billboard latin music week
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In a rare interview, Shakira spoke for the first time live about her creative process, making history as one of the most successful Billboard chart-toppers, and what comes next. The intimate discussion with the Colombian superstar took place at the Faena Forum on Wednesday (Oct. 4) as part of Billboard Latin Music Week 2023, moderated […]
Superstar songwriters Edgar Barrera and Keityn — the power duo behind songs such as Shakira’s “El Jefe” and Maluma’s “Hawái” — spoke at length about the process behind songwriting for some of today’s biggest stars during the Superstar Songwriters panel at Latin Music Week on Wednesday (Oct. 4).
Presented by Sony Music Publishing and moderated by Billboard‘s Leila Cobo, the pair also spoke about their humble beginnings, passion for songwriting and protecting songwriters rights. Read the best quotes from the Superstar Songwriters panel below:
Discovering Their Love for Music
Edgar Barrera: “I was raised on the border. My passion comes from being bicultural. I would go to school in the U.S. and listen to music in English there. Then, when I’d go home in Mexico, we’d hear Mexican music. When I was 6 or 7 years old, I was already playing the guitar. I’d write songs for our band. We’d rehearse all the time but never really perform.”
Keityn: “My dad is also a singer and he would talk about it so much that at one point, I didn’t like it. It wasn’t my dream to be in music — I actually wanted to be a soccer player. But when I was 8 years old, I got sick and couldn’t move my left leg, so my mom gifted me a guitar, and that’s when I learned how to play it and started falling in love with music again.”
The Story Behind “Frágil” by Yahritza Y Su Esencia and Grupo Frontera
Barrera: “I had sent ‘Frágil’ to Christian Nodal and we were looking for a feature. At one point, we heard Nodal and Karol G wanted to do something together, so we thought that could be the song. But then nothing happened and the song was just sitting on WhatsApp and Nodal never recorded it. I had a session with Yahritza at 11 a.m. one day, and I didn’t have anything written for her. I called Keityn and he reminded me about ‘Frágil.’ She recorded it and it was so good. When Frontera jumped on, I had Juanito record the accordion the day before his wedding, right before he left on honeymoon.”
On Writing Songs for Women
Keityn: “Karol G particularly, when we wrote ‘Tusa,’ that song is in third person, so really a man or a woman can sing that song. That works really well with Karol. If we start thinking about genders, then we are limiting ourselves.”
Barrera: “You can’t think that way anymore. We don’t have that mentality of ‘a woman can’t say this’ because why can’t women say what men sing about?”
On Protecting Songwriter Rights
Keityn: “Honestly, our rights are being impacted because now you’re seeing managers who are being credited in the songwriting portion. You see the manager, the investor. It’s really uncomfortable. Like, I get that this is a business, but they should not be included in the credits. There should be a separate part where their names can be included. Those who wrote the song should feel respected. We need to give value to that.”
Barrera: “We’re really putting a stop to that with the help of our publishers and with the Letter of Direction, we’re encouraging songwriters to send those letters. A manager taking credit or a split hasn’t affected me personally, but visually, it’s impactful to see their names there. I honestly don’t know any manager that writes songs.”
Celebrated for more than 30 years, the 2023 edition of Latin Music Week includes a Superstar Q&A with Shakira; the Legends on Legends chat with Chencho Corleone and Vico C; Making the Hit Live! with Carin León and Pedro Capó; a panel with RBD’s Christian Chávez, Christopher von Uckermann, and Maite Perroni; Superstar Songwriter discussion with Edgar Barrera and Keityn, and, among many other sessions, Q&As and workshops. See the ultimate Latin Music Week guide here. This year’s Latin Music Week, taking place Oct. 2-6, also includes showcases by Peso Pluma, Mike Bahía and Greeicy, DannyLux and Fonseca, to name a few. Check out the dates and times for the showcases throughout the week here.
Official partners of the 2023 Billboard Latin Music Week, taking place Oct. 2-6, include AT&T, Cheetos, CN Bank, Delta Air Lines, Lexus, Netflix, Michelob ULTRA and Smirnoff.
Latin Music Week coincides with the 2023 Billboard Latin Music Awards ceremony, which will broadcast live from the Watsco Center in Coral Gables, Fla., on Thursday (Oct. 5) and will air on Telemundo. It will also broadcast simultaneously on Universo, Peacock, the Telemundo App, and throughout Latin America and the Caribbean on Telemundo Internacional.
Baseball and Latin music collided at Latin Music Week 2023’s Latin Swing panel, which took place on Wednesday (Oct. 4), presented by Rimas Sports. In the discussion moderated by Ángel “El Guru” Vera of Rapetón Entertainment, Latin trap stars Arcángel and Eladio Carrión were joined by athletes Ezequiel Tovar (Venezuelan baseball shortstop for the Colorado Rockies) and Francisco Javier Álvarez (Venezuelan baseball catcher for the New York Mets).
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The 45-minute conversation touched on the intersection of the music and sports disciplines, how Latin music and baseball are deeply ingrained in the cultures of Latin American countries, as well as how it serves as a source of national pride and unity.
Álvarez highlighted how listening to Latin music is a mood changer. “If I am have a bad day, we listen to music, it changes your life in the moment,” he said. He also touched on the power of teamwork, saying, “You can’t think about yourself only. You have to think as a team, so every time I go into the game I want to win.”
“The competition I have is with myself, to always surpass yourself,” echoed Tovar. He also mentioned that dembow and reggaetón are what gets him hyped before games, stating that his state of mind changes to win it.
Tovar’s walk-up song is “Feel Me” by Argentinian rapper Trueno, and Álvarez’s is Dominican dembow song “Boy Boy” by Yaisel LM and Hansel El De La H.
Multi-hyphenate artist Carrión — who is not only hitmaker, but a professional swimmer and an avid golfer — related plenty to the sports hustle. “I swam Monday to Sunday three times a day at three in the morning for four hours. If you are a great professional, then you’ll do extraordinary work.”
Arcángel offered personal anecdotes relatable to Latinos. “I grew up watching baseball on television,” he shared. “I grew up admiring athletes. I’m a fan of sports in general, of the discipline to be able to stand out. If [the athletes] are Dominican and Puerto Rican that encouraged me a lot. [I admire] the discipline they have to put in. They have to train, the dizziness is different.”
Celebrated for more than 30 years, the 2023 edition of Latin Music Week includes a Superstar Q&A with Shakira; the Legends on Legends chat with Chencho Corleone and Vico C; Making the Hit Live! with Carin León and Pedro Capó; a panel with RBD’s Christian Chávez, Christopher von Uckermann, and Maite Perroni; Superstar Songwriter discussion with Edgar Barrera and Keityn, and, among many other sessions, Q&As and workshops. See the ultimate Latin Music Week guide here.
Official partners of the 2023 Billboard Latin Music Week, taking place Oct. 2-6, include AT&T, Cheetos, CN Bank, Delta Air Lines, Lexus, Netflix, Michelob ULTRA and Smirnoff.
Latin Music Week coincides with the 2023 Billboard Latin Music Awards ceremony, which will broadcast live from the Watsco Center in Coral Gables, Fla., on Thursday (Oct. 5) and will air on Telemundo. It will also broadcast simultaneously on Universo, Peacock, the Telemundo App, and throughout Latin America and the Caribbean on Telemundo Internacional.
Mexican superstar Thalia attended Billboard‘s Latin Music Week to exclusively present four songs from her new EP of Mexican music. Attendees at the “Premiere Party” on Tuesday night (Oct.r 2) were the first to hear the first single “Bebé, Perdón”, released at midnight, in addition to “Te Va a Doler”, “Para Qué Celarme” and “Choro”, part of the album that will be titled A Mucha Honra.
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The album, which she said she had been working on for almost two years, will be released in early 2024 under the Sony Music Latin label. Under the production of Jimmy Humilde, it will include collaborations with Ángela Aguilar and Dania from Grupo Sin Límite, the Mexican superstar announced.
Dressed in a monochrome white outfit, blue boots, and shiny gloves, the Mexican singer shared with the deputy editor of Billboard Español Sigal Ratner-Arias, the moderator of the event, details of the creative process with Humilde, one of the promoters of the global phenomenon of the new wave of Mexican music with whom she partnered to produce it, and who also went on stage for a few minutes.
Humilde says that he made his first call with Thalia “trembling with emotion”, because of the admiration he has for her as an artist. However, he found a very calm person and the connection was immediate, he mentioned. They soon began working on the project with which Thalia wanted to delve deeper into her roots as a Mexican.
“The requintos evoke something in the soul, something in the heart, something of longing, something of oblivion, of pain, of love, something distant but close,” she said. “And then accompanied by the lyrics… I needed to sing this type of content in my songs. In this album I have discovered a more heartbroken, spiteful, painful Thalia.”
Regarding the moment that Mexican music is going through, which now enjoys a global reach, the singer noted: “We have always been in fashion. Our music has always been current, and at full strength, we have never stopped in all the musical genres that Mexican music encompasses, which is totally broad, it is beautiful. What is happening now is that the new generation, I feel, is embracing the sounds that move your insides: the requintos, the accordions, they are rediscovering (Mexican music) … I think they are making it their own.”
“That she is adapting and coming to support this genre is incredible,” added Humilde about Thalia’s new foray. “Imagine, having someone with so much name, so much power, so much history entering the new genre that we have in our Mexican music is something super cool.”
To decide who would accompany her to connect with her roots in music with more regional Mexican sounds, Thalia had a very methodical approach. “My father was a criminologist,” the star recalls. “I remember that I would sit on the table and he would tell me: ‘Always ask, always analyze… you look for something that you need to know.’ And when this movement came out, criminologist Thalia Sodi came out, and I said, where did this come from? Who was the precursor? Who was there from the beginning?… and I came to mister Humilde.”
Humilde took Edgar Rodríguez, producer and close collaborator, to meet with the artist to work on the project. Thalia’s words to Rodríguez were: “I don’t bite. I want to sound like me, like Thalia, but not. Help me so I can let go of the crutches that I use, that I love, my styles… Tell me, I’m not going to get angry. I want to learn; I want to change and learn other things. And we did it.”
“I’m happy, excited precisely because tonight, like Cinderella, the float is going to change… We’re going fully in,” said the singer about the first single of the album, “Bebé Perdón,” that is now available.
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“This song hurts me, I put it on repeat in the car while I drive… It doesn’t hurt me because of a personal relationship, because it’s not what I’m living. I am very happy, very grateful in my life, but it touches a vein of nostalgia, something that no longer exists, that is already gone, a part of nostalgia for our country, somewhere in our life history”, she said.
On the visual side, the superstar says that the video was recorded in California with 115-degree temperatures that caused the soles of her boots to melt on the pavement while she was alert for the rattlesnakes that inhabit the area. The singer performs the song in an open field, dressed in a silver sequin top with fringes, accompanied by three musicians and a truck.
Celebrated for more than 30 years, the 2023 edition of Latin Music Week includes a Superstar Q&A with Shakira; the Legends on Legends chat with Chencho Corleone and Vico C; Making the Hit Live! with Carin León and Pedro Capó; a panel with RBD’s Christian Chávez, Christopher von Uckermann, and Maite Perroni; Superstar Songwriter discussion with Edgar Barrera and Keityn, among many other panels, Q&As and workshops. See the ultimate Latin Music Week guide here. This year’s Latin Music Week, taking place Oct. 2-6, also includes showcases by Peso Pluma, Mike Bahía and Greeicy, DannyLux, and Fonseca, to name a few. Check out the dates and times for the showcases throughout the week here.
Official partners of the 2023 Billboard Latin Music Week include AT&T, Cheetos, CN Bank, Delta Air Lines, Lexus, Netflix, Michelob ULTRA, and Smirnoff.
Latin Music Week coincides with the 2023 Billboard Latin Music Awards ceremony, which will broadcast live from the Watsco Center in Coral Gables, Fla., on Thursday (Oct. 5) and will air on Telemundo. It will also broadcast simultaneously on Universo, Peacock, the Telemundo App, and throughout Latin America and the Caribbean on Telemundo Internacional.
Wisin brought the heat and the fabled La Base party from Puerto Rico to Miami at Oasis Wynwood for Latin Music Week 2023 on Tuesday (Oct. 3). During his invigorating set that kicked off close to midnight and was presented by Smirnoff, he delivered an electrifying show that had the packed house dancing.
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Clad in black leather, including a Mad Max-esque vest and a baseball cap, the Puerto Rican icon performed his hits in a set filled with old and new reggaetón songs, including hard-hitting classics such as “Traviesa” and “Muévelo.”
One of the evening’s highlights was his surprise guest, the Dominican dembow sensation El Alfa, who joined him on stage for a thrilling delivery of “Paleta Pa To El Mundo.” Other special guests included Luny Tunes and DJ Nelson, who were behind spinning their biggest dance-floor hits. Notably, this event marks the first-ever La Base party outside of Puerto Rico.
On Wednesday (Oct. 4) at 1:15 p.m. ET, the “Escápate Conmigo” hitmaker will be participating in a panel discussion titled Wisin & La Base: Eye of the Tiger, presented by Smirnoff. This conversation will also bring together reggaetón icons Luny, Tunes, DJ Nelson and Hyde, and will see them delve into the art of identifying and creating chart-topping hits. This panel discussion is set to provide insight into Wisin’s visionary label and music company, La Base.
Celebrated for more than 30 years, the 2023 edition of Latin Music Week includes a Superstar Q&A with Shakira; the Legends on Legends chat with Chencho Corleone and Vico C; Making the Hit Live! with Carin León and Pedro Capó; a panel with RBD’s Christian Chávez, Christopher von Uckermann, and Maite Perroni; Superstar Songwriter discussion with Edgar Barrera and Keityn, and, among many other sessions, Q&As and workshops. See the ultimate Latin Music Week guide here.
Official partners of the 2023 Billboard Latin Music Week, taking place Oct. 2-6, include AT&T, Cheetos, CN Bank, Delta Air Lines, Lexus, Netflix, Michelob ULTRA and Smirnoff.
Latin Music Week coincides with the 2023 Billboard Latin Music Awards ceremony, which will broadcast live from the Watsco Center in Coral Gables, Fla., on Thursday (Oct. 5) and will air on Telemundo. It will also broadcast simultaneously on Universo, Peacock, the Telemundo App, and throughout Latin America and the Caribbean on Telemundo Internacional.
Innovating Latin pop star Sebastián Yatra opened up about love, songwriting and more on Tuesday (October 3) during his “Star Q&A” at Billboard Latin Music Week 2023, presented by Disney. which was moderated by Venezuelan singer Lasso,
Yatra spoke with Venezuelan singer Lasso (with whom he collaborated on their duet “Ojos Marrenos”) for about 30 minutes about his creative process, the best advice he has received, and even sang part of a song, “Básicamente,” which he considers to be one of the most beautiful in his repertoire.
Below, read five of the best questions and answers from their conversation:
Lasso: For you to write a love song, do you have to be in love? Or, do you have to be heartbroken to write about heartbreak?
Yatra: I think you have to have been [in love], at least at some point, to understand that emotion and what you go through when you are very much in love or very much heartbroken. In the end, you speak from the truth. And as a songwriter, what I have learned is that the more layers you remove and get closer to reality, the more you can connect with people.
Lasso: If your label tells you to make a boy-band with Latin artists, in which you are going to participate as a member, who would you chose as the other four?
Yatra: I would put you in, because I don’t want to look bad right now. I just met Peso Pluma backstage, so I would get Peso Pluma; our voice colors would give it a different touch. I would include Karol G. And I would include Guaynaa, he can rap.
Lasso: What makes a collaboration a perfect collaboration for you?
Yatra: I think everything starts with a song. You can put Michael Jackson and Bad Bunny together, and if the song is not good, at the end of the day … it gets lost; it was news, but it wasn’t a song. When you make music without thinking that it can be a hit because you are singing it [with some artist], when you make music that is about the people who are going to listen to it and about that emotion that can live forever, that is when you have the possibility of making a song that is memorable. A collaboration would be guided by nature, by good vibes with the other artist or by mutual admiration, or because musically that other person is really going to add something that, without that person, the song would not be the same.
Lasso: [A number of] great Latin artists are from Colombia: Shakira, Karol G, Camilo, Ferxxo (Feid), you … what do Colombian artists have that makes them so massive?
Yatra: I think it’s not a matter of talent, because there is talent everywhere. I think it’s something cultural, in addition to how difficult it has been for us Colombians due to the whole issue of war, drugs and drug trafficking. You see it in other industries. [For years], no other country wanted to invest in Colombia, so it was up to us to create our own industry … [those] difficulties are where I think the secret lies. A culture of hard work was created, of not complaining, of giving your best, of understanding that falling and having obstacles is simply part of the process.
Lasso: What advice did your dad or mom give you that you think about at least once a week?
Yatra: My mom is my number one advisor, and she has been putting my feet on the ground since long before I released a song. I started singing at the age of 12, focused on what I wanted to do, … and from that moment on she told me every day, “If you do well one day in this business, it is simply a profession, but you are just another human being, you are neither more nor less than anyone else. It is important that you are clear about that.” Being human is what really transcends anything and enters people’s hearts, and what really gives you a meaning and a purpose for doing this.
Celebrated for more than 30 years, the 2023 edition of Latin Music Week includes a Superstar Q&A with Shakira; the Legends on Legends chat with Chencho Corleone and Vico C; Making the Hit Live! with Carin León and Pedro Capó; a panel with RBD’s Christian Chávez, Christopher von Uckermann, and Maite Perroni; Superstar Songwriter discussion with Edgar Barrera and Keityn, among many other panels, Q&As and workshops.
See the ultimate Latin Music Week guide here. This year’s Latin Music Week, taking place Oct. 2-6, also includes showcases by Peso Pluma, Mike Bahía and Greeicy, DannyLux and Fonseca, to name a few. Check out the dates and times for the showcases throughout the week here.
Official partners of the 2023 Billboard Latin Music Week include AT&T, Cheetos, CN Bank, Delta Air Lines, Lexus, Netflix, Michelob ULTRA and Smirnoff.
Latin Music Week coincides with the 2023 Billboard Latin Music Awards ceremony, which will broadcast live from the Watsco Center in Coral Gables, Fla., on Thursday (Oct. 5) and will air on Telemundo. It will also broadcast simultaneously on Universo, Peacock, the Telemundo App, and throughout Latin America and the Caribbean on Telemundo Internacional.
Peso Pluma, Yng Lvcas and Grupo Frontera have many common denominators. All have embraced collaborations, all represent and comprise a new generation of hitmakers and all are fueling the new Mexican music revolution.
On Tuesday (Oct. 3), Peso, Yng Lvcas and Adelaido “Payo” Solís and Juan Javier Cantú of Grupo Frontera gave insight into their rapidly ascending careers during The New Mexican Music Revolution panel at the Billboard Latin Music Week 2023, presented by BMI.
“The Mexican music industry has united and we’ve left pride or jealousy behind to really allow us to advance and show you what our genre is all about,” Peso Pluma said early on about the importance of collaborations in the genre. Collaborations have been key to growing the genre on a global level in the past few years. Peso and Yng Lvcas collaborated on “La Bebe (Remix),” which peaked at No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100. Grupo Frontera and Peso’s “Tulum” peaked at No. 6 on the Hot Latin Songs chart.
“I’ve collaborated with emerging artists because I have to help other artists, we’re Mexican and we may not be best friends but coming together makes us stronger,” says Yng Lvcas. Adds Solís about collaborations, “We first met Peso at a Spotify party in Mexico City and then we both had just gotten our first hit and we went our separate ways but life is a circle and we crossed paths again later in life.”
Frontera also scored a major collaboration earlier this year when they sang “Un x100to” with Bad Bunny which, they revealed, they had no idea it was Bunny who was jumping on the song. And when the Puerto Rican hitmaker appeared on the set to record the music video with him, Solís’ first thought was “he was a tall, handsome man. I was like ‘Is it really him?’”
Reflecting on the evolution and the growth of the genre today and the mainstream spotlight its received, Peso adds: “It’s very cool to share moments with people that we used to listen to as kids and that have influenced us,” he explains when asked about working with A$AP Rocky. “But that’s something that will happen more often in the genre. We’re now taking this music global, which were able to do because of unity, has others looking at us now. What we’re doing now will be in the history books of Latin music.”
Celebrated for more than 30 years, the 2023 edition of Latin Music Week includes a Superstar Q&A with Shakira; the Legends on Legends chat with Chencho Corleone and Vico C; Making the Hit Live! with Carin León and Pedro Capó; a panel with RBD’s Christian Chávez, Christopher von Uckermann, and Maite Perroni; Superstar Songwriter discussion with Edgar Barrera and Keityn, among many other panels, Q&As and workshops. See the ultimate Latin Music Week guide here. This year’s Latin Music Week, taking place Oct. 2-6, also includes showcases by Peso Pluma, Mike Bahía and Greeicy, DannyLux and Fonseca, to name a few. Check out the dates and times for the showcases throughout the week here.
Official partners of the 2023 Billboard Latin Music Week include AT&T, Cheetos, CN Bank, Delta Air Lines, Lexus, Netflix, Michelob ULTRA and Smirnoff.
Latin Music Week coincides with the 2023 Billboard Latin Music Awards ceremony, which will broadcast live from the Watsco Center in Coral Gables, Fla., on Thursday (Oct. 5) and will air on Telemundo. It will also broadcast simultaneously on Universo, Peacock, the Telemundo App, and throughout Latin America and the Caribbean on Telemundo Internacional.
As Latin music continues to gain prominence worldwide, Latin music festivals have also been boosted globally in recent years. This was the topic of conversation at Monday’s (Oct. 2) The Art of the Festival panel at Billboard Latin Music Week — presented by Viña del Mar, the oldest and largest music festival in Latin America.
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Featuring Chris Den Uijl (co-founder of La Familia Presenta), John Frias (CEO, Frias Entertainment Group, Bésame Mucho Music Festival), Alfonso Lanza García (CCO of Primavera Sound, CEO, Vampire Studio), and Daniel Merino (producer of Festival Viña del Mar), the panelists discussed what makes a successful fest today, from the best festival producers in the world.
Moderated by Bruno Del Granado, head of global Latin music touring group of CAA (Creative Artists Agency), the panel went behind the scenes of crafting and sustaining a successful Latin music festival in this era.
“Viña has its own identity,” says Merino, who helps run the iconic Chilean event, which started in 1960. He explains that it’s the only festival that doubles as a television show and lasts one full week.
Rosarito, Mexico’s own Baja Beach Fest began five years ago as the only exclusively reggaetón festival in the world. Den Uijl explained how the West Coast had no essential event in the Latin music space at the time. “The West Coast has 40 million people living in California, and 17 million are Mexicans,” he says. He also mentions how he expanded with Sueños in Chicago, while also programming more música Mexicana talent as the genre has had a massive spike internationally.
Conversely, with L.A.’s Bésame Mucho festival, Frias dives into how they found their niche by not going with the current mainstream; instead finding an audience in underserved markets by booking nostalgic acts.
As Bad Bunny became the first Latin music act to headline Coachella this year, Del Granado asked the U.S.-based festival runners if their job had become more difficult. The answer is not so simple, but they all agreed that the genre’s popularity has attracted audiences beyond the Latino demographic. “Where we’re competing is in the hard tickets,” says Den Uijl
“After so long, artists want to perform at Primavera Sound. It’s something that artists are looking for, it gives them cache, it gives them prestige, and we love it,” says Garza Garcia. Primavera Sound, which was founded in 2001 and is now based in different major cities of Spain, has drawn some of the biggest acts from both the American mainstream and Latin realm.
Celebrated for more than 30 years, the 2023 edition of Latin Music Week will include a Superstar Q&A with Shakira; the Legends on Legends chat with Chencho Corleone and Vico C; Making the Hit Live! with Carin León and Pedro Capó; a panel with RBD’s Christian Chávez, Christopher von Uckermann, and Maite Perroni; Superstar Songwriter discussion with Edgar Barrera and Keityn, among many other panels, Q&As and workshops. See the ultimate Latin Music Week guide here. This year’s Latin Music Week, taking place Oct. 2-6, also includes showcases by Peso Pluma, Mike Bahía and Greeicy, DannyLux and Fonseca, to name a few. Check out the dates and times for the showcases throughout the week here.
Official partners of the 2023 Billboard Latin Music Week include AT&T, Cheetos, CN Bank, Delta Air Lines, Lexus, Netflix, Michelob ULTRA and Smirnoff.
Latin Music Week coincides with the 2023 Billboard Latin Music Awards ceremony, which will broadcast live from the Watsco Center in Coral Gables, Fla., on Thursday (Oct. 5) and will air on Telemundo. It will also broadcast simultaneously on Universo, Peacock, the Telemundo App, and throughout Latin America and the Caribbean on Telemundo Internacional.
In the past few years, a number of Latin artists such as Shakira, Maluma and Ozuna, have been selling their catalogs, but when is it the right time to sell or buy?
“Everyone sees everyone selling and the big deals, and think they can do that, but those catalogs have to have matured already, at least have been five years since produced or recorded,” explained panelist Angela “Angie” Martinez, Esq., attorney at law, AngieLaw, during the Power of the Latin Catalog panel — presented by HarbourView — at Latin Music Week 2023.
During the discussion moderated by Hannah Karp, editorial director of Billboard, panelists Sherrese Clarke Soares, founder/CEO, HarbourView; Denny Marte, founder/consultant, MPA Advisors; and Martinez broke down opportunities for both artists looking to sell their catalogs and buyers who are interested in purchasing.
“There are plenty of opportunities for artists who want to sell and buyers who want to buy,” added Marte. “When it’s the right time to sell depends on the earnings of the catalog. There’s a lot of misinformation of names who are selling their catalogs and assume theirs would sell, [but] every catalog sells differently.It also depends on the buyer — everyone has a different criteria of what they’re looking for. It’s like the housing market and understanding when is a good time to sell your home.”
On their interest in purchasing in the Latin space, HarbourView is “really a genre-agnostic company,” explained Clarke Soares. “As a person of Caribbean descent, it was easy for me to see how important and impactful Latin music is to the communities that it serves. We saw so much growth in the underlying market, from the usage perspective … It was a no brainer for us. People who come from communities that are not mainstream are just as important.”
Latin music in general is more attractive now, hence the increase of interest on the buyers side. Compared to other genres, Latin music is catching up in terms of buyers interested in the Latin market “The numbers don’t lie,” said Marte. “Latin music is where it’s at and it has been for now some time. I already felt it was going to start happening. Latin would catch up, now it’s like we have to turn away clients because it’s too much, or their catalog is too young.”
Celebrated for more than 30 years, the 2023 edition of Latin Music Week includes a Superstar Q&A with Shakira; the Legends on Legends chat with Chencho Corleone and Vico C; Making the Hit Live! with Carin León and Pedro Capó; a panel with RBD’s Christian Chávez, Christopher von Uckermann, and Maite Perroni; Superstar Songwriter discussion with Edgar Barrera and Keityn, among many other panels, Q&As and workshops. See the ultimate Latin Music Week guide here.
This year’s Latin Music Week, taking place Oct. 2-6, also includes showcases by Peso Pluma, Mike Bahía and Greeicy, DannyLux and Fonseca, to name a few. Check out the dates and times for the showcases throughout the week here.
Official partners of the 2023 Billboard Latin Music Week include AT&T, Cheetos, CN Bank, Delta Air Lines, Lexus, Netflix, Michelob ULTRA and Smirnoff.
Latin Music Week coincides with the 2023 Billboard Latin Music Awards ceremony, which will broadcast live from the Watsco Center in Coral Gables, Fla., on Thursday (Oct. 5), and will air on Telemundo. It will also broadcast simultaneously on Universo, Peacock, the Telemundo App, and throughout Latin America and the Caribbean on Telemundo Internacional.
The hottest genre on the charts is the hottest genre on the road. In the panel called The Rise of Mexican Touring, held on Monday (Oct. 2), Fuerza Regida’s frontman Jesús Ortiz Paz and Latin Nation’s Hans Schafer (svp of Latin touring) and Jorge García (global promoter of tours) talk how to book, market and sell out Mexican music shows, moderated by Billboard Latin’s senior writer, Griselda Flores.
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In the midst of his ambitious tour Otra Peda (meaning Another Drunken Party), the Fuerza Regida lead singer shares his experience from starting out performing at flyer parties six years ago to now selling out American arenas and stadiums across the nation. Meanwhile Schafer and García spoke about how they’ve been helping amplify, within the live music space, the música mexicana movement internationally.
In many candid moments, Jesús, who also goes by JOP, shared how Otra Peda was conceived. “I was my own Live Nation. I was the waiter, the one who charged you for your beers, and sing,” he said. “I would throw my own flyer parties, it was like 20 to 50 people, then 50 to 100. Now we’re doing this on a greater scale. [Since the beginning of our shows] people got extra drunk, that’s where Otra Peda came from.”
“Several years ago, taking these [música mexicana] bands to the club it made sense. Years before you were lucky to sell 2,000 to 3,000 tickets,” recalls García. “Now this generation of Latinos are growing up [with the genre]. The same kind of people that buy the Drake tickets, buy the Fuerza Regida tickets.”
“We are American so we have that flow, we started dressing different, and took Mexican music to the next level,” says Jesús about connecting with this new generation of Latinos. “Back in the day, you had to lower the music; we were shy that we liked regional Mexican, you had to change it to hip-hop. We love the legends, John Sebastian, Luis Mi, Vicente Fernández, but that was all tío‘s music. We made it cool,” he adds and the audience chuckles.
Flores’ asks about the steps to get a club act to an arena level. “It can’t feel forced. You’re just trying to tighten that bond that they have with their fans,” explains Schafer. “Nothing can be cookie cutter, everything that we do starts with inception, what is this tour about, Otra Peda…developing ideas and the concepts you’re doing with the tour.”
Jesús recalls a time in his career with Fuerza Regida that he had to stop the 10 freeway in L.A., and perform in front of the traffic, with the venue serving as a backdrop. That led to the band selling out the show at the time.
The discussion surrounding Mexican music is about going global, reaching as far as Australia and New Zealand. Schafer elaborates on how European countries have warmly embraced this movement, with both the Latino demographic and new non-Latino fans developing a fondness for the Mexican style.
But now that it’s reaching unprecedented heights, “There needs to be greater representation because it’s going to keep growing,” adds Schafer. “We have the responsibility in the industry to set the tone with the space that it deserves.”
Celebrated for more than 30 years, the 2023 edition of Latin Music Week includes a Superstar Q&A with Shakira; the Legends on Legends chat with Chencho Corleone and Vico C; Making the Hit Live! with Carin León and Pedro Capó; a panel with RBD’s Christian Chávez, Christopher von Uckermann, and Maite Perroni; Superstar Songwriter discussion with Edgar Barrera and Keityn, among many other panels, Q&As and workshops. See the ultimate Latin Music Week guide here. This year’s Latin Music Week, taking place Oct. 2-6, also includes showcases by Peso Pluma, Mike Bahía and Greeicy, DannyLux and Fonseca, to name a few. Check out the dates and times for the showcases throughout the week here.
Official partners of the 2023 Billboard Latin Music Week include AT&T, Cheetos, CN Bank, Delta Air Lines, Lexus, Netflix, Michelob ULTRA and Smirnoff.
Latin Music Week coincides with the 2023 Billboard Latin Music Awards ceremony, which will broadcast live from the Watsco Center in Coral Gables, Fla., on Thursday (Oct. 5) and will air on Telemundo. It will also broadcast simultaneously on Universo, Peacock, the Telemundo App, and throughout Latin America and the Caribbean on Telemundo Internacional.