Marc Anthony at 17th Latin GRAMMY Awards in 2016

Marc Anthony performs at the 17th Latin GRAMMY Awards in 2016

Photo: Christopher Polk/Getty Images

News

Latin music industry sees first growth in a decade

A new RIAA report reveals why things are looking up for Latin music in the United States

Tim McPhate

GRAMMYs

May 15, 2017 - 2:36 am

¡Que bueno! The Latin music industry is trending upward for the first time in a decade in the United States.

Revenue stemming from Latin music in the U.S. rose 3 percent to $176 million in 2016, marking the first growth in the Latin music industry since 2005, according to a new RIAA report.

The growth was spurred by an increase in paid streaming service subscription revenue, which grew 89 percent year-over-year and represented 30 percent of the overall music market. Additionally, on-demand ad-supported streaming revenues were up 45 percent. The streaming sector's spike was offset by declines sales of CDs and digital downloads.

Since its founding in 1997, The Latin Recording Academy has done its part to boost Latin music to become the premiere international organization representing Latin musicians and professionals. Taking place Nov. 17, 2016, the 17th Latin GRAMMY Awards celebrated excellence in Latin music via 48 categories while attracting a worldwide television audience of fans to the tune of 80 million.

Several key Awards process deadlines are approaching for the upcoming 18th Latin GRAMMY Awards, which will recognize recordings released between July 1, 2016, and May 31, 2017. The Online Entry Process for members will conclude on May 2. The first round ballot will be mailed on July 25 and will be due back Aug. 11. Latin GRAMMY nominations will be announced on Sept. 20.

Photo: Greg Doherty/Getty Images

News

Latin Academy's Gabriel Abaroa Makes Latin Power Players List

President/CEO of the Latin Recording Academy among the "behind the scenes" innovators who are helping reshape Latin music and culture

Tim McPhate

GRAMMYs

Nov 3, 2017 - 1:19 pm

With revenue spiking in 2017, the Latin music scene is not only thriving for artists but for the professionals behind the scenes. With that thought in mind, Billboard has revealed its 2017 Latin Power Players.

The more than 40-deep list name-checks the "innovators" who are contributing to Latin music's uptick, spanning categories such as labels, publishing, radio, touring, digital, and organizations.

Making the list is The Latin Recording Academy's own Gabriel Abaroa Jr., who has helmed the organization since 2003. With the Latin GRAMMY Awards telecast bolstering its position as The Biggest Night in Latin Music, Abaroa has recently focused the organization's efforts on funding scholarships for the next generation of Latin musicians.

In 2014 the Latin GRAMMY Cultural Foundation was launched with the mission of furthering the awareness and appreciation of the significant contributions of Latin music and its makers to the world's culture through scholarships, fellowships, grants and education programs. To date, the Foundation has awarded more than 100 scholarships totaling $2.5 million, including branded scholarships with artists such as Enrique Iglesias, Juan Luis Guerra and Miguel Bosé.

"We have done a lot, and largely due to Latin power and pride in Latin music," said Abaroa.

Abaroa was promoted to his current position as President/CEO in 2010. In 2014 his contract was extended until 2019.

Other professionals making Billboard's list include Nacional Records President Tomas Cookman, W.K. Entertainment CEO Walter Kolm, Lionfish Entertainment founder Rebecca Leon, Jenni Rivera Enterprises CEO Rosie Rivera, and Spotify Head of Global Cultures Rocio Guerrero.

Why The Latin GRAMMY Cultural Foundation Matters

Enrique Iglesias

Photo: Gustavo Caballero/Getty Images

News

U.S. Latin Music Revenue Soars In First Half Of 2017

Latin music sees an increased demand, especially in streaming, in the first half of the year

Renée Fabian

GRAMMYs

Oct 25, 2017 - 4:37 pm

It's a great time for Latin artists in the U.S. music market, according to the RIAA's 2017 Mid-Year Latin Music Revenue Statistics report.

Considering the strength of popular crossover hits such as Enrique Iglesias' "Duele El Corazón" featuring Wisin or Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee's "Despacito," which became the most-watched video of all time on YouTube with more than 4 billion views, this news shouldn't be surprising. In 2016 the Latin music market made its first revenue increases in more than a decade, and that growth continues into 2017.

The RIAA reports that Latin music is up 44 percent so far in 2017 compared to the same time period in 2016, with revenue reaching $115 million. Notably, 82 percent of revenue was derived from streaming, representing a 56 percent increase from 2016. Overall, Latin music made up 2.9 percent of the total $4 billion U.S. music market in the first half of 2017.

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Photo: Arlene Richie/Media Sources/Media Sources/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images

News

Selena: Hollywood Walk Of Fame Ceremony Set For Nov. 3

The late Latin music icon set to receive posthumous honor; Nov. 3 to be declared "Selena Day"

Tim McPhate

GRAMMYs

Oct 20, 2017 - 7:52 am

Nov. 3 is shaping up to be a special day of celebration for Latin music fans.

Selena Wins Best Mexican-American Album

The late Selena is due to receive a posthumous star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, right in front of the Capitol Records building located at 1750 Vine Street in Los Angeles. Accepting the star on Selena's behalf will be sister Suzette Quintanilla.

Additionally, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and actress Eva Longoria, joined by the GRAMMY winner's friends and family, will proclaim the date "Selena Day."

The ceremony, which will take place at 6:30 p.m., will stream live at www.walkoffame.com.

"Since day one of Selena's selection into the Walk of Fame, not a day went by that we were not asked by fans when Selena would get her star. This day has come and fans from around the world will rejoice in her well-deserved honor," said Ana Martinez, producer of the Walk of Fame ceremonies.

A celebrated Latin music icon, Selena became the first Tejano artist to win a GRAMMY for Best Mexican-American Album, taking the honor for Live at the 36th GRAMMY Awards in 1994. Earlier this week, Google honored the release of Selena's 1989 eponymous debut solo album with a commemorative Google Doodle.

Feature: The Enduring Beauty Of Selena's Legacy Lives On

Selena

Photo: Pam Francis/Getty Images

Feature

The Enduring Beauty Of Selena's Legacy

From her music to makeup lines and museums, Selena's legacy continues to shine two decades following her passing

Ashley Monaé

GRAMMYs

Oct 10, 2017 - 4:10 pm

On March 31, 1995, the world was shaken by the untimely death of Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla-Perez.

Selena Wins Best Mexican-American Album

At just 23 years old, her career was skyrocketing toward crossover success. But just as she was settling into her fame, it was taken away in the blink of an eye when she was shot and tragically killed by a former president of her fan club. No one foresaw the harrowing ordeal coming, and the news arrived with no warning. As a result, Selena, who was poised for pop culture phenomenon status, would unfortunately never witness her efforts and hard work fully materialize.

Her star took flight in earnest one night in 1989, when Selena performed at the San Antonio Convention Center. The occasion was the ninth annual Tejano Music Awards. Her irresistible charm lit up the stage as she sang the likes of "Terco Corazon," "Yo Fui Aquella" and "Carino Mio." Even at just 17 years old, she was confident and stylish and vivacious — all of which helped flex her musicianship rather than detract from it. It also didn't hurt that she was beautiful. But the latter wasn't what caught Cuban-American music executive José Behar's eye.

At the time, Behar, a former A&R rep and head of Sony Discos, had just opened up EMI Latin, the first Latin music label under Capitol Records. Like prior years, his attendance was based on intentions of scouting fresh Latin talent.

"It was just coincidental that just weeks after we opened up EMI Latin [I found Selena]," Behar continues. "I ended up staying and watching her perform, and I thought she was amazing."

Selena wound up taking the Female Entertainer of The Year award home that night, but knew nothing of the even better news that awaited her the following day.

Selena's rise feels like something ripped out of a fairytale. After convincing the singer and her father, Abraham Quintanilla Jr., who was also her manager, to take a breakfast meeting, Behar immediately signed Selena.

"The whole thing with the Selena signing was … back then female artists didn't sell in the Tejano music market. There wasn't one female artist that ever really sold or had any substantial success in Tejano music," Behar explains.

"But I never really signed her as a Tejano artist. I thought she was my Gloria Estefan. That was truly the emphasis on signing her. We signed her with the vision of crossing her over, never really thinking we're going to have that huge success on the Latin side. It was always, always, always about the crossover."

And crossover from largely Latino audiences to American ones she did.

But first, she laid the groundwork with four successful Spanish-language albums in a five-year span: Selena (1989), Ven Conmigo (1990), Entre A Mi Mundo (1992), and Amor Prohibido (1994). While Amor Prohibido became one of the best-selling Latin albums in the United States, Behar notes that Selena's first GRAMMY win was a major game-changer.

"She was like a little 10-year-old girl whose dream was coming to fruition," he says.

At the 36th GRAMMY Awards in New York on March 1, 1994, Selena made history as Live!, her first-ever live album released in 1993, won Best Mexican/American Album. The singer became the first Tejano artist to win the category.

On Feb. 26, 1995, Selena performed a historic concert at the Houston Astrodome. Nearly 67,000 people were in attendance for the show, a part of the popular Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. Marking what would be her final televised appearance, the concert was broadcast live on Univision and later received a posthumous release by EMI Latin in 2001.

As Selena's résumé became chockfull with impressive accolades, she was helping to open the doors for the next wave of talented Latino musicians. However, just one month later, the Latin music community was silenced when the news of Selena's death broke.

In a case of the bittersweet, Selena's success wasn't truly etched into the history books until Dreaming Of You, her fifth and final studio album, was released posthumously on July 18, 1995, just four months after her death. During the time Selena began recording sessions for the highly anticipated multigenre work of American pop and Latin music, Behar can only describe it with one word: "magic."

"It was a dream come true, it was going to happen," he says. "She was in disbelief that it was coming together."

Dreaming Of You would go on to be critically acclaimed and an immediate commercial success. Selling 175,000 copies on its release day in the U.S., the album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, in addition to ranking in the top 10 best-selling debuts for a musician, best-selling debut by a female act, and the fastest-selling U.S. album of 1995.

Beyond Dreaming Of You, the reality of Selena's enchanting presence has remained alive and well, all while growing her cultural relevance and welcoming a new generation of fans. Decades after her death, it's certain that the entertainer's legacy has been among the most famously celebrated. There was the 1997 movie Selena starring Jennifer Lopez, which celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2017. The film not only catapulted the rise of J.Lo's career, it is known as one of the highest-grossing musical biopics of all time.

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MAC Cosmetics released a special Selena makeup collection after an online petition was created for the company to honor the singer for the 20th anniversary of her passing. Selena-branded T-shirts have been popping up in retail stores like Macy's, Urban Outfitters, Target, and Forever 21. And her hometown of Corpus Christi, Texas, there's The Selena Museum showcasing the singer's awards and memorabilia. Corpus Christi is also home to Fiesta de la Flor, a two-day festival celebrating the life and legacy of Selena. And in 2016 the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce announced that the Mexican-American superstar would be honored on the prestigious Hollywood Walk of Fame.

"To me, that's what solidifies a true legacy," says Mexican-American singer/songwriter and actress Becky G, who cites Selena as a major influence. "That even after she passed away, she's affected so many people's lives and inspired even more."

Becky remembers "Como La Flor" being the first song of Selena's she ever heard as a young kid. But beyond the music, which is the true foundation, she connected with Selena on a deeper level, a connection that Behar believes lies in the fact that she was a bicultural artist in the true sense of the word.

"She represented this bridge I needed so badly in my life. You know, being born in the States but identifying with Latin culture and being Mexican through blood and by heart," Becky G says. "It was so hard to feel like I belonged in either or. I really resonated with the part in the movie where Selena's dad says, 'You're either too Mexican for the Americans or too American for the Mexicans, but you can't be in the middle.' To me, Selena was the middle, like I was born here but I'm Spanish and no one can tell me any different. From that, I found a confidence within because I knew someone else already broke those barriers for me and. And that person is Selena."

Though Selena achieved much success and lived out her dreams, there's no simple answer as to why her legacy continues, but it's one that certainly is meant to be.

"I've worked with a lot of artists throughout my career and she really was a good soul," Behar says. "Never spoke ill of anyone. Her smile was genuine and wholesome. She had a lot of love, no disdain. Not jealous of anything or anyone. It was just all about focusing and being a good person and a great artist. That's really what she was about. It's not like a persona."

With her good soul attributing to the otherworldly force of success that has followed her, Behar also claims that the core of Selena's foundation is her music.

"It's like a beautiful Christmas tree with no decorations," he says. "If you have a little shriveled up tree ... [and] if you put decorations on that tree, it's never going to be a beautiful tree. It's got to a beautiful tree. That's the first thing you pick out every year. And as an artist, it should always be about the music. And [Selena's] music has stood the test of time. Great music, amazing music. And then you have all that other stuff and it's a grand slam.

"These kinds of things don't come every day and it takes a long time for that to come together. Maybe every 20 years an artist will come along and do that, but I don't think I could ever compare anyone to Selena. She was truly unique."

(Ashley Monaé is a Brooklyn-based writer. Her work has appeared in the pages of PAPER and Nylon and online at Pitchfork, Billboard and Highsnobiety, among others.)