Telangana minister for prohibition and excise Srinivas Goud has announced that the pubs and clubs will be prohibited from playing ‘loud’ music in the city. But the most peeved in the city are the individual artists and bands that perform at various city clubs and pubs. They commonly feel that what should have been banned was the drug menace and not music.

Both pub/club owners and musicians are totally caught unawares due to the decision. Sai Teja of popular local band Capricio has a strong opinion on the ban rather. He says that the pubs and clubs are being targeted for what they haven’t done. He adds that independent artists are looked down upon as compared to those singing for films. Also, he says that they have a false reputation of being ‘druggies,’ and this leads to discrimination. And now the situation has only worsened, says he.“We earn our bread and butter with this money. It will hurt struggling artists even more. The owners of pubs and clubs who have live music will be at a loss too. It is the right time to have government support as there seems to be no end to the pandemic, and during such delicate times, we hear about such a decision,” rues Teja.

Another artist from the city is in a similar dilemma. He says they had 16-17 shows lined up, and now all of them stand canceled, and they don’t know till when the situation will continue. He says the government has to understand the situation of independent artists and not discriminate against them. We had shows at Moonshine, Tabula Rasa, and Heart Cup Cafe in Gachibowli says the drummer, who is definitely not happy with the sudden development.

Meanwhile, the restaurants are looking up for alternatives to handle the situation. Most of them have an in-house DJ, and they intend to manage with them. However, the situation is not the same for those who have dance floors.