Ever since YouTube was banned in Pakistan more than two years, local techies and entrepreneurs have tried different ideas to capitalize on the immense opportunity that gap created. Even though a couple met with some success (like tune.pk), the basis were shoddy and unoriginal. Massively uploading videos left and right, or providing a plug-in to access YouTube was missing the mark by a lot.
First Legal Online Music
Taazi.com is definitely a breath of fresh air in the online music/video sharing industry in Pakistan. They expressly state that their mainstay is that they are Pakistan’s 1st Legal Musical Site. The website vows to take the strictest action against any infringement and from the looks of it is following their word strictly. The website design is simple and easy to follow, artists have their own pages, kind of similar to Vevo on YouTube.
The site reminds of me GrooveShark – the way the songs keep getting added to a playlist and the music player is being shown in the bottom part of the page. What taazi.com does differently is that it has videos as well as audio music. It also separates playlists for audio and video files. The future of music videos, in my head, is pretty bleak – beyond the amazing ones, it is hard to imagine that any significant number of listeners would also keep the tab open to watch the video.
Copyright and Earning Potential
The copyright contract for artists is available on the website for everyone to view and says that 70% of the revenue from the artists’ page/songs would be given to the artist. I am not sure how that is different from other websites, but what I am sure of is that this is the only platform for several Pakistani artists to make money off the web. Other video sharing websites deal largely with pirated content, and have no links with the owner of the content.
This is especially encouraging for aspiring musicians as this website can be a source of income for them if they become an online sensation. Once the website catches on, they could also move forward by signing artists to do exclusive releases via their platforms. Oh, the possibilities!
One Design Issue and The Future
One slightly annoying thing, and this might just be because it’s different from the way usual video sharing websites work is that the video is constantly attached to the bottom of the page. That does not mean that the video gets cut off, it actually does not get cut off no matter how far up or down you scroll.
Taazi is a relatively new venture and it would take time for it to catch on, which it should since it is such a great quality platform. I have already bookmarked it for all my future Pakistani music needs. Currently, the website shows empty advertisement banners which means that it hasn’t had much success in that area and hasn’t reached that critical mass yet.
One way to go past this roadblock is to go a step further and change the model of seeking clients for online advertising – go talk to local businesses, get them here, get all those 1000s of Facebook shops to advertise their pages on this website, make it a complete Pakistani affair from all sides. I am sure there is a way to split the advertising between local and foreign viewers of the website and have targeted content that way.
In any case, it is a great idea and excellent execution. We will look forward to see it grow into a success and role model for similar start-ups.
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