SXSW 2023
Tours by Latin artists have reached new heights in the past year.
Bad Bunny closed out 2022 with a record-breaking $435 million in tour grosses, thanks to his El Ultimo Tour del Mundo and World’s Hottest Tour treks. Rosalía graduated from clubs to arenas, becoming an international touring powerhouse with her global Motomami Tour.
And it’s not just current hitmakers that are riding the wave. It’s also legacy acts such as Los Bukis, who embarked on a historic reunion stadium tour in 2021. And newcomer Feid, who was able to sell out his first U.S. tour in a span of 24 hours.
Now, RBD‘s upcoming Soy Rebelde Tour is poised to be one of the biggest tours of the year. The Mexican pop group’s first trek in 15 years — produced by Live Nation and the band’s manager Guillermo Rosas (also CEO of T6H Entertainment) — the tour has so far sold more than 1.5 million tickets and is filling stadiums and arenas across the world.
The topic on the influence of Latin artists on global touring took center stage at SXSW this year during a panel moderated by Billboard‘s Griselda Flores, senior writer, Latin. In a conversation with Rosas and Hans Schafer, svp of global touring at Live Nation, the one-hour fireside chat examined how tours by Latin artists continue to reach new markets and new audiences.
Below, five takeaways from the panel:
Many factors have contributed to the surge in touring numbers for both established artists and newcomers
Schafer: “For me, this [growth] has been happening for the past 15 years. English radio stations playing Spanish-language music now. The ability to access music that’s happening across the country or across the world. All those factors have contributed to this growth. It’s an exciting time.”
Rosas: “Although television has changed so much, there’s also a value that we can attribute to television. Series featuring Latin artists, such as RBD, were being viewed by audiences who didn’t speak Spanish. It became a trend to learn how to speak Spanish so you could understand the show, and it opened a lot of opportunities for Latin music in general in countries like Brazil or Eastern Europe. There are many different variables but that’s definitely one of them.”
Big tours, not big “Latin” tours
Schafer: “You look at the tours and the results that they’re giving — sure you can break them out into their own, ‘This is the No. 1 Latin tour.’ But when you look at the top 10 [of all tours], they’re in there. They’re in there worldwide, in North America, they’re surpassing a lot of artists in South America, an area that generates a lot of money. When you talk about the importance of global touring for all acts, a huge chunk is in Spanish-language countries. We’re now able to capture the data. It’s giving us the respect and the place of how important those markets are, the purchasing power we have and the impact that the Latin acts have.”
Rosas: “We have as example, Mexico, Brazil and Colombia where you have major international acts like Coldplay that held records in stadiums in Latin America. RBD came and broke all of them. In Colombia, RBD is doing four stadiums in a row, sold out. No other artist in the world has done that. Latin artists are capable of doing massive numbers.”
RBD’s reunion tour: Go big or go home
Rosas: “It was one of those reunions that was bound to happen at some point. It’s a complex structure, because there are so elements surrounding it — their individual careers, independent careers. Hans and I always had a vision that it would be successful when the time came. Because we do believe in the size of it, the first strategy was to make it big. If you go to a small arena, then you give the impression that it’s a small tour — but if you have a partner like Hans that believed in it, then we announced stadiums, and people understand that it’s going to be a big tour. A lot of promoters are scared of doing that, but you only have one opportunity for a first impression in this business. Because it’s such a big cultural movement, we needed to do it like that: add to the excitement and emotion.”
Nostalgia tours are having a moment
Rosas: “It is a cultural movement — RBD is bigger than its music. It’s part of growing up with it, and [in terms of] friendship, it’s a big reunion. All these people will get together after 15 years, some that haven’t seen each other in years, and RBD is the connection. It brings you back to amazing memories of childhood or teenage years. And it makes you happy. Los Bukis has a similar story. People grew up with the music, and that’s all you listened to in Mexico back in the day. To bring it back, it brings those emotions back to life. Hans and I worked on the Versus Tour in 2016 with Alejandra Guzmán and Gloria Trevi — we played on nostalgia. It was massively successful.”
Promising markets for Latin artists
Schafer: “We’ve seen that Europe has shifted in terms of the ability of going a little bit outside the box of your traditional market would be. Spain is the anchor for a lot of these acts to go out there. More and more, the U.K., France, Italy. You’ve seen more stuff in Poland, we’ve done shows in Tel Aviv. It’s the best time for a Latin artist. Musically and from touring-wise, you have the ability to go pretty wide, and if you have the right team, you can build a real career outside of traditional markets. I’m also excited about Australia and Japan — really the outskirts of the world that we haven’t hit [where] I know there’s a market.”
You can listen to the entire conversation here.
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Billboard is returning to SXSW in Austin this year for three nights of star-studded concerts, an interactive content house and a plethora of panel discussions featuring musicians, music industry leaders and Billboard staff members.
Panels kick off Monday (March 13), while three Billboard Presents The Stage at SXSW concerts are slated to follow later in the week. On Thursday (March 16), rapper and singer Lil Yachty will usher in the trio of shows with opening acts Lola Brooke and Armani White (presented by Doritos), followed by Feid and Eladio Carrión on Friday (presented by Samsung Galaxy) and Kx5 (Kaskade and deadmau5) on Sunday (presented by Carnival).
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All Billboard Presents The Stage at SXSW concerts are set to take place at Austin’s Moody Amphitheater at Waterloo Park at 7 p.m CT.
Below is a list of where to find Billboard staffers and events at SXSW this week.
Monday, March 13
The Influence of Latin Music on Global Touring11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. CT | Austin Convention Center, Room 18ABBillboard‘s senior Latin writer Griselda Flores will moderate a panel examining the impact that emerging and heritage Latin artists will have on the future of global touring. More info.
The Power of Connection with Emerging Technologies4 – 5 p.m. CT | Empire, 607 East 7th Street, AustinBillboard‘s senior director of touring/live entertainment Dave Brooks will moderate a panel with Dentity CEO Jefferey Schwartz, Rebecca Thorne of See Tickets, Stephen Chilton of Psyko Steve Presents and Dani Slocki of vSpace to discuss innovations in technology and how that relates to Web3, ticketing, access, Identity verification, fan appreciation, fan clubs, consumer engagement and more.
Tuesday, March 14
The Neighbors Have Money For You: Neighboring Rights Now1 – 2:30 p.m. CT | Parkside, 301 E. 6th St, AustinBillboard‘s deputy editorial director Rob Levine will host a panel of presenters to discuss neighboring rights and explain the different revenue sources and options rightsholders have to collect royalties. More info.
What to know: Royalties, Rights and Recording Artists2 – 3:30 p.m. CT | Courtyard Marriott, Rio Grande Ballroom, 300 E. 4th St, AustinBillboard‘s chief brand officer Dana Droppo will moderate a panel with SAG-AFTRA and top recording artists to discuss how the union can help artists protect themselves and what tools are available to help ensure a long-term career. This event will also be available online. More info.
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Wednesday, March 15
Rebuilding the Touring Industry from Scratch2:30 – 3:30 p.m. CT | Austin Convention Center, Room 17ABBillboard‘s special features/power lists editor Taylor Mims will moderate a panel examining how the key players in the touring industry have rebounded from the ruins of COVID over the past two years. More info.
Featured Session: How Music, Entrepreneurship, & Independence Intersect2:30 – 3:30 p.m. CT | Austin Convention Center, Room 16ABBillboard‘s R&B/hip-hop reporter Heran Mamo will moderate a panel on the steps needed to build a successful entertainment company that transcends cultural boundaries. This event will also be available online. More info.
Thursday, March 16
Featured Speaker: Music Publishing in the New Songwriter Economy11:30am – 12:30 p.m. CT | Austin Convention Center, Room 16ABBillboard‘s editorial director Hannah Karp will discuss the future of music publishing and the new songwriter economy. This event will also be available online. More info.
How Global Collecting Societies Change Publishing2:30 – 3:30 p.m. CT | Austin Convention Center, Room 17ABBillboard‘s deputy editorial director Rob Levine will discuss how the rise of globalized collecting societies will affect the publishing business and the songwriters who depend on it. More info.
The Creator Boom: How the Industry Can Transform2:30 – 3:30 p.m. CT | Austin Convention Center, Room 18CDBillboard‘s music publishing reporter Kristin Robinson will moderate a panel discussing the rise of AI music companies and music creation tools, as well as DIY distribution services that are enabling bedroom creators — and how both creators and the industry are transforming to keep pace with this new creator paradigm. More info.
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Welcome to the Machine: Art in the Age of A.I.4 – 5 p.m. CT | Austin Convention Center, Room 12ABBillboard‘s deputy editorial director Rob Levine will also discuss the future of artificial intelligence in the music business and how “functional music” can be used to help listeners study or sleep. More info.
Billboard Presents The Stage at SXSW: Lil Yachty7 p.m. CT | Moody Amphitheater at Waterloo Park, 1401 Trinity St., AustinPresented by Doritos, rapper and singer Lil Yachty will perform with opening performances by Lola Brooke and Armani White. Buy tickets here.
Doritos After Dark at Billboard House10:30 p.m. – 1:30 a.m. CT | 800 Congress, AustinDoritos will be taking over the Billboard House for a late-night, one-night-only dining experience featuring an all-vinyl set by DJ Pee .Wee (Anderson .Paak). The experience will be available to SXSW badge holders on a first-come-first-served basis. More info.
Friday, March 17
Billboard Presents The Stage at SXSW: Feid and Eladio Carrión7 p.m. CT | Moody Amphitheater at Waterloo Park, 1401 Trinity St., Austin, TX Presented by Samsung Galaxy, Latin superstars Feid and Eladio Carrión will perform. Buy tickets here.
Saturday, March 18
Billboard Presents The Stage at SXSW: Kx5 (KasKade and deadmau5)7 p.m. CT | Moody Amphitheater at Waterloo Park, 1401 Trinity St., Austin, TXPresented by Carnival, electronic dance titans Kx5 (Kaskade and deadmau5) will perform. Buy tickets here.
Billboard’s parent company PMC is the largest shareholder of SXSW and its brands are official media partners of SXSW.
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