Cinq Music
Reggaetón star Daddy Yankee sold some of his master recordings to Cinq Music and a financial partner around 2021, Billboard has learned, laying the groundwork for Cinq to reissue his 2004 breakout album, Barrio Fino, and five other LPs on vinyl later this year.
Cinq did not provide any details of the purchase to Billboard and no other information about the deal was available. The sale of some of Daddy Yankee’s master recordings was confirmed by multiple independent sources but went unreported at the time.
Sources tell Billboard that Daddy Yankee continues to retain ownership of his publishing catalog, which is administered worldwide by Sony Music Publishing. In the U.S., Spirit Music administers some of Daddy Yankee’s songs, including his hit breakout “Gasolina.”
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A major acquisition was hinted at years ago. In 2021, Jason Peterson, chairman/CEO of GoDigital Media Group, the parent company of Cinq Music, told Billboard the company had acquired “one of the largest and culturally significant” Latin music catalogs but did not specify the name of the artist.
Cinq Music and Daddy Yankee have worked together in different ways for many years, and in 2018, Cinq partnered with Janet Jackson for the release of her single “Made For Now,” which featured Daddy Yankee. Since 2017, Cinq Music, with Barry Daffurn as president, has raised $410 million to fund music acquisitions, including $250 million secured in February. Following the latest funding, the company said it had $300 million in assets under management spanning 80,000 recorded music and publishing copyrights.
Cinq Music is no longer silent about its involvement with Daddy Yankee’s catalog. On Monday, the company announced it will mark the 20th anniversary of the Barrio Fino and “Gasolina” with the release of a Bhangra remix of the track by Tesher on July 26. According to the press release, the remix will be featured on the covers of numerous playlists at music streaming platforms as well as Spotify-branded outdoor billboards in Mexico City.
Barrio Fino and two other albums, El Cangri.com (2002) and the compilation Los Homerun-es (2003), will be reissued on vinyl by Cinq Music on August 16. Three more albums are slated for vinyl reissues on Nov. 15: El Cartel: The Big Boss (2007), the Talento de Barrio soundtrack (2008) and Mundial (2010).
“Gasolina” reached No. 32 on the multi-genre Billboard 100 singles chart in 2005 and hit No. 10 on the U.S. Hot Rap Songs chart and No. 11 on the U.S. Rhythmic chart. Billboard cited the song’s “unforgettable hook” and “revolutionary” beat when it ranked it No. 22 on a 2020 list of the Top 50 Latin songs of all time.
Ironically, “Gasolina” never reached No. 1 on the Hot Latin Songs chart, peaking at No. 17. Although the song was a breakthrough for Daddy Yankee and helped popularize reggaetón to a broader marketplace, its chart success was limited because few radio stations played reggaetón at the time.
Barrio Fino was the first reggaetón album to debut at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Latin Albums chart (on July 31, 2004) and won a Latin Grammy in 2005 as Best Urban Music album. It would spend 24 weeks at No. 1 on Top Latin albums, and all told, an astounding 358 weeks on the chart. On the multi-genre Billboard 200, Barrio Fino peaked at No. 26 in 2005 and spent 54 weeks on the chart. To date, the album has sold 2.2 million equivalent album units in the U.S., according to Luminate.
Cinq Music has acquired the music catalog of hitmaker Flow La Movie, Billboard can announce. The late producer’s robust catalog includes reggaetón megahits “Te Boté” and “La Jeepeta” — the former topped Billboard‘s Hot Latin Songs for 14 weeks in 2018. The catalog acquisition comes nearly three years since Flow La Movie (born José Angel […]
Cinq Music has raised $250 million from parent company GoDigital Media Group to fund further acquisitions of music rights, the company announced Monday (Feb. 12). This latest funding round builds on the $160 million GoDigital had previously given Cinq to build a repertoire of music rights — $20 million in August 2017, $40 million in […]
Street Mob Records has signed a worldwide deal with Cinq Music to distribute the label and expand its opportunities in branding, sponsorships, merchandising and synchronization. The deal will also include new talent discovery for Street Mob Records.
Founded by Fuerza Regida’s frontman Jesús Ortiz Paz (a.k.a. JOP), Street Mob Records’ artists include Chino Pacas, Calle 24, Ángel Ureta, Chuy Montana, Linea Personal and more rising regional Mexican music — or música mexicana as it is also called — acts.
“We have worked with Cinq for years and know that they’re committed to the genre,” said Paz in a statement to Billboard Español. “It’s only natural that we should partner with them to grow and expand Street Mob – combining their infrastructure, experience, and reach with our talent.”
“We bet on people, not just music, and it’s obvious that Jesus Ortiz Paz is going to carry his success as an artist into his label,” added Cinq Music president Barry Daffurn. “We are excited to team up with Street Mob Records to accelerate their growth. Cinq already brings billions of streams a month to the music world – now, we’re going to add incredible fuel to that fire with these important artists.”
Since 2018, Cinq Music has also been working with Rancho Humilde — Fuerza Regida’s label — another independent label at the forefront of música mexicana’s recent growth.
“Regional Mexican [music] is one of the hottest and fastest genres in the world right now, so to have that relationship with someone like Jesús means a lot to us,” continued Daffurn. “From the time we first started working in regional Mexican music, and the first time I sat down with Jimmy [Humilde] of Rancho Humilde, our goal was to bring this music global. The vision at that point was not to make it regional Mexican music, but more música mexicana, expanding it outside that network, to all the countries outside of [Latin America.] Corridos are leading that global expansion.”
Earlier this month, Street Mob Records and Cinq Music teamed up to release Chino Pacas’ “Yo Preferí Chambear,” which was the premiere of their new partnership. The video already racked up 2.1 million views on YouTube since it dropped 11 days ago.
In March, Chino Pacas entered the Billboard Hot 100 with “El Gordo Trae El Mando,” the artist’s first entry in the historic, all-genres chart.
“We’re operating as a distributor, from a technical standpoint, but as a company, we don’t work with everyone. The artists and labels that we do work with are very high touch,” said Daffurn. “We’re helping them with administrative support, full service marketing, and there’s money involved to make investments so they can build their own infrastructure and grow that way.”
Fuerza Regida earned its first entry on Billboard Hot 100 in January with “Bebe Dame” alongside Grupo Frontera, a romantic cumbia jam with a grupera swing that peaked at No. 25. Since then, they’ve placed three other tracks on the all-genres chart, “Ch y La Pizza” with Natanael Cano, “Igualito a Mi Apá” with Peso Pluma, and their latest “TQM” on their own.
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