Luis Fonsi Talks The 'Despacito' Effect And Latin Music In The New Digital Age

When Latin Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Luis Fonsi released his first album back in 1998, he didn’t have the free marketing tool that is social media readily available at his fingertips. 

He recalls only having an artist website to relay information to fans and reach new audiences. Today, social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram have made this process easier for artists, as these sites have proven to be beneficial in music promotion and discovery.

Nearly two decades later, social media and streaming services have helped propel Latin music into the mainstream (or, according to Billboard’s Leila Cobo, cause a “Latin Music explosion”). And although Fonsi is very vocal about not wanting to take credit for whole thing, he was a key igniter in the 2017 "explosion."

I sat down with Fonsi earlier this month at Twitter’s Headquarters in NYC, just before Fonsi participated in a panel about Latin music’s role in the new digital era. Moderated by Remezcla writer Eduardo Cepeda, the panel featured key figures working in the realm of Latin music, streaming engagement, including Marco Botero, head of Twitter Miami & US Hispanics and Azuncena Olvera, head of Pandora’s Latin Industry Relations and Artist Marketing. 

“I couldn't think of a typical day without social media, especially when I'm out on tour or when I'm about to release a new single, new video...without having those tools, you know, it's like, what would I do?” Fonsi said in our interview. “It [social media] has really changed the way we market and share our music.” 

In 2017, a historic 19 Spanish-language songs charted on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. And it was one song written by Fonsi called “Despacito,” featuring Daddy Yankee and later remixed by Justin Bieber, that jumpstarted the magical relationship that would soon become Latin music and streaming.

Fonsi recalled the making of the “Despacito (Remix)" as “completely organic” and “not forced.” When Fonsi initially wrote the song, he wasn’t trying to cross over into a new market or create the next bi-lingual smash. He was doing what he did every single day: writing a new record.

Then, he got a call from Justin Bieber. 

“Obviously when Justin did that remix, he sings a bit in English...but it’s really a Spanish song,” he said. “It was just that everything lined up correctly and I think that was the true success of the song, the fact that it wasn’t forced.” 

Bieber’s vocals were added to the “Despacito (Remix)" and the track was re-released in April 2017. In just under one year, the song accumulated 1.3 billion streams, earning the title as the most streamed song in 2017. 

Fonsi continued: “I think ‘Despacito’ was a huge part of it, but before ‘Despacito’ there had been amazing collaborations and artists doing you know, bilingual songs and collaborating with more American artists.” 

In 2018, the Latin music business grew 18% to $413 million, with streaming making up 93% of total Latin music revenues, according to RIAA’s 2018 Year-End Latin Music Industry Revenue Report. Streaming totals include paid subscriptions from platforms like Apple Music and Spotify Premium, which grew 48% year-over-year to $239 million in 2018. 

While on the social front, Twitter has been a huge driver of conversations, trends and music discovery—especially for Latin music. 

“On Twitter, conversations happen. That’s where movements start, culture is created and trends are birthed,” Botero said during the #LaNuevaMezcla panel. “Eighty-four percent of Latino users on Twitter say Latin music is extremely important.” 

In late April, Twitter announced a new content partnership with Univision “to better serve the Hispanic community.” The partnership will target Spanish-language entertainment, sports and news content on Twitter, including Univision’s coverage of the 2020 U.S. Elections and content from the Premios Lo Nuestro and Premos Juventud awards.  

“[Social media] opens that door to sort of introduce to a new audience what Latin Music is all about, what my music is all about,” he said. “They know about the music and maybe they would be a little bit of afraid because of the language barrier."

In the opening letter of RIAA’s 2018 report, COO Michele Ballantyne stated that Latin Music is experiencing a “renaissance.” While streaming services and social media have become an important discovery tool for Latin music, Fonsi said it’s important to remember that Latin music and bi-lingual collaborations have always been around (etc. Shakira, Enrique Iglesias, Gloria Estefan).

“Latin music has already been here and it's not like we are re-discovering the wheel, but I think that music is in constant evolution and I do think that streaming has a lot to do with it,” said Fonsi. “There's a really interesting movement within our own culture that's bleeding over, for lack of a better term, into different languages and cultures and countries. Streaming has helped us share our happiness.” 

Source: Forbes.com

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