WEBVTT - Latin Music Goes Global With Amazon’s Rocío Guerrero 0:00:07.960 --> 0:00:12.600 Welcome to Strictly Business, Variety's weekly podcast featuring conversations with 0:00:12.720 --> 0:00:17.439 industry leaders about the business of media and entertainment. I'm 0:00:17.440 --> 0:00:22.959 Shirley Halpern, Executive editor of Music. Rossio Guerrero, Global head 0:00:23.000 --> 0:00:27.440 of Latin Music at Amazon Music has collected many professional 0:00:27.480 --> 0:00:30.560 accolades over her career. If there's a power list of 0:00:30.560 --> 0:00:34.480 women in music, she's on it. Latin leaders, she's there too, 0:00:34.760 --> 0:00:39.320 and among international executives, the well traveled native of Spain 0:00:39.440 --> 0:00:43.120 ranks high as well. But to hear Rossio's stories to 0:00:43.200 --> 0:00:46.400 connect with a personal journey, one which took her from 0:00:46.400 --> 0:00:51.640 a musical family in a small Spanish town to Brazil, London, Stockholm, 0:00:51.760 --> 0:00:54.440 and now New York, which she's called home for ten years. 0:00:55.080 --> 0:00:59.080 Talk about being early on music streaming, Rossio joined Spotify 0:00:59.280 --> 0:01:02.160 in two thousand eleven, before the service had even launched 0:01:02.200 --> 0:01:05.480 in the US. She started there as a sales planner 0:01:05.720 --> 0:01:08.160 and rose up the ranks to the position of head 0:01:08.280 --> 0:01:13.320 of Global Music, Cultures, Shows and Editorial. That's when Rosso 0:01:13.520 --> 0:01:18.160 truly went global. Her purview at Spotify included Latin music, 0:01:18.240 --> 0:01:22.360 of course, but also Indian, Arabic and African songs as well. 0:01:23.080 --> 0:01:26.240 Dialed in on the music consumption habits of the diaspora. 0:01:26.560 --> 0:01:30.160 Rosso then took her institutional knowledge of the tech platform 0:01:30.400 --> 0:01:33.400 and learned the music business from the other side, joining 0:01:33.480 --> 0:01:36.760 Warner Music Group in twenty eighteen as vice president of 0:01:36.880 --> 0:01:41.640 A and R and cross cultural Strategy. Just before the pandemic, 0:01:42.000 --> 0:01:45.160 Amazon came calling and Rosso signed on to lead the 0:01:45.280 --> 0:01:48.440 Latin music team. For the last three years, she's been 0:01:48.480 --> 0:01:54.680 busy building exclusive original content opportunities via video, podcasts, live streaming, 0:01:54.800 --> 0:01:59.040 or playlisting, and has taken on such ambitious projects as 0:01:59.080 --> 0:02:03.080 the mini document ENTERI La Cuna del Dembo, tracing the 0:02:03.120 --> 0:02:07.920 evolution of the dembo subgenre and featuring Latin music's biggest 0:02:08.040 --> 0:02:12.600 current crossover star, Bad Bunny. Thanks in large part to 0:02:12.760 --> 0:02:16.400 top album and ticket seller Bad Bunny, Latin music has 0:02:16.440 --> 0:02:20.040 seen explosive growth in recent years, and in twenty twenty 0:02:20.040 --> 0:02:24.280 two exceeded one billion dollars in US Latin music revenues 0:02:24.320 --> 0:02:27.600 for the first time, up nearly twenty five percent from 0:02:27.600 --> 0:02:31.960 twenty twenty one. Amazon Music has also seen continued growth 0:02:31.960 --> 0:02:34.560 as it relates to Latin music, which is not in 0:02:34.600 --> 0:02:38.720 itself a genre, but rather a diverse musical through line 0:02:38.760 --> 0:02:43.640 for Spanish speaking artists worldwide. On this episode, which follows 0:02:43.720 --> 0:02:49.880 Varieties April thirteenth, Miami Entertainment Town event recognizing Latin executive talent, 0:02:50.520 --> 0:02:55.040 I talked to Rossio about hermo to super serve music's 0:02:55.200 --> 0:02:59.360 underserved globally, as well as her accomplishments, which include a 0:02:59.400 --> 0:03:03.320 Maluma answered live stream from magazine, and what she learned 0:03:03.400 --> 0:03:08.320 during Spotify startup years, namely Swedish, a suggestion of the 0:03:08.360 --> 0:03:12.720 platform's co founder Daniel Eck join us after the break, 0:03:20.840 --> 0:03:24.639 Welcome back to strictly business. Here's my conversation with Amazon 0:03:24.720 --> 0:03:29.240 Music's Rossio Guerrero. So you grew up in Spain. 0:03:29.840 --> 0:03:30.080 Yeah. 0:03:30.320 --> 0:03:32.840 Yeah, I grew up in Spain, in a small town 0:03:33.000 --> 0:03:36.760 in the middle of nowhere. Really it's like between Sevilia 0:03:36.760 --> 0:03:40.320 and Madrid, and my family is still there. I have 0:03:40.520 --> 0:03:44.240 some relatives in Madrid, but most of them my dad, 0:03:44.280 --> 0:03:48.200 my mom, my brother, they're still in Don Benito. 0:03:48.560 --> 0:03:51.280 How did you get into music growing up in Spain? 0:03:52.080 --> 0:03:57.320 So my family it's a family of musicians. So I 0:03:57.400 --> 0:04:01.880 was really it's in my dna. I was born to music. 0:04:01.920 --> 0:04:04.880 My mom is a pianist. Both my mom and my 0:04:05.000 --> 0:04:09.160 dad worked at the Conservatory of Music in Dominito. My 0:04:09.240 --> 0:04:11.960 mom was the director, my dad was the vice director. 0:04:12.400 --> 0:04:15.520 She's an interesting dynamic. That's all we talked about at home. 0:04:16.279 --> 0:04:20.520 It was my second home. I studied my musical studies 0:04:20.560 --> 0:04:24.160 at three. My mom was my teacher at the beginning, 0:04:24.640 --> 0:04:28.559 and then yeah, and then I studied piano, then moved 0:04:28.560 --> 0:04:32.920 to violin. So you know, I did at least seventeen 0:04:33.000 --> 0:04:38.680 years of music classical. My sister is also a music teacher. 0:04:38.720 --> 0:04:41.960 She's a pianist as well, so we all play instruments. 0:04:42.240 --> 0:04:45.400 None of them work on the music industry per se, 0:04:45.880 --> 0:04:50.080 but both my mom and my sister do teach music 0:04:50.200 --> 0:04:53.080 in college and in school as well. 0:04:53.640 --> 0:04:56.240 Wow, so were you supposed to be a professional musician? 0:04:56.800 --> 0:04:59.960 To be honest, growing up, I was like rebelling against 0:05:00.600 --> 0:05:03.440 I was mad that my mom was pushing me and 0:05:03.960 --> 0:05:07.080 you know, telling me you have to do music. I 0:05:07.160 --> 0:05:09.719 just didn't understand. Why did I have to do that? 0:05:10.240 --> 0:05:11.080 Now? I do? Right? 0:05:11.480 --> 0:05:15.320 So when I moved out of my home to study 0:05:15.440 --> 0:05:17.560 and I went to college, I did journalism. 0:05:18.160 --> 0:05:20.200 I quit, so to speak. 0:05:20.240 --> 0:05:22.919 I was like, oh, I'm free now I don't have 0:05:23.120 --> 0:05:25.320 to do classical music anymore. 0:05:26.120 --> 0:05:27.760 Then I took it back after the years. 0:05:27.800 --> 0:05:31.039 By the way, I actually ten years ago I studied 0:05:31.040 --> 0:05:34.920 in New York again, So you know, I think the 0:05:34.920 --> 0:05:38.640 teenagers period kind of took me to another side. 0:05:39.279 --> 0:05:41.800 So I never thought of being a professional musician. 0:05:41.880 --> 0:05:45.760 Now, okay, how did you end up in the States. 0:05:46.160 --> 0:05:50.919 Well, that's that's a story, you know. 0:05:51.400 --> 0:05:54.840 After I went to study to Madrid journalism, I got 0:05:54.839 --> 0:05:58.440 a scholarship to study in London, and that was an 0:05:58.480 --> 0:06:02.000 inflection point for me. I get those pumps, even though, 0:06:02.080 --> 0:06:05.240 like you know, it's my life. But I remember very 0:06:05.320 --> 0:06:08.599 clearly the first time I leave my country is when 0:06:09.000 --> 0:06:12.520 I realized how little did I know about the world 0:06:12.920 --> 0:06:16.960 and how much was out there to explore. So I 0:06:17.120 --> 0:06:21.880 really never came back after that. I went to Brazil. 0:06:22.839 --> 0:06:27.640 I spent a few months in Brazil just because learned 0:06:27.640 --> 0:06:30.920 the language, learned the culture, which was fascinating. By the way, 0:06:30.960 --> 0:06:36.799 Brazil is another universe. After Brazil, went back to London 0:06:37.279 --> 0:06:40.040 stay a few months. I shoot about what to do 0:06:40.480 --> 0:06:43.800 really next, so my mom convinced me come back to Spain. 0:06:43.920 --> 0:06:45.640 Figured it out what you're gonna do with your life. 0:06:45.760 --> 0:06:48.960 So went back to Madrid for a short period of 0:06:49.000 --> 0:06:52.480 time and that's where I found my first job in 0:06:52.520 --> 0:06:57.159 the industry, per se, and then from their move to Stockholm. 0:06:58.000 --> 0:07:02.520 With that job, I stayed there for three years, Stockholm, 0:07:02.760 --> 0:07:06.359 New York, and I been in New York every since. Sportify. 0:07:06.360 --> 0:07:09.760 I was very small at the time. We were only 0:07:09.840 --> 0:07:12.960 one hundred people I think. And what's fun is that 0:07:13.160 --> 0:07:16.280 Spain happened to be one of the first three countries 0:07:16.400 --> 0:07:22.000 that it was available at, so that's why you know, 0:07:22.080 --> 0:07:22.800 I got the job. 0:07:22.880 --> 0:07:24.320 It was in sales, so. 0:07:24.240 --> 0:07:29.960 It was really not like still like musically focused, but yeah, 0:07:30.000 --> 0:07:32.040 I mean it was just the beginning. 0:07:33.200 --> 0:07:36.920 That's amazing. So you were in Stockholm twenty twelve and 0:07:36.960 --> 0:07:39.720 twenty thirteen, that was like before it even launched in 0:07:39.760 --> 0:07:41.000 the US. 0:07:41.240 --> 0:07:42.280 Mm hm, that's correct. 0:07:42.320 --> 0:07:45.760 So when I moved to Stockholm, Spotify still wasn't available 0:07:45.800 --> 0:07:49.160 in the US or Latin America. It was a very 0:07:49.160 --> 0:07:52.960 interesting time because it was a very small company and 0:07:53.400 --> 0:07:57.200 it just took off, you know. And when Spotify launched 0:07:57.240 --> 0:07:59.880 in Latin America and the US is when I moved 0:08:00.360 --> 0:08:01.000 to New York. 0:08:01.880 --> 0:08:04.960 I liked the stokom. It's just like a differentent world. 0:08:05.680 --> 0:08:08.160 In summer is day all day, and then in winter 0:08:08.360 --> 0:08:10.559 is dark most of the time, which I had a 0:08:10.680 --> 0:08:14.840 very hard time dealing with as a Southern Spanish person. 0:08:16.720 --> 0:08:18.560 It was beautiful. 0:08:18.600 --> 0:08:22.400 Talking about Latin music today. So the big headline when 0:08:22.440 --> 0:08:25.360 it comes to the Latin music business is that US 0:08:25.480 --> 0:08:28.880 Latin music revenues in twenty twenty two exceeded a billion 0:08:28.960 --> 0:08:32.360 dollars for the first time. And it also the genre 0:08:33.000 --> 0:08:37.400 grew significantly faster than the broader industry. It's up nearly 0:08:37.440 --> 0:08:41.360 twenty five percent from the year before. Also in Amazon Music, 0:08:41.400 --> 0:08:44.880 there's been continued growth in Latin America. Your monthly streams 0:08:45.360 --> 0:08:49.400 of Latin music is doubled year over year worldwide. Why 0:08:49.640 --> 0:08:51.439 the boom? What's driving it? 0:08:52.120 --> 0:08:53.160 What's happening right? 0:08:53.640 --> 0:08:58.720 The boom really started a few years ago, and even 0:08:59.080 --> 0:09:02.480 before the first boom, I mean the first most recent 0:09:02.720 --> 0:09:06.560 boom with the Spasito. As you might remember, Latin music 0:09:06.679 --> 0:09:09.760 was always there. So just to give context, Latin music 0:09:09.880 --> 0:09:13.720 was always big because there is a lot of people 0:09:13.760 --> 0:09:18.120 that live in Latin America and Spain and in the diaspora. 0:09:18.160 --> 0:09:19.160 It's huge as you. 0:09:19.120 --> 0:09:22.160 Know in the US, the settlement speaking Europe as well, 0:09:22.679 --> 0:09:27.679 So it was always big. What happened was that were streaming, 0:09:28.360 --> 0:09:32.640 we started counting that consumption and those streams, so you 0:09:32.640 --> 0:09:37.040 could see being in the inside, how the more people 0:09:37.080 --> 0:09:42.000 were listening to Latin music coming from Latin America, the 0:09:42.240 --> 0:09:46.880 more penetration of streaming in those territories, the more Latin 0:09:46.960 --> 0:09:49.120 songs were popping up in the global chart. 0:09:49.720 --> 0:09:54.319 So it was just math. It was just math. 0:09:54.520 --> 0:09:58.360 And the more Latin music songs were popping up in 0:09:58.400 --> 0:10:02.080 the global charts, the more visibility of Latin music to 0:10:02.200 --> 0:10:05.640 known Latin audiences. So it was like a visious circle 0:10:06.040 --> 0:10:10.320 that started with streaming. But it also in parallel, the 0:10:10.760 --> 0:10:16.000 population of the United States continue to grow with Hispanics 0:10:16.080 --> 0:10:20.280 right like today young adults twenty five percent of young 0:10:20.280 --> 0:10:23.280 adults are Hispanics and they're growing six times faster than 0:10:23.440 --> 0:10:27.800 no Hispanics. So obviously, when you think about the combination 0:10:27.960 --> 0:10:32.880 of the streaming penetration in Latin countries, the growing Latin 0:10:32.920 --> 0:10:36.760 population in the US, these are people that are very 0:10:36.800 --> 0:10:42.920 digital oriented. They over indexing consumption, music consumption, digital consumption. 0:10:43.200 --> 0:10:44.040 So when you put all. 0:10:43.960 --> 0:10:48.120 Of that together, this happens, and it's going to continue 0:10:48.160 --> 0:10:52.280 to happen. It's it's no way to go back because 0:10:52.320 --> 0:10:55.640 the population continues to grow, the music continues to grow, 0:10:56.080 --> 0:10:58.760 the exposure to other cultures continue to happen. 0:10:59.000 --> 0:11:03.000 So this is honestly just not the beginning. 0:11:02.600 --> 0:11:06.360 But we are still at the beginning of a very 0:11:06.480 --> 0:11:08.520 long journey, if that makes sense. 0:11:09.440 --> 0:11:12.959 Yeah, totally well, and especially like looking at your journey. 0:11:13.440 --> 0:11:17.120 When Bad Bunnies Unveranos in Ti became the first non 0:11:17.160 --> 0:11:20.360 English language to top the Billboard two hundred, it feels like, 0:11:20.400 --> 0:11:22.280 in a way it was like the culmination of the 0:11:22.320 --> 0:11:26.800 many years that you spent building this Latin music global 0:11:27.080 --> 0:11:32.199 expansion strategy, which was kind of instrumental in globalizing the genre. 0:11:32.880 --> 0:11:35.640 That was your job at Spotify is working with these 0:11:35.720 --> 0:11:39.920 musical cultures and diasporas. I mean, did it feel personal 0:11:39.960 --> 0:11:41.640 to you? 0:11:41.640 --> 0:11:44.800 You're talking and look I'm getting like goosetamps. I get 0:11:44.840 --> 0:11:48.400 a little emotional because it was and it still is 0:11:49.559 --> 0:11:52.240 something so incredible to. 0:11:52.240 --> 0:11:55.400 Be part of and have contributed, even if just a 0:11:55.440 --> 0:11:55.959 tiny bit. 0:11:56.520 --> 0:11:59.640 I always I remember a few years ago, I would 0:11:59.679 --> 0:12:03.040 always say to my team, you know what happened with food? 0:12:03.400 --> 0:12:08.319 International food, Like food has being embeedved into other cultures, 0:12:08.679 --> 0:12:12.199 Like we all eat Indian food, we eat Latin food, 0:12:12.240 --> 0:12:15.200 we eat you know, a lot of Japanese food. I 0:12:15.240 --> 0:12:18.960 always told them, we can make this happen with music, 0:12:19.520 --> 0:12:22.559 Like imagine a world in which music no matter the language, 0:12:22.600 --> 0:12:26.800 the genre, it's just it. It's just part of mainstream's, 0:12:26.840 --> 0:12:31.920 part of pop culture. It represents the world as it is, right, 0:12:32.280 --> 0:12:36.520 So being part of that was always very personal to me. 0:12:37.040 --> 0:12:38.160 That was my mission. 0:12:38.240 --> 0:12:41.400 It still is my mission today, is give Latin culture 0:12:41.760 --> 0:12:45.800 the space that it deserves. It's just pushing a little 0:12:45.800 --> 0:12:48.280 bit something that was going to happen, you know, And 0:12:48.440 --> 0:12:52.880 back then you'd be surprised, like we wouldn't have a 0:12:52.920 --> 0:12:58.199 lot of like Latin music songs in non Latin playlists 0:12:58.280 --> 0:13:02.160 or stations, and it was like challenging sometimes to make 0:13:02.200 --> 0:13:05.679 that happen. But now you look back at this, and 0:13:05.760 --> 0:13:08.800 you look at these playlists or stations or any radio station, 0:13:08.920 --> 0:13:09.960 and it just happens. 0:13:10.480 --> 0:13:12.400 And every time I'm. 0:13:12.240 --> 0:13:16.319 On a taxi, for instance, and I hear this pop 0:13:16.800 --> 0:13:20.480 radio sound like oh, and I suddenly hear a lot 0:13:20.559 --> 0:13:24.439 in so I'm like, wow, like this and it's just normal, 0:13:24.720 --> 0:13:27.280 you know, And I'm like, this just was not normal 0:13:28.000 --> 0:13:32.359 ten years ago. It just wasn't and it was a beautiful, 0:13:33.000 --> 0:13:33.959 beautiful thing to. 0:13:33.880 --> 0:13:38.000 Be part of this penetration of this English speaking market. 0:13:39.040 --> 0:13:42.640 You mentioned before that you know, the numbers of Hispanics 0:13:42.679 --> 0:13:45.640 are just larger. So is this kind of a bell 0:13:45.720 --> 0:13:49.439 whether to pay attention to because of its cultural impact 0:13:49.480 --> 0:13:52.280 or is it really just a question of demographics and 0:13:52.760 --> 0:13:55.560 you know, like what is opening the door here? Is 0:13:55.559 --> 0:13:58.160 it just the number of people or are people actually 0:13:58.200 --> 0:14:00.840 open to other cultures and other languages. 0:14:01.840 --> 0:14:05.079 It's an excellent question, and it's both. 0:14:05.720 --> 0:14:09.920 I think because of the demographic because of a streaming penetration, 0:14:11.080 --> 0:14:15.760 we were given the opportunity to be heard, and the 0:14:15.840 --> 0:14:19.280 more songs that were popping up, the more open people 0:14:19.320 --> 0:14:23.080 were to listening to other stuff that were in different languages. 0:14:23.720 --> 0:14:28.120 And that's just like any other transition, it just happens, 0:14:28.160 --> 0:14:30.000 and when you get to the other side, it's just 0:14:30.080 --> 0:14:32.440 part of the norm. It's part of mainstream, is part 0:14:32.480 --> 0:14:36.760 of pop culture. And I think it's both. I absolutely 0:14:36.840 --> 0:14:40.400 think streaming has also helped people be more open about 0:14:40.480 --> 0:14:44.240 music because you also listen to more music in general 0:14:44.800 --> 0:14:45.680 thanks for streaming. 0:14:45.760 --> 0:14:47.320 You listen to music when. 0:14:47.160 --> 0:14:50.160 You're working out, where you are trying to focus, when 0:14:50.200 --> 0:14:53.320 you're trying to party, So that in itself is giving 0:14:53.320 --> 0:14:55.840 you more chances to hear two more artists. And when 0:14:55.880 --> 0:14:59.000 you're getting all these like other songs popping up, you're 0:14:59.040 --> 0:14:59.960 giving it the chance. 0:15:00.240 --> 0:15:02.000 So it's a combination of both. 0:15:02.760 --> 0:15:06.800 Is there a particular subgenre of Latin music that is 0:15:06.960 --> 0:15:10.960 reacting more than others? Like I definitely want to talk 0:15:10.960 --> 0:15:15.520 about regional Mexican, but it seems like reggaeton was kind 0:15:15.560 --> 0:15:19.800 of the first one that was really embraced by US audiences. 0:15:19.880 --> 0:15:20.440 Is that right? 0:15:21.320 --> 0:15:24.720 Yeah, that is right, And I'm glad you bring this up, 0:15:24.760 --> 0:15:28.320 because Latin is not a genre, right. You know, sometimes 0:15:28.560 --> 0:15:34.040 Latin gets compared to other Anglo genres and I always say, wait, no, 0:15:34.200 --> 0:15:36.720 you need to talk about Anglo music and Latin music. 0:15:36.760 --> 0:15:38.960 And then you have hip hop and we have hip hop, 0:15:38.960 --> 0:15:41.680 and you have rock and we have rock. It seems obvious, right, 0:15:41.680 --> 0:15:44.560 But you'd be surprised that a lot of people don't 0:15:44.640 --> 0:15:50.720 understand that nuance which is massive right within all of 0:15:50.760 --> 0:15:53.280 the genres of Latin music, which again you have all 0:15:53.320 --> 0:15:55.800 the same ones that you're familiar with in the Anglo world. 0:15:56.320 --> 0:16:01.320 You then also have Latin exclusive genres like sasa, chata, menge. 0:16:01.880 --> 0:16:04.880 Those are very just like Latin music and then you 0:16:04.920 --> 0:16:11.360 have the typical genres reggaeton and upbat. Latin music was 0:16:11.440 --> 0:16:15.720 the one that really studied the globalization because it's something 0:16:15.800 --> 0:16:18.000 you dance to, it's something you party. 0:16:18.520 --> 0:16:23.360 It's not like the lyric the most important part of 0:16:22.360 --> 0:16:23.880 the song. 0:16:24.000 --> 0:16:26.840 It's important too, and in many cases they have strong, 0:16:26.920 --> 0:16:32.520 powerful messages, but it's the feeling. So that, combined with 0:16:32.600 --> 0:16:36.960 the fact that in the Latin markets for US, celebration 0:16:37.240 --> 0:16:40.560 and party is part of our culture, is one of 0:16:40.600 --> 0:16:43.320 the reasons why it did resonate with all of the 0:16:43.400 --> 0:16:46.920 Latin countries. By default, then those were the songs that 0:16:46.960 --> 0:16:50.240 were popping up the most in non Latin countries. And 0:16:50.280 --> 0:16:53.000 again you get a feeling. It doesn't matter the language 0:16:53.040 --> 0:16:58.440 you're listening to. It's a big feeling, a danceabold track. 0:16:59.000 --> 0:17:02.480 So it makes sense that that was the genre that started, 0:17:02.640 --> 0:17:07.000 like the movement, but I'm hoping that reg don't opened 0:17:07.040 --> 0:17:09.600 the doors so people would be open to hear other 0:17:10.000 --> 0:17:14.320 songs and other languages. And now it's our job to 0:17:14.600 --> 0:17:18.560 prove that there are many other genres of Latin music. 0:17:22.119 --> 0:17:23.760 We need to take a quick break, but we'll be 0:17:23.840 --> 0:17:33.760 back with more from Rossio Guerrero and we're back with 0:17:33.880 --> 0:17:39.320 Amazon's global head of Latin Music, Rosso Guerrero. What is 0:17:39.400 --> 0:17:42.080 sort of the essence of your job as a curator 0:17:42.320 --> 0:17:43.080 at Amazon? 0:17:43.880 --> 0:17:48.399 So right now, our Latin team just takes care of 0:17:48.560 --> 0:17:51.120 many different aspects of the Latin business. 0:17:51.680 --> 0:17:54.119 One of them is the curation and the programming. 0:17:54.160 --> 0:17:57.800 We have an excellent programming team that takes care of 0:17:58.000 --> 0:18:03.719 literally a soundtrack your life, and they're literally investigating all 0:18:03.760 --> 0:18:05.440 the trends that are happening. 0:18:05.800 --> 0:18:08.760 What should we curate for what moments. 0:18:09.160 --> 0:18:12.160 That's the work I started at at Spotify, by the way, 0:18:12.240 --> 0:18:16.840 so I know it's a beautiful work. It's very reworthing. 0:18:17.400 --> 0:18:20.760 You're listening to users' feedback and then you're also trying 0:18:20.760 --> 0:18:24.639 new stuff, presenting to customers and fans things they didn't 0:18:24.680 --> 0:18:27.920 even know they liked yet. That is such an exciting 0:18:27.960 --> 0:18:32.760 part of our programming job. There is something very exciting 0:18:32.800 --> 0:18:36.120 that we do, particularly at Amazon, which is a global 0:18:36.200 --> 0:18:40.919 Latin syndicate. Syndicate basically means that we are curating for 0:18:41.080 --> 0:18:45.600 local audiences in the different local markets, but we also 0:18:45.680 --> 0:18:49.480 have regional and Latin global playlists. So what we do 0:18:49.680 --> 0:18:53.000 is that we help music travel across countries, so when 0:18:53.040 --> 0:18:56.440 we see something starting to work in one country, we 0:18:56.600 --> 0:18:59.840 transfer that to the regional playlist so we can show 0:19:00.160 --> 0:19:03.520 is that music to other countries and then from there, 0:19:03.600 --> 0:19:06.600 if it works, we move it into global playlists, so 0:19:07.040 --> 0:19:10.960 maybe non Latin fans can also enjoy. So it's a 0:19:11.040 --> 0:19:13.200 very exciting part of the business for sure. 0:19:13.760 --> 0:19:17.439 Talking about a subgenre that has really seen significant growth, 0:19:17.640 --> 0:19:22.800 Regional Mexican. Explain what it is and why we're seeing 0:19:23.240 --> 0:19:25.920 And I love the name of your initiative, gen Max, 0:19:26.280 --> 0:19:30.280 so great. Why we're seeing this, Like I feel like 0:19:30.320 --> 0:19:33.160 it was always there, but just more attention on it, 0:19:33.320 --> 0:19:36.040 more I guess, more consumption of it. 0:19:36.640 --> 0:19:41.280 Yeah, So regional Mexican is a local genre that it's 0:19:41.320 --> 0:19:45.359 massive in Mexico, but it's also huge in the US 0:19:45.440 --> 0:19:49.439 because of how big the Mexican population is, so the 0:19:49.560 --> 0:19:54.679 genre has historically been really isolated in a way to 0:19:54.960 --> 0:20:00.119 those territories US, Mexico, a little bit of Colombia. Now 0:20:01.080 --> 0:20:04.320 streaming in those markets is also growing really fast, and 0:20:04.400 --> 0:20:06.919 you probably aware that Mexico is one of the biggest 0:20:06.920 --> 0:20:11.600 streaming capitals of the world, so of course what's happening 0:20:11.680 --> 0:20:14.800 is a lot of regional Mexican consumption is coming from 0:20:14.840 --> 0:20:17.439 those countries and it's kind of happening what happened with 0:20:17.480 --> 0:20:21.639 Latin music, but within our world. So the more people 0:20:21.680 --> 0:20:25.160 are consuming regional Mexican from those territories, the more it's 0:20:25.280 --> 0:20:29.080 popping up into all the Latin countries, the more other 0:20:29.280 --> 0:20:32.639 Latin arries when I jump on that wagon. The more 0:20:32.840 --> 0:20:35.920 Latin songs that are regional Mexican are coming out there 0:20:35.960 --> 0:20:39.520 that are being globalized, and that's what's happening currently with 0:20:39.680 --> 0:20:42.320 artist like Pest and Pluma, they are so big right now. 0:20:42.880 --> 0:20:46.840 Christian Nodal bad Banni just released regional Mexican song with 0:20:46.880 --> 0:20:50.000 group of from Tera, literally like out of the blue. 0:20:50.400 --> 0:20:55.439 It's such an exciting movement within the Latin music space 0:20:55.560 --> 0:20:58.040 to see how artists don't care about genres anymore. 0:20:58.440 --> 0:21:00.359 They are all collaborating with it other. 0:21:00.960 --> 0:21:04.399 A lot of the young Latin artists don't want to 0:21:04.440 --> 0:21:07.800 put themselves in a genre box. They're just doing different 0:21:07.920 --> 0:21:12.320 like fusion like stuff. It's the nature of our market too, 0:21:12.359 --> 0:21:15.080 it's so big. It's Latin country is a little different 0:21:15.119 --> 0:21:18.880 to each other. We are connected culturally by many trades, 0:21:19.240 --> 0:21:19.720 but we're. 0:21:19.600 --> 0:21:20.479 Also very different. 0:21:20.800 --> 0:21:23.200 But the nature of this market is so powerful because 0:21:23.240 --> 0:21:26.640 it allows artists to just collaborate with each other all 0:21:26.640 --> 0:21:30.440 the time. If one Mexican artist wants to increase their 0:21:30.480 --> 0:21:33.360 career in Spain, they're gonna collaborate with the Spanish artists 0:21:33.680 --> 0:21:36.439 and vice versa, and then a Brazilian one with a 0:21:36.920 --> 0:21:40.880 US Latin artist. Like it's just kind of impressive and 0:21:40.920 --> 0:21:44.480 you don't see that in other markets, if that makes sense. 0:21:45.280 --> 0:21:48.640 Yeah, I think it's really interesting that the Latin Grammys 0:21:48.640 --> 0:21:50.320 are going to be in Spain next year. 0:21:51.000 --> 0:21:54.480 Very interesting and also south of Spain, like that's where 0:21:54.480 --> 0:21:54.960 I'm from. 0:21:55.400 --> 0:21:56.600 Let's see how that goes. 0:21:56.680 --> 0:22:00.840 Yeah, I mean, look, I think changes are always good 0:22:01.160 --> 0:22:04.159 and it's going to be exciting to see what happens 0:22:04.160 --> 0:22:06.199 when you take it out of the US. But it 0:22:06.280 --> 0:22:10.960 speaks a lot about the global nature of this music category. 0:22:11.640 --> 0:22:15.440 Tell me about content that you guys are creating Amazon Music. 0:22:15.480 --> 0:22:19.520 Beyond actual music, there's there's podcasts, as documentaries. You mentioned 0:22:19.520 --> 0:22:23.720 the live stream. Are these your initiatives and your ideas? 0:22:24.040 --> 0:22:26.479 Yes, So we have a team for Latin music. 0:22:26.560 --> 0:22:29.440 We have a team in the US, but also countries 0:22:29.440 --> 0:22:32.679 in Latin America, in Spain, we collaborate and work together 0:22:32.760 --> 0:22:36.880 to deliver the best content and initiatives that we came 0:22:37.119 --> 0:22:40.480 for Latin music fans. One of the things that I 0:22:40.560 --> 0:22:43.240 was most excited about when I moved to Amazon Music 0:22:43.320 --> 0:22:48.400 was precisely that the breadth of possibilities that a place 0:22:48.520 --> 0:22:52.720 like Amazon could offer two artists and fans. I was 0:22:53.000 --> 0:22:55.439 very drawn to that. You know, I'm like, Wow, this 0:22:55.600 --> 0:22:58.040 is going to be exciting, and it is very exciting. 0:22:58.840 --> 0:23:01.760 I've been here three years and I can say I 0:23:01.920 --> 0:23:03.720 was right in my assumption. 0:23:04.320 --> 0:23:06.200 And you know, one of the things that. 0:23:06.160 --> 0:23:10.520 We're very proud of is the entertainment offering that we 0:23:10.560 --> 0:23:14.399 can provide to artists. And you know, it goes from 0:23:14.560 --> 0:23:16.520 we talked about playlists, all of the stuff that you 0:23:16.520 --> 0:23:19.480 can do in the Amazon Music app, but then you 0:23:19.520 --> 0:23:23.080 have live stream, we have Twitch, we have Alexa with 0:23:23.160 --> 0:23:27.640 the voice projects. We have video, and we spoke about 0:23:27.680 --> 0:23:31.959 video before Latin audience is over Index, so something that 0:23:32.000 --> 0:23:33.160 we really focus a lot. 0:23:33.520 --> 0:23:36.719 We have podcasts, we have merged. 0:23:37.600 --> 0:23:40.040 So there is so many different things that we're doing 0:23:40.080 --> 0:23:42.760 for the Latin business, and there are things that have 0:23:42.960 --> 0:23:45.520 never been done, there are things that are new, Like 0:23:45.560 --> 0:23:50.080 it's just very exciting. Not too long ago, we released 0:23:50.480 --> 0:23:54.400 Mini Dog. Speaking about sub genres, by the way, Laguna 0:23:54.440 --> 0:23:58.879 del Denbo is one of those initiatives that we do 0:23:59.040 --> 0:24:01.639 to focus on the subgenres that maybe don't get as 0:24:01.680 --> 0:24:03.679 much as pecipity, or they're about to or they are 0:24:04.000 --> 0:24:07.240 happening right now. Then boy is one of those subgenres 0:24:07.280 --> 0:24:12.480 that it's really like happening coming from the Dominican Republic. 0:24:13.119 --> 0:24:15.880 This documentary we have Bad Bunny. We had a lot 0:24:15.920 --> 0:24:18.720 of different artists that were part of it. Was a great, 0:24:18.840 --> 0:24:23.040 great initiative with live streams with Don Maluma. Maluma live 0:24:23.040 --> 0:24:26.000 stream last year was very special because it was the 0:24:26.040 --> 0:24:29.639 most important moment of his career, and that's what I 0:24:29.680 --> 0:24:32.840 was so excited about. It's like, how are we together 0:24:32.920 --> 0:24:35.639 with artists in those moments and bring that to the 0:24:35.680 --> 0:24:38.280 rest of the world. So we did the global license 0:24:38.280 --> 0:24:41.480 from Medejing, his hometown to the world. It was called 0:24:41.600 --> 0:24:44.320