Sanctions prevent Western companies from engaging in commercial relationships with Iranian entities or individuals. Instead, Iranian musicians put their music online for nothing
Zabihi was murdered two years after the revolution of 1979; before he died last year Shajarian boycotted state radio to show support for pro-democracy protesters. Listeners can still stream their music on Spotify and similar services. But “Fastalgia” itself is not available. Nor is anything else by Mr Rasouli, or indeed any Iranian musicians living and working in Iran.
Based in Finland, Navahang was set up in 2015 by Siavash Danesh, a refugee, with an app built in India. With roughly 2m users, it is a small outfit that focuses on the Iranian underground scene and female artists. The service is free; registration is not required. It carries advertising, but its size, and the fact that many listeners are in unprofitable Iran, mean revenues are modest.
Navahang is a relatively new entrant on the Persian-music streaming scene. The biggest and best-known service is Radio Javan, set up in Washington,in 2004. Its app has been downloaded more than 5m times on Google’s Play Store, many more than Navahang’s. Running a service aimed at Iranians is expensive, confirms Hamed Hashemi, Radio Javan’s founder. Not only are most users in Iran, but the lack of copyright protection cuts both ways.