Inside the Latin music explosion: Warner Music Latin America president Alejandro Duque

For the past few years, the Latin music market has been taking the world by storm, with artists from across the globe seeking to collaborate with the region’s biggest stars and exploring the various ways in which they can tap into this vibrant, lucrative, and ever-expanding movement. Headliner sat down for an exclusive chat with Warner Music Latin America President Alejandro Duque, fresh off the back of big changes at Warner Music Group which now see him report straight into the company's CEO Robert Kyncl. We get an inside look at the evolution of Latin music, the A&R culture within the business, and why its international appeal shows no signs of slowing…

Alejandro Duque has spent his life immersed in the world of Latin music. From as far back as he can remember, he has hopped between recording studios, record company offices, and live shows across the Americas. The son of a music industry executive and possessed of an innate passion for artists and records, a life in the business was perhaps unsurprising, but his rise through the ranks to the role he occupies today was certainly never a given. Neither was the Latin music explosion that would ignite around the turn of the decade, influencing and informing music and culture on a worldwide scale.

“This is the only thing I’ve ever done,” Duque states as he recalls his music industry roots. Joining Headliner via Zoom from Miami, he speaks freely and easily about everything from his personal background to culture and the signing and development of artists at the company. The slight awkwardness that can come with interviewing label chiefs of such stature is disarmingly absent.

“My dad was in the business, so when I was little, I would see him doing his thing and one of the things I enjoyed most as a kid was going to recording studios after school and just generally annoying people [laughs].

“I went to Berklee College of Music Business and from there I moved to Colombia where I started out with Universal. I was there for almost 16 years. I did everything from being in the digital business – ringtones back then [smiles] – and then I moved from Colombia to Argentina where I oversaw the entire commercial area of the company. After that I moved to Miami, where I was head of business development for Latin America, and then I moved to the Universal Latin Music Label as Managing Director. That was a very interesting point in time. It was prior to the Latin explosion - maybe a year before. The label was going through a lot of transition, which I was heading up. And within six months of joining, we had a monster hit with Despacito by Luis Fonsi and that really opened a huge space and interest for Latin music.

“I worked with Luis Fonsi and we signed artists like Karol G, Sebastian Yatra and Feid. It was quite a journey. We built a really exciting roster and had many hits. I was there until late 2021 and I had been in conversations with Max Lousada and Simon Robson, and they invited me to join Warner Music. I thought it was a really exciting challenge. So I took that big step, and it’s been three years this month since I joined.”

Like most movements that draw significant attention, whether domestically or internationally, the blanket term of ‘Latin music’ scarcely does justice to the rich variety of artists, genres, and cultures that reside beneath it. According to Duque, the widespread adoption seen over the past few years coincides with a period of diversification across Latin American music cultures unlike anything seen before.

“Maybe four years ago you looked at the charts in Mexico and Chile and they were exactly the same,” he says. “Look at them today and you are probably going to find three songs in common across the Top 50. What’s been happening is that markets have started really supporting their domestic movements and talent. That’s made Latin a much more complex segment of the market. The movements are so different and so unique.

“The most evident one to point out is in Mexican music,” he elaborates. “The original Mexican musical movement has been adopted by younger audiences and younger artists, and they have given it a modern spin. There is a whole movement going on with artists like Natanael Cano, Junior H, Peso Pluma and it’s gained huge traction both in Mexico and the United States.

“Then there is Reggaeton, which was very specific to Puerto Rico and Colombia, and we have in our roster artists like Myke Towers and Blessd. But now you have Reggaeton Mexa coming out of Mexico, artists like Bellakath and YNG Lvcas, and Reggaeton coming out of Argentina and its urban artists, like Tiago PZK. You have Reggaeton from Chile with artists like Gino Mella and Jairo Vera, you have Reggaeton coming out of Spain with Quevedo and Soge Culebra. And all of them are having equal opportunity to be successful and impact global charts.

“I’m particularly excited about Reggaeton Mexa because, in my view, Mexico can be late to movements, but when they arrive, they hit massive, and I think they are going to have a huge moment with Reggaeton Mexa.”

As for what is fuelling the appetite around the world for Latin music in its various forms, Duque points to a number of contributing factors.

“There are obviously huge Spanish-speaking diasporas around the world, and one of the things artists have done really well in all of the different Latin genres is that they collaborate a lot. They interact a lot, they support each other. That has enabled Latin music to grow to a point where artists from across the world are paying a lot of attention and want to collaborate with them. You start seeing these collaborations that wouldn’t have happened a few years ago, and now you are seeing massive general market artists collaborating with Latin artists or doing Latin versions of songs. That’s becoming much more common. And it’s very well received by audiences in Latin America.

“Also, Latin America is a massive touring market. There are a lot of people and a lot of markets in the region, so artists can make a significant amount of money touring there. It’s a premium touring market so if you can build a connection with Latin audiences through collaborating with Latin artists you have a great shot of selling big tickets and being successful. All of these factors have contributed to it, and also the fact that artists in different genres and markets continue to reinvent themselves and put different musical propositions on the table. That is maintaining people’s interest.”

Over the past couple of years, major mainstream acts have been redoubling their efforts to connect with audiences in this part of the world in order to capitalize on the lucrative opportunities available. This, Duque explains, isn’t always about collaboration. Engaging with the culture, he says, is just as vital as connecting with a popular artist in the region.

“Mainstream artists are looking for connections with Latin cultures,” he asserts. “We saw Bruno Mars in Brazil last year, where he really adopted Brazilian culture, and he had a massive year. And Fred again.. just spent a month in Mexico doing pop up shows and really immersing himself in Mexican culture. He earned this nickname Alfredo Otra Vez, which is Fred Again in Spanish, and that has become a big thing in Mexico. Through this kind of adoption of - or interaction with - Latin cultures, they are managing to feel local and develop these audiences.”

Unsurprisingly, the diversification of style and genre in Latin American music since the start of the 2020s is mirrored by change in the way labels seek to uncover and develop talent. As each territory continues to carve its own creative paths, labels are increasingly having to establish a forensic level of expertise of the locality.

“As I said, a few years ago the charts looked the same, and the signing approach was about looking for a certain level of performance across the whole Latin American region. We don’t do that today. Today we really look into specific markets and the different genres and movements taking place within them. Then we try to identify those movements and identify who the most relevant artists are, and they are the ones we try to get behind.

“The process has changed significantly,” he continues. “It’s become much more specific. And the way we have built our teams is that we have genre experts in each market who understand the movements, the culture, that speak the language. Because it’s not just about speaking Spanish. It’s about speaking the Spanish that the Mexican music artists speak as opposed to the Spanish the Mexican Reggaeton artists speak, or the Spanish the Puerto Rican artists speak. They are completely different; the way they communicate with audiences is different; their narratives are different. We really work to understand and respect that to avoid a cookie cutter approach and to be able to work in a tailor-made way for each artist and movement.”

With so many distinct movements rapidly gaining popularity under a singular banner, the risk of dilution from the corporate end of the music business can often loom large, as profitability and mainstream success overshadow artistic autonomy. It’s a concern Duque is all too aware of. As he puts it, striking the right balance between growing the roster’s audience without compromising its integrity is his number one priority.

“The biggest challenge we face is how do you keep it authentic,” he states. “How do you enable and guide the artist into new territories and new audiences without cannibalizing their existing ones? That’s a huge challenge because there are significant cultural differences between the markets. So, as you grow into other markets you don’t want to alienate your existing followers.

“We try not to force collaboration,” he adds. “We try to generate spaces where artists can meet and engage, and then collaboration comes through that, rather than skipping that process and just forcing artists together.”

Another core focus for Duque is making sure that emerging artists understand what Warner Music Latin America has to offer as a major company in the face of increasingly popular independent routes to market. Central to this is the company’s ability to be flexible and nimble in its proposition.

“Our distribution company ADA, which serves independent artists and labels, is very closely tied to label services,” he explains. “The way we work is that we are very respectful of artists who want to take that path, but we also want to stay very close and try to provide different levels of service as they need it. We have many cases of artists who started out independently who we may have had a distribution deal with, but as they have reached certain levels of success, they need an infrastructure, more support, but are not willing to sign an ‘old fashioned’ deal.

“So, we have been able to design deals where we can provide those services at a label level. They have different economics where the artist is able to retain their independence and vision, and that has yielded very positive results. And in some cases, it’s resulted in the artists coming to us and saying, ‘let’s do a label deal’, because they’ve seen the value added at each point. It gives them more confidence and trust when they are making that move.

“It’s not a bad thing at all that artists have that mindset and want to take those paths. We are always looking for opportunities where we can help them grow fast and engage different audiences.”

For artists looking to grow their audience and register on the radar of labels, be they indie or major, Duque notes that the best advice he can give is to engage their audience as closely as possible while retaining their authenticity.

“What really excites us is when we see audiences reacting to an artist and the movement that artist represents,” he says. “The key is to start building an audience that is engaged. It doesn’t have to be the biggest audience, but there needs to be engagement. A lot of people today are fans of songs but not necessarily fans of artists. We strive to make fans of artists.

“One artist can do something that will connect with an audience, and another artist could try the exact same thing, and it doesn’t work at all,” he continues. “The key is to remain authentic. It sounds easy, but the reality is that the markets and the real-life stream counter can send artists on a crazy search for the next commercial hit. Even if it compromises their authenticity. You may get a hit, but what about the next one? And the one after that? You have to make sure that you know what you stand for and who your audience is.”

One market that hasn’t adopted Latin music in quite the same way as others is the UK. To Duque, it remains arguably Warner Music Latin America’s biggest opportunity.

“The UK is the hardest market for Latin music,” he says. “That presents a huge opportunity. As to why, I think it’s a really interesting question. The mainstream media hasn’t really adopted Latin music there. From a streaming perspective there is consumption; Latin acts are selling tickets; and there is a big Spanish speaking diaspora in the UK. I think the big difference is that in places like the US they have really adopted the Spanish language into mainstream culture, which hasn’t really happened in the UK.”

For the remainder of 2024, Duque is overseeing a hefty release schedule, which promises to deliver yet more hits domestically and worldwide. He anticipates an acceleration of both the diversification of music coming out of the region and its adoption in new territories. In short, he sees no reason why the global phenomenon that Latin music has become over the past half decade won’t gain even further traction in the next.

“We are seeing Latin artists collaborating with Indian artists,” he observes. “Global trends driven by the sheer size of the markets. As they are both growing, they start collaborating, and that cross pollination starts to happen. That will keep the movement going. It’s already changing and will continue to change. And Latin music still has a very long way to go in terms of consumption at global level.”