ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON THE MIAMI MEDIA BLOG
One of the most active members of the sponsorship community is the telco giant Mobilink that created a youth brand by the name of Jazz. Promoting music albums, organising concerts and festivals under their brand banner have contributed to shaping mainstream music of the country for two decades. Being the first to have on a brand ambassador to promote their products, the company had sponsored Ali Zafar's album Jhoom on 14 February 2011 and had him on their catchy jingles and advertisements.
Where romance and love ballads were ruling the charts Shehzad Roy launched a political and youth-centric music advertisement campaign with Mobilink’s rivals Telenor. The rise of “Khamoshi ka Boycott” was a trendsetting and pivotal catalyst in musicians entering the socioeconomic dialogue of the country. Roy has been an active contributor in improving the community wellness of children and providing essential philanthropic initiatives to help rebuild educational infrastructure in the country. Along with Roy the Telenor marketing strategy also endorsed Mahira Khan as brand ambassadors of Djuice. Not being left behind on the telco race to promote their products and packages, Ufone launched Uth Records that same year with Louis ‘Gumby’ Pinto and Omran ‘Momo’ Shafique as Producers fo the show. By this time FM 89 had been around since 2004 with a thriving community of RJs and musicians, they launched City Sessions by FM 89 that year.
The following year in 2012 the food and beverage industry started to clue into the marketing potential of music programming. The first Nescafé Basement was released that was headed by Zulfiqar "Xulfi" Jabbar Khan. He started his musical journey as the composer, music producer, guitarist for Entity Paradigm (EP) currently having produced 5 seasons of Nescafé Basement. It is important here to acknowledge that the music industry had transformed with the rise of sponsorships for digital broadcasting. The relationship between telco giants and music provided new strategies for revenue generation not seen before. SMS Ringtone culture and other steps to improving mobile data networking went hand in hand with music bundles, social networking and the now outdated MMS wave.
In 2013, Pepsi Smash Produced by Farhad Humayun released a collection of songs that could only be downloaded if users tweeted about the show! The rise of social media was marked with incentivising users to market products and essentially motivated the young user to start streaming more digital content on their phones. Their roster of artists included Strings, Noori, SYMT, Sajid & Zeeshan, Jarar, Ali Asad and Hussain Ali Shah.
In the three years that Cornetto Pop Rock was active from 2016 to 2018, they brought back concerts and live audiences to stands. Music got a glamourous commercial stage with star treatment, red carpet and young audiences. The Cornetto Pop Rock was a forerunner to the music and food festivals we attend today. The marriage of endorsed commercial music stages was back on the map! And the reboot of Pepsi Battle of the Bands was launched in 2017 with the best of the best at the helm of the project. The return of the competition was received with love and support from audiences across the country. Launching new bands with each wave of their competition, the winners of Pepsi Battle of the Bands go on to make high production value music videos, release a full-length album and go on a national tour.
The national reach of the show has helped return rock bands to the main stage of festivals and events. 2017 also marked the exciting launch of Coke Fest which can be seen as a physical extension of Coke Studio with a footfall of over 40,000 people a day, the three-day festivals not only has a host of musical acts but also lines its ground with food vendors.
The festival has returned each year bringing local flavours, commercial businesses looking to expand their clientele and musicians of Coke Studio's roster to the forefront of community entertainment.
The success of sponsored music is not a secret, for decades it has helped launch, support and generate steady revenue for the musician that ensures their ability to keep creating great music.
When the legendary Sufi rock band Junoon broke up in 2004, fans lost hope to ever see them perform live together but after 15 years they reunited for a Cricket World Cup Anthem sponsored by Sooper biscuits in 2019. This same year another Candy Biscuit launched a star-studded musical series called Meray Dost Meray Yaar aired on Geo Entertainment and Candy Biscuit YouTube channel showcasing emerging talent on the rise in Pakistan. The lighthearted and comedic rom-com storyline, catchy songs and fun vibe captured the attention of audiences all over the country. The show completed its second season in 2020 starring Hania Aamir, singers Asim Azhar and Ali Hamza, Asad Siddiqui, Mariyam Nafees, Hamzah Tariq Jamil, Behroze Sabzwari and Marina Khan.
Directed by Mehreen Jabbar, a seasoned director who has delivered incredible TV Shows including Malaal, Vasl, Daam and Jackson Heights. Sponsored music, dramas and events have transformed the industry creating tremendous space using digital promotion and release strategies. The world of the digital media publication is starting to take root in the way creative agencies develop content. Organically growing an audience is not as simple as airing a TVC or casting the biggest stars, people want relatable and intuitive programming that captures their personality and interests.
In 2020, we watched Velo Sound Station that had memorable performances by Atif Aslam, Umair Jaswal, Meesha Shafi and Strings. The release schedule was simple, they would release three songs every Friday encouraging their viewers to tune in on their Youtube channel. The shift from TV to streaming platforms is rapidly becoming the new normal. The post-COVID music industry landscape is shifting as we enter into a world of social distancing and high risk of infection in larger crowds gathering at social and cultural events. The lack of resources, no sign of vaccines and no tracking of active COVID cases in the country make it difficult for musicians to be invited to perform at concerts. In this time, the digital marketing revolution has come to the forefront to repair and rebuild the broken parts of the industry.
Digital media publishing is the future of the music industry. There is a wide spectrum of genres currently making music and releasing it on portals like Patari, Youtube, Deezer, Soundcloud and other music streaming websites.
is a digital platform created and produced by The Sketches a Sufi folk-rock band from Jamshoro, Sindh. Saif Samejo started The Sketches and Lahooti as a way to celebrate his Sindhi culture and promote local folk musicians of the region. Samejo understood that developing a channel on Youtube was an important part of setting up an independent record label that could do a variety of programs under one banner. Independent musical talents are on the rise giving us an exciting preview of the future of music in Pakistan. We know that Spotify is coming to Pakistan this year introducing a paid subscriber model into our local music market which can finally start opening up the potential for artists to be paid for collecting streams of their songs from all over the world.
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