Has the Pakistan music industry come to an end?

With the news of Lahore based singer Shiraz Uppal's decision of quitting musicin a bid to spend his rest of the life preaching Islam comes as a surprise.
Following the footsteps of Junaid Jamshed, who too had given up musical career for religious reasons Shiraz doesn't repent on giving up his musical career and even giving away all his instruments and recording equipment.
Shirazrecently posted on his social networking site saying,"I would like to thank you all for liking and enjoying my music... It was a Beautiful journey but everything comes to an end one day... So I said Good Bye to my Musical Career by my own choice... I just wished and prayed to my creator that how can I make u happy??? And he poured a light in my heart that opened my eyes and the path was lying clear in front of me... May Allah guide us all to the right... Amin. I was in search of this that am I doing anything to make ALLAH happy? How can I make you happy and then I got it how I can make HIM happy"
That doesn't mean that the music industry in Pakistan has come to an end. Infact with the Coke studio's popularity in Pakistan various singers and musicians are getting chance to showcase the talents not only in Pakistan but also around the globe. Meanwhile there have been threats to singers, shows being cancelled where in the music business have suffered too.Pakistani musicians and artists are being forced to give up music too? So how true is it? And Ali Zafar, singer turned actor contradicts, "Actually they are being forced to do more music." He added, " Music industry has suffered all over the world due to piracy. We could definitely do with less news hysteria and more entertainment and music on our local TV channels but since the society is going through an evolutionary phase, everything is in a transitional phase. Coke studio is the perfect example of where music is headed in Pakistan and I think it's a pretty cool place. However, great music that may be produced in Pakistan, sadly it lacks global exposure. Hence many artists are shifting to Bollywood and I guess, it is the place which can give more exposure to an artists. After all an artist wants to be heard and seen globally."
On other hand, upcoming artist Raza Waqar Mirza, lead vocalist, Arsh the band says, "There isn't anything like that but sometimes some families don't let their children pursue music or make it a profession as music considers to be a non Islamic deed here. But in our case we had a full moral support for our music by our family and we are lucky this way. But yes, music industry is suffering in Pakistan due to bad country situation. Not much events are happening because of security reasons. It's been 5 years in the Pakistan music industry for us now that we've been struggling and working hard to make our impact in the music scene. But we faced all the problems and bad phases in our career and never gave up which let us make our mark and gave the boost to our musical career which is backed up by the appreciation of thousands of our fans all around Pakistan, India and rest of the world."
That's not all, the young musicians have been very particular while penning the lyrics for the song. " Whenever we compose any new composition we keep a theme in our mind before writing its lyrics so that when the composition and song is done it would give a good feel which would be soulful and catchy for the listeners. Just like we've composed a song named Lamhaa which gives a message of peace and we composed it especially for the Indo-Pak peace. Paki Rock music is known for its Music Industry worldwide and there have been several legends who have contributed good music. We just want Paki Music industry to be supportive and kind with the new comers and upcoming artists so that more and more fresh talent comes out which would be good for the listeners too and the country as well.," adds Raza.
However Goher Mumtaz, lead vocalist , Jal Band points out, " Frankly, I didn't meet any single artist who gave up music. That's a huge perception. Including myself and others, we have been never forced by someone to stop or quit it. I started my band in 2002, when I was a college boy who dreamt about making a band. 2000 to 2007 was the ideal era for new artists and musicians because music industry was flourishing due to new music channels, media and growing economy. But from 2007 till 2010 was the worst era that a musican could ever thought of , attacks, no concerts, economy went down due to global slump and corporate sector was down too. It's only been past two years that slowly the music industry in Pakistan has changed. In my 10 years of music career, we have never being forced to quit music as no one ever tried to stop it in Pakistan, we are moderate people with moderate /liberal thinking and carrying positive image for country in front of world. Moreover, people do perceive that in Pakistan it is hard to do music, which not true at all."
He adds on, " Its not only the Music industry but also the movie industry that suffered in Pakistan. The reason is simple, government officials don't have vision for this industry, they may be confused, whether to do make it a profitable, economy supported industry or not. On the other hand, Pakistani music is being suppressed by bollywood music, award ceremonies, reality shows due to which Pakistani young talents don't get much attention."
" Pop artists in Pakistan were big in 90's, but right things have changed. Record labels, corporate sector , music channels have their own problems due to which artists are suffering and releasing on singles but not albums. We need king makers in music industry," adds Goher. K amran Mannu Zafar, Lead bass guitarist , Coke studio points out, "Yes, music industry inPakistan has changed a lot over the years. Various artists and musicians are actually struggling to make a career in the music industry."
Ali Aftab, lead vocalist , Beghairat brigade band stresses, " Yes, its great loss to industry... but Shiraz has all liberty to quit. Religion is one of the reasons, but if you putting lot of effort for years and you can't earn enough money that is another reason that makes you feel disappointed and then an artist decides to quit. One of the example is Karavan, one of the most popular band in Pakistan - they stopped getting show and there was no way they could earn so they finally decided to quit music. Now the reasons of quitting music had nothing to do with religion. Our music industry is surely suffering as we don't see many concerts happening here in Pakistan anymore. They don't organize event here due to law and order situation so apart from corporate event there is no way an artist can earn money out of this profession. It's not only in Pakistan ...piracy is happening all over the world. Sadly, there is no ticketing event happening anymore in Pakistan. There are two types of artist in Pakistan one who are famous and can earn money through overseas shows, another who are up coming artists have no opportunity to perform and slowly are quitting from the music industry. I have a song to record but there are studios who are not letting me record a song. One of our most popular song 'Aalu anday'..we incorporated from politics became popular hit amongst the youth. It has 750 000 hits on you tube. We got lot negative comments at the same time we also received friendly advices. I think Pakistan music will hit its eye only if the overall situation gets better."