Latin music fans tire of compilations
MIAMI (Billboard) - For Latin music fans, November is traditionally the month of the compilation, the greatest-hits collection and the live album, with releases from Ricky Martin, Cafe Tacvba and Chayanne on offer this year.
Instead, the chart week ending November 23 -- pre-Thanksgiving weekend -- ended up being one with surprisingly good performances from new studio releases.
"(Ricardo) Arjona happened," says Alberto Uribe, the head buyer of the Ritmo Latino chain, referring to the No. 1 debut of the Guatemalan singer/songwriter's latest release, "5to Piso," on Billboard's Top Latin Albums chart.
Arjona notched his best debut week, selling nearly 18,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The success was the result of a heavy marketing strategy from his new label, Warner Music Latina, which aggressively discounted the album.
Beyond Arjona, the week's top 20 was expected to include one or more of the numerous compilations and live albums that came out in the past two weeks (including an Arjona collection on Sony BMG). None of these albums made it to the top 20, although Colombian rocker Juanes' 2007 studio set, "La Vida ... Es Un Ratico," climbed 21 places to No. 10, thanks to the November 18 release of a deluxe edition featuring bonus tracks.
All of this is actually good news for a Latin music marketplace that's been relatively barren this year. Latin album sales are down 20%, outpacing the 14 percent drop in the overall market.
"People are saturated with compilations and live albums," Uribe says. "People want new music. They tell us so."
In the latest week, every title in the top 10 was a front-line release, with the exception of Juanes' "La Vida." Entries included brand-new albums from Pesado ("Solo Contigo," debuting at No. 4), Los Tucanes de Tijuana ("Propiedad Privada," No. 6) and Los Inquietos del Norte ("La Borrachera," No. 8).
Enrique Iglesias' "95/08" was the only greatest-hits album in the top 20 at No. 11. And that set, which had been in the top 10 for 35 weeks, was boosted by two previously unreleased tracks that have benefited from heavy radio play.
By comparison, a year ago there were 10 compilations or live albums in the top 20.
"I'm relying less and less on compilations, because when people want a greatest hits, they download them and make their own," Venevision VP of music Jorge Pino says.
Reuters/Billboard
