In what may come as no surprise to many savvy music fans, David Bakula, the senior VP of Industry Insights and Analytics for Nielsen Music, predicted the continued rise and gradual domination of Latino music in the United States as he helped kick off Billboard’s Latin Music Week in Las Vegas on Tuesday. “It’s not a small, niche market anymore,” Bakula told a crowd of industry insiders. He added that there was a 41% increase in streaming numbers from 2017 to 2018, as Primera Hora reports.
He went on to draw out exactly how the projected demographic growth of the U.S. Latino population over the next decade translates to a potential increase of 20 million core fans, while also pointing out Latino music’s already visible impact on mainstream music (successful collaborations like “Taki Taki” come to mind, as do more questionable choices like Daddy Yankee’s “Con Calma” remix featuring Katy Perry).
And there’s more good news for the Latino music industry. Billboard also reports that the median Latino age tends to be younger, so Latino music’s place moving forward could be led by a more tech-savvy demographic, leading to more potential streaming numbers.
And while Latino music’s near-epic come up is not surprising to many –– especially to those paying attention –– the hard data provided by Nielsen proves what we’ve been saying all along: we’re here to stay.
H/T: Billboard