NEAR TRUTHS: THE NEW CARTOGRAPHY

VIVA EK: In terms of revenue, seven streams in Latin America equate to one stream in the U.S., based on an IFPI metric. This is naturally due to heavy ad-supported use and low-cost subscriptions in LATAM territories.

Latin music in the U.S. market spiked by 24% in 2022, per the RIAA’s new report, representing some $1.1b in revenue. That amount comes almost entirely from streaming, and that streaming comes mostly from Spotify. It’s interesting to note the preponderance of Latin acts on the Spot’s global Top 50, a powerful barometer of Latin America’s 670m+ population (that’s more than twice the U.S. population). Spotify has utterly dominated the Southern Hemisphere, with well over 80% of the audio-on-demand market, according to one 2022 survey.

Indeed, any English-language pop record that surpasses the numerous Latin titles at the top of the Spot’s global chart and stays there—think Miley Cyrus, SZA, Drake, The Weeknd, Harry Styles and Taylor Swift—is a bona fide runaway smash.

That’s a marked contrast to Spotify’s U.S. Top 50—or Apple Music’s rap- and country-dominated songs chart. All these charts are unique and revealing. The global chart is obviously where most streams are, but the U.S. is still the biggest market in the world.

Latin acts tend to come with razor-thin margins for distro deals, since indie labels, production/management companies and other small entrepreneurial entities do the heavy lifting to break artists in Mexico, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Brazil and elsewhere.

Once they’ve achieved some success in these territories, deals become significantly more expensive for the majors, who are complaining about these margins (though they’re still making the deals).

ENVOLUTION: The drama around Anitta’s departure from Warner is as much about manager Brandon Silverstein as it is about the artist. The episode has occasioned much chatter, particularly due to the tactics used by Anitta to get out of her deal—which involved excoriating social-media posts (in fervent Portuguese).

The star has done 208k+ in U.S. ATD and about 318m U.S. streams (24.5m YTD). Although her stateside numbers aren’t enormous, her biggest global tracks are north of half a billion streams on Spotify, where she has close to 23m monthly listeners. What’s more, she sold out multiple stadiums in Brazil in 2022.

At first the contours of Anitta’s exit deal were obscure, covered as they were by NDAs. But gradually some of the terms have leaked. It’s said the artist paid a couple million to get out of her label pact and that the decision to let her out came from the very top. Many industry pundits expressed surprise that she managed to extricate herself so quickly.

In any event, it was possibly a seminal career moment for Silverstein, a wheeler dealer who is now the subject of considerable buzz throughout the industry. The manager and S10 boss is always seen at the right places, making deals (Normani and some pub deals were his primary claims to fame hitherto). Where will Anitta land, and what's Silverstein’s next big move?