Due to the advent of many
Pakistani private channels including the all-music such
as Indus Music (IM) and TheMuzik, catching fame has become
quite easy for the newcomers in music industry. A number
of music bands, singers and musicians are entering the
market.
There are more chances and easy access to launch their
album and songs as compared to the past, but at the same
time, the competition has also accentuated. As "variety
is the spice of life", new singers are coming up
with diverse music ranging from pop, rock, bhangra, qawali,
Sufism, east-blend-west, classical, Dj Remixes and even
jazz! Mekaal Hassan band, Noori, EP, Fuzon, Jal, Aaroh,
Strings, Junoon, Haroon, Ali Zafar, Faakhir, Hadiqa Kiyani
are all doing well.
The music lovers have also become more mature and sensible
as their taste for music has cultivated over the years.
Now, the fans not only listen and dance to the tunes but
also criticize and react to the songs. This has resulted
in good quality of music instead of just crap. Also it
has become the need of the hour to create a 'connection'
and 'interaction' between the fans and singers. For that
matter, official as well as non-official or fan sites
of Pakistani bands and singers have come up on Internet.
Pakistani music going cyber has many advantages. Being
easily and readily accessible to everyone all around the
world, just a click away, Pakistani music will get introduced
and promoted globally. In fact, people can actually feel
the "existence" of Pakistani music online. From
the marketing point of view, the sale of albums has increased
and the singers are now recognized on the foreign front
as well. As far as fans are concerned, they can directly
communicate and send personal messages about their liking
or disliking of the songs to the singers.
This is only one side of the story. There is this tragic
part to it as well. Most of the sites are so badly designed
that instead of attracting the fan so that he may visit
it over and over again, he feels repulsive. First, when
one searches for one's favourite singer or band, the link
is either slow or contains a message, "sorry for
the inconvenience, the site is being re-arranged".
Second, if the site opens, its theme appalls the viewer
because it usually reflects contrary image of that singer
which cuts his popularity instead of increasing it. Coming
to a very important issue, the sites should contain music
and videos so that fans can download and listen to them,
but sorry to say that only a few of the sites are good
enough to provide this facility.
Junoon's site is remarkable as it includes its own player
where you can listen to songs and see its videos as well.
JAL's site is also something to rave about as it has free
downloads, discussion forums, press archives, news and
updates on concerts, the only thing missing is that fans
cannot directly send emails to JAL and get replies! Faakhir's
site is different from the rest, in the sense that the
background colour scheme, music to the whole layout of
site gives a soothing touch.
Besides, it contains membership opportunity for fan club
through which his fans can get free tickets for concerts,
signed accessories such as T-shirts and bags, newsletter
and much more. This addition is quite tempting for his
fans. One can also read lyrics of his songs and most attractive
feature of this site is that you can also send personalized
message to Faakhir and get reply from him. The only ridiculous
part is that it is full of his pictures which make the
viewer feel that it's more about "him" than
"his music!" For sheer disappointment check
Hadiqa Kiyani's site, which contains nothing but her wallpapers
and postcards with her facial expressions or sultry figure
as if she is some fashion idol instead of Pakistan's only
female pop icon. Wrapping up, the rest of the sites have
nothing to talk about, so you can check the list of links
provided here. Official sites of Pak singers and bands:
http://junoon.com/
http://shehzadroy.com/
http://jaltheband.com
www.haroononline.com
www.faakhir.com
www.falam.com.pk
http://www.hadiqakiani.net
http://www.aaroh.com
http://www.geocities.com/shirazuppal/
www.stringsonline.net
www.najamshiraz.com
www.farihapervaiz.com
www.nfak.com
www.nooriworld.com
www.mekaalhasan.cjb.net
www.mekaalhasanband.com.
http:/www.messiahx.com/
