Afo Verde
Chairman/CEO of the Latin Region, Spain & Portugal
Sony Music Entertainment
Twitter: @afoverde
POWER MOVE: Marking the first time in Sony’s history that a Latin region executive also has oversight of Spain and Portugal, Verde’s new responsibilities that began with his promotion last February underscore his increased ability to break artists and market product on a global scale. Today, Verde oversees offices in 13 countries, and plans to open up Peru later this year.
“Consolidating Spain and Portugal and strengthening our relationship with our American labels has been a big achievement,” he says. Key crossover acts Pitbull, Romeo (who had the top-selling Latin album of 2012) and Shakira, for example, are joint signings with RCA, and Verde’s marketing of Adele (Columbia) resulted in more than 2 million albums sold.
Verde, a respected composer/producer who made albums for rock powerhouses Soda Stereo and Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, began his label career as an A&R executive and he still values repertoire, most recently signing Carlos Vives, Cristian Castro, Babasonicos and Michel Teló to 360 deals. Under Verde’s command, each territory has to bring at least one major, nontraditional deal per year, ensuring profitability beyond conventional music sales. The executive’s own involvement starts at a project’s inception, “and we all work together toward the same objective,” he says.
Tackling the U.S. Latin market, Verde says, is now a priority after consolidating the Latin American region, and he began last year with a new management structure. Home to other mega-stars like Marc Anthony, Chayanne and Ricky Martin — all of whom will release new albums in 2013 — Sony U.S. Latin’s album market share (26.8% in 2012) is second only to Universal Music Latin Entertainment’s (39.5%), but their distributed market share of tracks is virtually identical — 38.1% vs. 38.7% for Universal (including EMI). “I have two rosters,” Verde says. “My artists who trust this company, and the people who work for it. And I want them all to have the most opportunity that’s possible.”
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Afo Verde photo by Jeffery Salter