Live music in Pakistan is almost unheard of these days unless there’s a concert at some college or a small gig at a restaurant or private, hush-hush concert somewhere on the outskirts of the city. Even new music albums, latest songs playing all day on music channels seem like a rarity which, at one point, used to be nauseating.

There’s no dearth of talent. So what really happened? Have Pakistani musicians stopped making enough music? Why are there no concerts?

According to Farhad Humayun of Overload, security threats, lack of proper management to deal with rowdy crowds and a heavy tax on live performances are the factors behind disappearance of frequent, large-scale live performances. Maybe this is the reason most musicians preferred crossing the border to earn a living where they get the recognition they work so hard for.

“You have no platforms to perform, there’s a 65pc tax on performances, YouTube is shut; this goes to show they don’t want you to play music. A musician conveying a peaceful message is not acceptable. There are no record labels. The ones that are around claim to distribute CDs which aren’t available anywhere. You have to do everything on your own,” says a disgruntled Humayun in an interview with Dawn.

The singer, drummer, producer claims there is no radio or TV station that plays only Pakistani music for more than an hour.

“Channels ask newcomers to pay thousands of rupees a month to play their music. Quality music has no space as channels are bent on making money only,” he adds.

The ban on YouTube two years ago has worsened the situation. Musicians lost another source of promotion; fans (almost) lost touch with music until other websites were discovered albeit with limited content. This troubled Humayun and other known musicians.

Fellow artistes Zoe Viccaji and Zohaib Kazi wrote an open letter to the then interior minister Rehman Malik and emailed a copy to around 300 artistes, seeking suggestions and solutions to broadcast their work in the wake of unavailability of YouTube, the most popular video sharing website.

Humayun says he replied suggesting they all come up with something on their own, as an industry.

A dismal response to the suggestion – with replies only from Tina Sani and Bilal Maqsood -- did not deter Humayun and he took it upon himself to take a step. That’s when the idea of riotarts.com was conceived. It’s Humayun’s self-sponsored, one-stop shop for Pakistani music – original and otherwise.

“We thought that a dedicated web channel should be available to someone sitting in South America should he look for Pakistani music,” he explains the reason behind the project. “The reason we did not invite sponsorship was we wanted to project a musician’s work with no guidelines.”

The recently launched web channel developed with state-of-the-art technology comes across as chic, user-friendly with a yellow and black interface, and as Humayun puts it, “looks international”.

A visitor has an option to listen to music, watch videos or even upload his/her own work. All you need is an account on the channel and if the moderators like your work, you’re there! Some of Overload’s own and a few other singers’ music is available on the channel while Humayun says he’s constantly pestering his fellow musicians to send in their songs.

“Around a dozen industry fellows will moderate the content which will only be made live if approved. There’s a video section, an audio player. In the future, we plan to make it an online shop so that music generates revenue and this becomes an example,” he says enthusiastically.

However, he faces the challenge of receiving music from other artistes. “They’re just lazy,” he laughs. “And it’s a challenge because we need stuff on the web channel to show so that people know we are doing some real work.”

“We also plan to play original content at the studio ourselves as well as invite other bands, record those performances and put them up on the channel,” Humayun elaborates on the functioning of riotarts.com. The channel will be marketed through different means, including social media and popular music forums that Humayun says he’s a part of.

But wait, what if ban on Youtube is lifted? Fear not, Humayun says, that would be great but still someone around the world may not know what to look for and how. “That is where we want to help them through a dedicated web channel,” he adds.

Humayun says his aim is “everyone who’s producing something good, something from the heart, should be able to showcase his work”.

If all music is downloaded off the web, how does a musician earn? To this question, the musician replies: “You still have to have some presence to become legit. People still need to know you to download your music; you’re an entity. When you have enough body of work then you have nothing to fear.”