“This kid came up with Napster, and before that, none of us thought of content protection.”

–Morgan Freeman

Digital piracy is a common-place in Pakistan, owing to the lax digital rights law in the country. The issue is, we do not have our own Napster – which throughout the modern world affected a lot of countries where the entertainment industry is more developed. In the year 2000, Napster was the first institutionalised means of music piracy. Whereas people stood in line to get the latest albums, now the songs could be downloaded with a press of the button. This sparked outrage in the music industry of the United States, partly due to the loss of revenue to the artists whose creative ability becomes victim to the free rider problem. In Pakistan, with its nascent entertainment landscape, widespread discontent has not come from lobby groups. But with the advent of Coke Studio and Pepsi Battle of the Bands giving rise to new stars, the question is: not of how but when?