Belt-tightening Blocks Bashes

The seventh annual Latin Grammy Awards reached an average of 5.7 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media, with a total of 11.3 million viewers tuning in at some point during the three-hour show.

The ratings were the second highest registered for the Latin Grammys since their inception in 1999.

But labels celebrated quietly the evening of Nov. 2. Aside from the official award after-party and an EMI Televisa bash, label post-parties—generally a Grammy tradition—didn't exist. The reasons cited by label after label were basic—lack of budget, and lack of interest.

RIAA midyear shipments for Latin music declined 21% in the first six months of the year, with executives citing the economy, high gasoline prices and immigration crackdowns as primary reasons. Shipments only began to rise in the third quarter.

"At this rate, we'll serve chips and salsa," one executive ruefully said days before the Latin Grammys, citing the high costs associated with a Grammy ceremony in New York. The executive spoke on condition of anonymity, as did most of the nearly dozen people interviewed for this article.

Most agreed that the Latin Grammy show was an excellent production. But all had major issues with a lack of performances by new or emerging acts, and with having to foot the bill for their acts' performances, including airfare and hotel.

While other Latin award shows, like Univision's Premios Lo Nuestro and Telemundo's Billboard Latin Music Awards, normally share costs with labels for artist performances, the Grammys traditionally do not. When the awards switched from CBS to Univision last year, labels thought they would be spared some of the cost, as happens with other Univision shows. That didn't happen, but labels accepted their due.

This year, label execs were disgruntled for several reasons. The New York location immediately made costs skyrocket, particularly when it came to union fees for musicians, which labels had to shoulder. And for the first time in Grammy history, tickets were sold to the event with profits divided between Univision and the Latin Recording Academy.

"Our job is to promote and sell albums, and of course, we want our artists on the show," one executive says. "But how much money is Univision making from this show, and how much are we paying to be in it? It's really a question of attitude. At no point do they want to help."

When queried on production costs and profits, Univision declined to comment. "As a company, we do not grant those types of interviews," a representative wrote in an e-mail.

"The industry is going through a difficult period," Latin Academy president Gabriel Abaroa says. "We will do our best in the months to come to sit down with all the parties involved to try to find solutions for the benefit of music."

According to different accounts, a typical Latin Grammy performance costs between $40,000 and $120,000. For Latin labels, that's considerable.

"I would have to sell 10,000 CDs to offset the cost of a $90,000 performance," one executive says. "It won't happen. I can do a lot of other things with that money that will give me more results."

It's undeniable that the Latin Grammy exposure can be invaluable, particularly for those acts for whom the show coincides with new albums. This year, that was the case with Alejandro Sanz, Ricky Martin and Maná, the latter two of whom were not nominated.

The Latin Grammys have also been key to launching new acts. But on this occasion, no new or emerging acts were booked to perform.

Ironically, new artist Anaís, originally turned down as a performer, was the heroine of the evening. When fellow labelmate La India walked out last minute prior to her performance at the salsa medley finale, Anaís was asked to step in and sing "Químbara" with only 15 minutes to spare and no rehearsal. Anaís delivered, live and with alacrity, embodying everything good that can come out of a show like the Latin Grammys.