Singer Alejandro Sanz welcomes fans to "Paradise"

By Leila Cobo

MIAMI (Billboard) - Alejandro Sanz knows his fans have different definitions of paradise.

For some, it's a walk in the rain; for others, a child's love of running; and for others, a group of friends frolicking at the beach. Sanz's fans captured these moments, and hundreds more, in home videos they've uploaded to the Spanish pop singer-songwriter's YouTube channel. In the videos, which range from 10 seconds to a minute in length, they illustrate what paradise means to them in an allusion to Sanz's new album -- "Paraiso Express" -- and the single "Looking for Paradise," featuring Alicia Keys.

The whimsical campaign is part of a broad marketing effort that seeks to bring the usually reticent Sanz closer to his fan base as he prepares to release "Paraiso" November 10 on Warner Music Latina.

Sanz, a soulful vocalist with a distinctive raspy voice and complex compositions, is regarded worldwide as one of Latin music's top singer-songwriters. His songs, which blend pop with traditional Spanish rhythms, funk and jazz, were first showcased on his 1997 breakthrough album, "Mas," which yielded the hit "Corazon Partio" and has sold 3.2 million copies worldwide, according to Warner.

"Paraiso Express" is a departure from the more moody and ruminative "El Tren de los Momentos" (2006) and showcases Sanz's airier, more melodic side. And, maybe more than any other Spanish artist (save perhaps the recent exception of David Bisbal), Sanz, who lives in Miami, has been able to erase the boundaries between Spain and Latin America. He's seen by fans as a continental artist who belongs to everyone.

This is charmingly evident in the "Looking for Paradise" promotion. The videos hail from every place imaginable, from Argentina to Germany. The impetus for the promotion came from the track itself, a song Sanz co-wrote and performed with Keys, whom he'd met several years earlier at the Rock in Rio festival in Lisbon, Portugal. They ran into each other this year in New York, and Sanz asked her to sing on his album.

The song, No. 3 on the current Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart, is an uptempo, almost bubbly track that features the singers trading verses in English and Spanish and singing about what they're looking for in paradise. It's the first stab at recording in English for Sanz.

NEW CHALLENGES, NEW APPROACHES

Sanz's total world album sales surpass 25 million, according to Warner. In the United States, he has sold 1.5 million albums, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

But three years after his last studio release, Sanz returns to find a challenging marketplace, one where traditional promotion no longer applies. In response, Sanz and his label are trying to get closer to his widespread fan base in ways they hadn't done before.

Besides the "Looking for Paradise" promotion, there's a one-hour special and TV ad campaign with DirecTV, a Verizon TV campaign and the launch of an interactive Web page, administered by Warner, where Sanz and fans comment and blog almost nonstop.

A key factor in the effort is the Web site, whose setup invites direct communication between Sanz -- who is constantly tweeting and uploading content -- and his fans, who are invited to do the same and then comment. The result is a page that is almost live and whose content changes by the hour, with Sanz chronicling every step of his promotion.

While the notion of big acts blogging is commonplace in the mainstream market, few Latin names do so (although tweeting is becoming more common). Sanz's blogs vary from videos and photos to press releases and more personal content. Before a visit to Mexico, for example, he posted a poem he had written, dedicated to the country.

"We're working very hard on my Web page, and it's exciting because people are responding," Sanz says. "They're delighted with this new way of promoting the music. Because when the industry no longer has the power to fill up the streets with posters or TV with ads, there is a need for imagination and creativity. And for me, this promotion is far more effective and thrilling."

But the notion of bringing Sanz closer to his fans transcends the home video campaign.