When the first single of Enrique Iglesias’ new album, “95/08,” was ready to be sent to radio, Iglesias had one request: The track, “Dónde Están Corazón,” could not be made available for digital download prior to the album’s March 25 release.
“I look at my sisters and my friends and the way they buy music, and whenever there’s a song there that they like, if they can’t find it on the Internet, they’ll go and buy the album,” says Iglesias, who has sold nearly 40 million albums worldwide, according to label Universal. “If they find it on the Internet, they completely forget about the album. So, I wanted to experiment and see what would happen.”
After a 13-year career, Iglesias is releasing his first all-Spanish hits album for a dramatically altered marketplace.
And his label is facing the challenge by approaching that Latin market in a different way. n “I have no problem testing the market with artists,” Universal Music Latin America & Iberian Peninsula chairman Jesús Lopez says. “One thing is the American online market, and another is the Latin.”
It is no secret that when it comes to online digital sales the global Latin market is still behind the mainstream-in some Latin-American countries, digital sales are virtually nonexistent, if one excludes mobile. But these limitations have forced Latin labels to be aggressive in seeking out different business strategies, with Latin artists like Iglesias exemplifying how they can best be put to use.
In the past year, Latin labels have been mavericks in developing multitiered alliances with major media companies, crafting vast mobile sponsorships and establishing a wide array of revenue-sharing deals while seeking to take full advantage of fledgling Internet sites like MySpace Latino and Facebook in Spanish.
In the United States, Latin labels face specific challenges.
Click here for the full story including the unique challenges the U.S. presents to Latin labels, the opportunites fully embraced by Latin stars, the deals adding a new dimension of business to Latin labels and more.
