South Florida: Branching Out

On a recent Wednesday night, Latin Grammy nominee Circo, a Latin rock band from Puerto Rico, performed at Billboardlive in Miami Beach. On hand were a veritable who's who of the local Latin music industry--from record execs to publishers to publicists--all anxious to see a live performance from a promising band in the market for a major-label deal.
The evening was, in many ways, emblematic of the music scene in Miami: A place where decisions are made and people meet, but also a place where live music flounders and where much of the talent continues to be imported--and rarely bred.
Despite this, now more than ever, Miami continues to be the epicenter of Latin music, both nationally and internationally, with the major labels and many publishing houses and producers stationed here. At the same time, the city has become a breeding ground for Latin rock, despite the lack of commercial airplay. And R&B, hip-hop and dance are finding a base here, thanks to local consumer interest in the music and its performers, coupled with several high-profile events dealing with these genres.
Today, Miami is host not only to the Billboard Latin Music Conference and Awards, but also to the Billboard-AURN R&B/Hip-Hop Conference and Awards, the Winter Music Conference and DanceStar Awards, the Billboard/Airplay Monitor Radio Seminar and Awards and, most recently, the first-ever MTV Video Music Awards Latin America and Club Musica Latina Awards. This year, the city also hosted the Source Awards and a holiday spectacular from Miami Beach featuring Marc Anthony, Jessica Simpson and Tony Bennett.
"There definitely is a broad perspective of different musical genres that are looking at Miami Beach as the backdrop for their award shows and music-related conventions and events," says Dennis Leyva, entertainment industry liaison for the city of Miami Beach. "It's a pretty good cross section. And it's a tremendous increase of activity compared to, say, three years ago."
The growth isn't limited to South Beach. The past three years have seen the rise of two major venues--the AmericanAirlines Arena in Miami and the Office Depot Center near Fort Lauderdale--that have contributed to the multiplication of musical events of all genres in the area.
"For my last fiscal year, we're up 21% and this year we're up 25% over that," says Bob Murray, GM of the James L. Knight Center, a mid-size venue in downtown Miami. "We've made the building competitive, and we've raised our service level, and the audience has obviously grown. What we've started to see is a lot more traditional [American audiences] coming to Hispanic shows. It's certainly the most fertile year since I've been here."
And, despite the general recession and the problems plaguing the music industry, new labels and production houses have sprung up and are doing healthy business. Maverick M?sica, Ciocan Music (mostly dedicated to Cuban artists), Delanuca (specializing in Latin rock), Slip 'N Slide (rap), Muxxic Latina (pop and regional Mexican) and Deston Entertainment (multiple genres) are among them.
Further north, in West Palm Beach, 226 Records has opened shop, also focusing on Latin.

Latin Is Still King
Without a doubt, the most visible player in town continues to be Latin music--but with a twist. Where Cuban musical influences once reigned, Miami's Latin scene is now far more cosmopolitan, with talent coming from Argentina, Mexico and, most of all, Colombia, where producers and songwriters are providing material and input for some of Latin music's biggest stars, including Thal?a, Carlos Vives, Shakira and Alexandre Pires.
"Everybody who is in Latin music knows that Miami is the city where they have to be in order to find songs or to find a label," says Totty Saizarbitoria, creative director for Deston Songs, the publishing arm of Deston Entertainment.
This is certainly true in the pop field and, to a degree, the regional Mexican and tropical fields, especially given the fact that all the Latin divisions of the major labels (save for Univision and Fonovisa) are headquartered here. Miami is also home base
for a growing number of Latin acts, including Shakira, Enrique Iglesias and Ricky Martin. Its proximity to Latin America and Spain, coupled with the media companies based here (Univision, Telemundo, MTV Latin America, Editorial Televisa, HTV and Terra.com, among others), make it an ideal location from which to operate and promote at a competitive cost.
Of equal importance, some of the genre's biggest producers and songwriters--Rudy Perez, Emilio Estefan, Kike Santander, Estefano, Bebu Silvetti, Alejandro Jaen and Juan Vicente Zambrano-- are stationed here and have thriving production/songwriting teams that attract a wide variety of talent.
"A lot of times I find talent in the recording studios," says Eddie Fernandez, VP of A&R for Universal Music Latino. "Generally speaking, the producers track down excellent singers who can do back-up or record demos for established artists." Also, adds Fernandez, "There's movement because Latin American talent is coming here. They evidently know this is the launching pad for the labels, and excellent talent from many countries gets signed here."
Examples abound. Multicultural trio Bacilos, for instance, was signed to Warner Bros. with a push from its publishing arm, Warner Chappell, which had signed lead singer-songwriter Jorge Villamizar to a publishing deal. Crescent Moon's Gian Marco also attracted the attention of Emilio Estefan, in part through his songs, which had been performed by the likes of Emmanuel. Donato Poveda--once part of the duo Donato y Estefano and who, like his former partner, wrote for other acts--now has branched out into a solo career.

Dance, Dance, Dance
But, while much outside talent comes here looking for the big time, the development of homegrown acts remains elusive, in part because the live music scene in Miami is just not happening.
The most successful genre in Miami, as far as attracting audiences, is dance music, with the biggest DJs in the world routinely playing in the myriad clubs on the beach.
This year, Fort Lauderdale?based Neurodisc, which specializes in electronic music and world fusion, celebrated its 10th anniversary with a South Beach party during the WMC. Founded by Tom O'Keefe and John Wai, the Capitol-distributed, producer-driven label specializes in putting together compilations of European dance music that sell at domestic prices. Neurodisc has also signed several acts (including flamenco guitarist Eric Hansen) and puts out a handful of artist-driven projects every year.
"The label is definitely growing, we're making money, and we think a lot of that has to do with where we're located," says O'Keefe, citing the diversity of visitors and influences to be found in Miami Beach. "I would say it's one of the top five locations [in the world] for this kind of music."
In hip-hop, Miami is benefiting from exposure in multiple high-profile videos and films, as well as the perennial presence of celebrities like P. Diddy.
As far as homegrown talent is concerned, its most recent high-profile act is Miami-born-and-bred Trick Daddy.
In Latin music, too, for the first time since Gloria Estefan and her protege Jon Secada, labels are actually signing Miami acts, most notably rock band Volumen Cero (Warner Music Latina), Jorge Moreno (Maverick), who won a Latin Grammy for Best New Artist, area 305 (RPE/Univision) and Seline (BMG).
As for other genres, namely rock, Miami isn't exactly the most friendly city, but even so, the resourceful can thrive.
"It's tough when you're competing with a market that's known for Latin [music]," admits Eric Knight, whose Eric Knight Band opened up for Aerosmith at a recent concert and who releases albums on his own label, 28 Records. "But it's kind of cool, because I can be a big fish in a small pond."
"South Florida continues to be a prolific provider of diverse musical talent, from world beat to jazz to blues to Latin pop and rock," says Ed Bell, producer/host of local cultural arts show South Florida Arts Beat, which airs on public radio station WLRN. "The talent here is amazing and needs further development."
"I personally believe Miami is in a growing mode as far as attracting talent," says Oscar Llord, chairman of Sony Discos. "What I see are some fusions coming into play as a result of all this talent residing in Miami and collaborations taking place between songwriters, arrangers and producers. What was called at one time the Miami Sound, there's nothing I've heard recently that makes me believe a new sound is emerging. But I think there's a much higher grade of quality being produced now, with so many talented songwriters and producers."