Guest
Faraan Irfan
Faraan Irfan is Founder and CEO at Saarey Music, as introduced on the show.
Episodes (1)
Faraan Irfan, founder and CEO of Saarey Music, explains how a 25-year exclusive license built a profitable streaming app for South Asian classical music.
Questions these episodes answer
Why do young people pay for South Asian classical music on Saarey?
Irfan says the surprise was that 53% of Saarey's users are 18 to 35, showing the barrier was never that classical music suited older listeners, it was access. Once young South Asians could reach recordings of their own heritage, they started listening close to two hours a day and paying well above regional streaming prices.
How does Saarey Music's licensing model differ from a normal streaming service?
Instead of paying rights holders a share of streaming revenue like Spotify does, Saarey pays a fixed annual licensing fee and adds services such as recording, mixing, mastering and artwork on top. Irfan says this keeps Saarey's margins near 97% while giving artists help they could not otherwise access.
Why does Saarey Music hold a 25-year exclusive license instead of a normal distribution deal?
Saarey holds a 25-year exclusive license on about 90% of Pakistani classical music, giving it a catalog no rival streaming app can replicate. Irfan says the deal works because Saarey adds real value in return, handling recording, mastering and publishing that artists otherwise have no way to do themselves.
How did Saarey Music raise money for a niche streaming platform?
Irfan says Saarey relied mostly on direct outreach rather than warm introductions: 80 to 85% of its funding came from cold contact, and about half came from investors who had followed the company's monthly progress updates for a year or more before deciding to invest.