Loud and Live
Loud and Live founder and CEO Nelson Albareda has always carried tropical music in general and salsa in particular, deep inside him. A die-hard fan of Cuban salsero Willy Chirino, he also worked closely with salsa queen Celia Cruz and, through Loud and Live, represents the Celia Cruz estate today.
Now, Albareda is on a quest to elevate and grow the music with which he started his career. As he’s been saying for months, tropical music is having a moment. This week, via his powerhouse promotion and entertainment company, Albareda put his money where his mouth is and signed an exclusive booking agreement with developing salsa star Christian Alicea.
Loud and Live already books major tropical music names like Carlos Vives and Juan Luis Guerra. But the Alicea deal is different in that in addition to booking Alicea’s concerts, Loud and Live will also work in partnership with his management team to support marketing and promotional endeavors surrounding the artist and his music.
Although Alicea has just one album under his belt — Yo, released this past May — he has already placed two tracks in the Top 25 of Billboard’s Tropical Airplay chart. This week, a third single, “Aroma,” is at No. 15 on the list.
“Christian is an exceptionally talented young man who, because of his humility, charisma and spectacular and unique voice, we are confident that he will conquer and lead the tropical genre worldwide for many years to come,” said Albareda in a statement.
The partnership, says Alicea’s producer, Urales ‘Dj Buddha’ Vargas, is “the icing on the cake. For us, having someone like Nelson see the vision and the potential of Christian means a lot.”
As Latin music’s focus has slowly shifted from solely reggaetón in the past year, other genres are beginning to rise on the charts. While regional Mexican music undoubtedly leads the fray, pop is also seeing a resurgence, and tropical music — long focused on legacy acts — is finally seeing a smattering of new names, including Luis Figueroa, teenager Luis Vazquez, and, of course, Alicea.
Nearly two years after Marc Anthony was forced to cancel his highly-anticipated “Una Noche” livestream concert at the last minute, the event’s promoter is now suing the streaming platform for causing the “complete and total failure.”
In a lawsuit filed Friday in Los Angeles court, attorneys for Loud and Live Entertainment claimed that Maestro had assured the promoter that the platform’s technology could “automatically scale to accommodate the number of ticketholders” – more than 100,000 people worldwide.
But when the night of the April 17, 2021, concert came, Loud and Live says those same fans “stared at blank or frozen computer screens” as Maestro experienced what it later described as a “complete collapse of the streaming platform.”
“As a result of Maestro’s complete and total failure, Loud And Live — which paid Anthony a substantial guaranteed artist fee, promoted and backed the concert financially, and contracted with sponsors and vendors around the world — suffered significant economic losses, all of which were foreseeable to Maestro.”
“Una Noche” was supposed to be one of the biggest livestreamed shows of the pandemic era, headlined by Anthony — who fills soccer stadiums in Latin America — and joined by superstar Daddy Yankee as a guest performer. By showtime, more than 100,000 tickets had been sold.
As a streaming partner, Maestro was no novice. Prior to the Anthony concert, the platform had handled major shows like Billie Eilish’s October 2020 livestream and Melissa Etheridge’s successful EtheridgeTV series. But at 8 p.m. EST on April 17, as global fans logged on to watch Anthony perform, Maestro’s system failed. Despite frantic attempts to revive the stream, the concert never happened, and fans were left waiting for hours until learning the show was officially canceled.
“Una Noche” may have been the most high-profile concert livestream to fail, but it’s hardly the only one to experience problems. For instance, Justin Bieber’s 2021 New Year’s Eve livestream with T-Mobile was seriously delayed — almost missing East Coast celebrations — due to unexpected demand from more than 1.2 million T-Mobile customers.
Avoiding such debacles is more complicated than it looks. Unlike physical shows, which have seat selection and could sell out, livestreams offer little incentive to buy a ticket early or arrive ahead of time. This can lead to a surge in activity at the start of the event — the size of which is difficult, if not impossible, to predict and prepare for.
But in its new lawsuit, Loud and Live says those were concerns were well-known to Maestro — and that the company had promised to have the technology and the experience to deal with them.
“Although Maestro had represented to Plaintiff … that it had handled events much larger than Anthony’s, and expressly warrantied that its platform would ‘automatically scale’ to meet Loud And Live’s needs (whether it had 500 viewers or millions), Maestro failed to stream even one minute of the show,” the company’s lawyers wrote. “Maestro’s misrepresentations regarding its technological capabilities induced Loud and Live to engage and rely on Maestro.”
In legal terms, Loud and Live says that Maestro’s failures breached the contract the two companies signed. It also says the streamer violated the promises that the streaming platform had made about the capabilities of its technology — meaning it breached its “express warranty” and made a “negligent misrepresentation” to Loud and Live.
Read the entire complaint here:
Marketing and media company Loud And Live has signed a partnership with booking agency Tesa Entertainment, Billboard has learned. The global partnership deal will include “exclusive touring and booking rights,” according to a press release, with efforts to “elevate the Latin urban genre to the next level.”
The first artist signed under the deal is Panamanian singer-songwriter Boza, who broke out in 2020 with his hit song “Hecha Pa’ Mí” and was nominated for best new artist at the 2021 Latin Grammys.
“We’re very happy with the evolution we’ve had with Boza, and we believe that this partnership will continue to help develop our artist’s career in a positive way,” said Boza’s managers Alberto Gaitan and Andrés Castro. “We’re proud to become part of the Loud and Live and Tesa family.”
“For me, it’s an honor to become part of Boza’s growth, moving forward,” said Giovanna Pérez, CEO and founder of Tesa Entertainment. “Unity is strength and with this new partnership deal alongside Loud And Live, we’ll complement each other perfectly with resources that will offer the Artist the best live show experience globally.”
Launched in 2017, the Miami-based Loud and Live has enjoyed a strong return to touring in 2021, with more than 400 shows and tours for clients including Carlos Vives, Ruben Blades, Camilo and Prince Royce. Tesa Entertainment was founded in 2021 by Pérez, previously at Rich Music and CMN, after working with artists such as Nicky Jam, Sech and Manuel Turizo.
“Loud And Live is honored to join efforts with Tesa Entertainment under the leadership of Giovanna, who brings unmatched experience in the Urban genre booking business,” said Nelson Albareda, CEO of Loud And Live. “This alliance expands the offering of both companies, and we’re proud to be able to offer an added value to the artists with whom we work.”
Loud And Live, the Miami-based entertainment, marketing, media and live events company, has committed to making a $1 million dollar donation to the Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation, the company tells Billboard.
Marking the largest single donation in the foundation’s history, the money will be donated over the next five years to advance the foundation’s mission to further international awareness and appreciation of the contributions of Latin music and its makers to global culture via college scholarships, grants and educational programs, according to a press release.
The donation builds on Loud And Live’s culture of giving and philanthropic commitment.
“We’ve been fortunate to have great success in this industry, and for us, we feel it’s an obligation to give back to the community that we’re a part of,” said Loud And Live CEO Nelson Albareda. “Our history partnering with the Latin Recording Academy goes back to 2003, and we can’t think of a better partner to channel and make a meaningful impact with this donation, than the Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation.”
For nearly two decades, Loud And Live has supported the Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation by donating time, services and resources, including a private fundraising event that featured an intimate conversation with Cuban-American superstar Pitbull. Most recently, the foundation has benefited from various tours produced by Loud And Live, including those by Camilo and Carlos Vives, both of whom pledged to donate $1 from each ticket sale on their respective tours to the foundation.
“We are grateful for the generous donation of Loud And Live, a longtime partner of the Foundation,” added Becky Villaescusa, vp of strategic planning & corporate development at the Latin GRAMMY Cultural Foundation. “Together we have the ability to continue creating opportunities, have a positive impact on our communities, and preserve the legacy of Latin music and Latin music creators.”
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