Digital-Music-Report-2014

Tommy Torres courtesy of Warner MusicTommy Torres: Harnessing the power of TwitterTommy Torres is a Puerto Rican bornsinger-songwriter who, until recently, washighly respected by his peers but had notyet become established in the mainstreammusic market. Warner Music Group (WMG)helped him break through to a broaderaudience of music fans through thecreation of an innovative Twitter campaign.Gaby Martinez, vice president,marketing, Warner Music Latin America& General Manager, Warner Music Latinaexplains that Torres was able to harnessTwitter to create a debate around oneof his songs, giving his fans a sense ofownership of it. “His song Querido Tommywas inspired by a fan who wrote to himand said that he loved his girlfriend butcould not put this feeling into words andasked for the artist’s help to expresshimself. He launched a campaign onTwitter to ask his fans if he should helpthis man express his feelings to hisgirlfriend.”Torres generated more than 3,000interactions in this online debate andthen posted his song on Twitter before itwas released to radio stations for airplay.WMG promoted the campaign acrossits online properties, generating extraattention from music fans. Other stars,such as Ricky Martin and Alejandro Sanz,retweeted his messages.Martinez says: “It was an example ofhow an artist can use social media totake the pulse of their fans. People feltthey were part of Tommy’s story and hadownership over the song.”Torres released his next two singles onTwitter ahead of their first radio airplayand found that on each occasion hegenerated more interactions. He now hasa total Twitter follower base of more than500,000 people.The whole campaign helped Torresbreak through into the mainstream musicscene. His album 12 Historias debuted atnumber one the Nielsen Soundscan Latinchart in the US.Gaby Martinez says it is not unusualto see Latin artists use digital channelsto promote themselves and that wholemarket for Latin music is increasinglyevolving in terms of revenue generation.“In the US, we see younger urban Latinartists generating more interest throughdigital channels, while traditional LatinCountry artists tend to have more of abias towards physical sales. In Mexico, themarket is split almost 50:50, as iTuneshas proved extremely successful in acountry where it can price its music inlocal currency. Other markets, includingTorres’ native Puerto Rico, are still moredominated by physical sales.”Martinez says that digital platformsare now central to all the artist campaignsWMG runs for its Latin artists. “Withchannels such as YouTube you can reallysee which songs music fans are engagingwith. Radio stations may choose to heavilyplay certain tracks, but unless people aresearching for them on YouTube, you arenot really connecting.”“People felt they were partof Tommy’s story and hadownership over the song.”— Gaby Martinez, Warner Music,Latin AmericaDespite this, Martinez believes thatdigital channels tend to follow markettrends, not lead them. “Yes we’re signingmore urban Latin artists these days, andthey perform well on digital channels, butthe trend towards such performers washappening anyway. Digital is reflectingthe market. While we see new platformscome into the market and more diversifiedrevenues are starting to come in, our keyjob is still to scour the market for talentand sign the best artists we can.”32