A lot of artists this year chose to release their music independently. While this could be an option for the lot which can pay for the production, distribution, marketing and lawyers, this can’t even be a consideration for most other musicians.
Earlier this year, we highlighted some interesting facts about how digital music has been the cause of no physical sales in Pakistan. Bottomline: like CDs killed cassettes, MP3s put an end to era of CDs. That said, American market could still sustain itself with launch of iTunes in 2003 which could let people buy less-tangible-mp3s too. With no model of online sales in Pakistan, the indie releases have to be carried out the traditional way with physical distribution of CDs. This ultimately results costing a lot more money than most indie artists in Pakistan can afford.