their faith in Patari, Pakistan’s largest audio streaming platform, or release their music as singles on their own or through a net label. There is no faith in the label system.
ZC: You are talking about people’s perception; not reality. I strongly belief it is perception because people have not checked reality.
For instance, some people believe in Patari but look at the number of downloads on Google Play Store it has seen, I’d say no more than 50,000 to 100,000. How many of those who have downloaded it use it regularly? Now, if you compare this to Saavn, it has been downloaded 500 million times. Compare it to Sound Cloud and the number rises.
Music is about culture and we don’t have it. There was a time when our music was good across genres. Our music was about storytelling and its more commercial now.
Instep: When you say good music, what do you mean?
ZC: I’m mean across genres, overall. Big artists are still established. They are still producing music in one way or another. They have a catalogue filled with music, whether its film music or otherwise. They are entertainers. And they are right when they say that public expectations are higher from them.
But those who have a song or an album to their name and talk about lack of faith, then that’s a stupid thing to say.
Good music is appreciated by everyone. When music is not being made and band culture has diminished across the country… Yes, they are some good bands but a lot are just covering others…
Instep: Is it possible that people in the industry are notpaying attention to good music? I can count dozens of artists who are making music, albums, videos, gigs – the whole nine yards – right now.
ZC: Yes, it is an issue of awareness and perhaps of faith. It is also about lacking music culture. We must look at music consumption behavior. In India, music is consumed through films. They’re music is playing here.
In the UK or the USA, every third person has a headset plugged-in. In UK, vinyl sales superseded digital sales. There are various avenues like clubs. In Pakistan, certain radio stations play music. In TV, technically, there is no music channel and the odd one out there is playing Indian content and asking for money to play local music. Look at the environment and the behavior. This friendly ecosystem is not available to your musicians. EMI has started to try and I’m not saying we’ve done everything right and things are fixed. A lot more needs to be done. It includes creating awareness about music itself and creating understanding about copyright, retaining your rights, its benefits.
The idea is to cater to artists and to the corporate sector and to make the matter of licensing music less complex because it’s how things operate around the world.
We have just started and there is a long journey ahead.
In the last seven years (since EMI Pakistan launched in 2010), we have worked on creating an infrastructure, implementation of copyrights. These are issues that will help music grow in the long-term. We are distributing royalties in the market, we’re investing in new music and new platforms, we’re producing music videos and we are in no rush nor are we trying to prove something. We are embracing technology and newer platforms in order to create a sustainable, beneficial future for all.
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Zeeshan Chauhdry, the general manager of EMI Pakistan
