Musician and poet Faheem Abdullah recently shared interesting insights about one of his most recent projects, ‘Ishq’, a music film. A concept that is so different from the usual music videos that continue to dominate the music space.
And now, in another exclusive conversation with IWMBuzz, we asked him about the challenges of being an independent artist, and if there was one thing he could change about the music industry, what would it be?
Q. How difficult is it to be an independent artist? What are the challenges you face the most?
A: I think, you know, everybody says that being an independent artist is a very difficult thing and then there are challenges, but you know, I think I’m very grateful being an independent artist who is signed to an independent music label, which happened just a year ago. I was making music before that. I’m making music now. The most beautiful part about being an independent artist, I would say, is that you get to do what you are supposed to do as an artist.
You do not have any driving force or you do not have anybody to tell you what you’re supposed to do. So you have that independence. That is the independence you have when you’re an independent artist. Now, if you are not if you are a dependent artist, then of course, there will be other people who say, I think you will, again, you will become this person who works for a certain form and not an artist. The best part about, again, being an independent artist is that you get to explore art the way you want to.
In terms of music, you get to explore music the way you want to. You want to put forward a song because you feel it and you put it out. It just doesn’t matter what the audience would like to hear or what the current trends are. You set the trend. So that’s when you are an independent artist, the only time you can do it. Of course, there might be a few challenges. Maybe the financial restraints or you might want to explore a very expensive concept. You might not be able to do it.
But then I think all these inconveniences aside, I think you can work it out if you want to turn out something. It won’t matter at the end of the day if you are not able to afford a certain thing or a space or hire certain people, I think at the end of the day, this is how it’s meant to be and it will come out. So very proud to be an independent artist at the end of the day.
Q. If you could change one thing about the music industry, what would it be?
A: All right. I love that question. If there’s one thing that I would want to change about the music industry if I could, it is the way that it works in terms of, if you look at the West or if you look at older times, people used to have their albums coming out.
Musicians were independent of any producer or the film world. So what used to happen is there’s this musician, there’s this artist, he puts out an album, he puts out a single, he puts out an EP, and people listen to music for music. People listen to music because they love this artist. And what happens later is that some of his songs get picked up for a film. And that’s how it gets into the film.
If it fits that situation in the film. But what has been happening in our music industry is that a film is made, a situation is created, people are hired, and then they make a song for that very situation. So there’s a lot of fallacies there. You know, they’re bound. There are a lot of restraints and they have to do it a certain way, certain composers, certain musicians, certain singers.
But when you’re doing it for the sake of making pure music, I think that is the most beautiful thing. Just like it happens in the West. So for example, Taylor Swift has made a song for a film that is just being made, they listen to the song and they like it and they think that it fits the situation of the film.
What they do is they get the rights, the sync rights, or whatever rights and they put it in their film. It benefits the artist and it keeps the sense alive. So I think that is the only thing I would want to change about the music industry.