Dawn Images

The year 2015 saw digital media swoop in and rescue music as YouTube remained banned in Pakistan.

With portals like Patari and Saavn proving that artists can in fact be promoted online while maintaining their integrity and interests, EMI Pakistan Limited too decided to revamp and relaunch their website, which went live today.

Although EMI took a while to realise the importance of a digital presence, it has to be noted that the company resurfaced in the music scene only recently when current general manager Zeeshan Chaudhry called out artistes for copyright infringement.

Speaking to Images, Zeeshan spoke about why EMI finally decided to steer away from its old ways: "The whole idea to revamp the website is to improve the [user experience]. Earlier, our website was more of a portal for music streaming, while the new version not only [gives access to] our archives but also shows our strong affiliation with our digital partners i.e. SAAVN, YouTube, Taazi. It'ss also serving the purpose of a corporate website, and it tells you what's happening in the world of EMI Pakistan," he said.

But that's not the only reason the website has been relaunched: "We feel It is very important to have a digital presence. Our audience is not limited to Pakistan but worldwide. Another purpose is to create awareness. Yes, the task won't be easy at all, but eventually artistes as well as corporate entities will start following the law."

Although the website is now functioning and has a collection of songs from the 'golden era', a few glitches do need to be worked out. "The website is still in the middle of optimisation," says Zeeshan. [The issues] shall be fixed in due time. Our website is catering to every single database in our archives, be it song or album and may even host videos in the future," he explained.

The website also facilitates artistes seeking to follow copyright laws: "I have been closely dealing with different artists and so far they have shown their confidence in our approach and work ethics; in fact, they are extending their support and cooperation. After all, it's a win-win situation for all of us," he shared.

Still, we're curious: If Saavn is already streaming music, what was the need to also add that feature to the website? "The idea is to keep it interactive as well as to show our strong digital presence. It's natural human behaviour when you are looking for something you want to experience it, so we applied the same formula here. Users can have real time experience also people may get to know that how musically rich we are."

Previously known as Gramophone Company of Pakistan, EMI is one of the oldest labels in the country with songs dating back to 1939. The company owns around 55,000 songs and represents 3,400 artists from the subcontinent.