Latin music sales up so far this year
Shipments of Latin music CDs increased 1.7% in the first six months of 2003, say stats just released by BMG US Latin, EMI Latin, Sony Discos, Universal Music Group, including Univision Music Group, and Warner Music Latina.
However, primarily due to fall off of cassettes, overall shipments of Latin music in the same period decreased 4.6% compared to mid-year 2002, says the labels’ RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America), going on, "DVD music videos remained popular in 2003 with net shipments rising 58.3 percent".
However, "Physical goods piracy of Latin music continues to affect the entire industry," it states.
"We have accordingly expanded our efforts to target counterfeit and bootlegged Latin CDs. Our Anti-Piracy Unit’s stepped up efforts during the first six months of 2003 have netted 200 percent more counterfeit and pirate music CDs than last year, the majority of which was Latin music. This success is significant because, in an increasing number of cases, pirated Latin music is illegally pressed in plants instead of copied onto blank CD-Rs.
In the first half of 2003, Regional Mexican, which includes Tejano, made up 66% of all Latin shipments in terms of dollar value. Pop, which includes Rock, contributed 26% and ‘Tropical’ accounted for 8% of all Latin shipments.
Latin music is ‘product’ that’s 51% or more in Spanish, say the labels.
