Forward Music was established in 2001 by Ghazi Abdel Baki as a music label that pools together the cooperative eforts of young artists from the Middle East. It aims to encourage new and creative trends in the musical arts, blending the various cultural currents that meet and interact in new fusions and fresh perspectives. It hopes to draw on the rich musical past of the Arab world and the array of contemporary influences to find new musical dialects. Forward Music is committed to making an authentic contribution to our ever-changing culture and to the growing global dialogue of World Music. Forward Music has remarkably grown since its inception. Today it is a leading independent label that produces and distributes the work of more than 30 of the most respected musicians and singers in the Middle East.

Forward Music has evolved organically to also become an artist representation and artist management company.

In 2011, Forward Music expanded into the Live Music business and opened its own venue in Beirut: The Democratic republic of Music (DRM).

Despite the incredible difficulties of the period in Lebanon, DRM hosted 300 concerts in the span of 3 years with artists such as: Stanley Jordan, Tony Allen, The Musicians of the Nile, Henry Texier, Souad Massi, The Herbalizer, Ilham El Madfaii, Joey De Francesco,  and many others  including the label's artists and a myriad of musicians from Syria, Egypt, Tunisia, Jordan, Iraq, and Lebanon.