Castillian Music on American Hispanic Radio

[kc0ltv]

How well-accepted are artists from Spain in the U.S. market?

I'm especially thinking of stuff like this:

http://www.promusicae.org/espanol.html (Click #10, "M-Clan - Memorias de un Espantapajaro" - great song!)

(The funny thing about that site is they protest American radio stations playing Castillian music without royalties, but at the same time are generous enough to offer the complete samples of each song on the chart!)

 

[davideduardo]

How well-accepted are artists from Spain in the U.S. market?

Some are, most are not. Just like most Mexican artists are not accepted in Argentina or most Argentine artists are not accepted outside the southern cone.

A few, like Oreja de Van Gogh, have hits in the New World and the US Hispanic market. Most don't. Part of the reason is that there are only a handful of Spanish language pop / ballad stations in the US, but hundreds of regional Mexican and other formats that don't include pop/rock/ballads from Spain.

Another reason is that a lot of the pop from Spain has a very thick Spanish accent, and uses words and terms that are not common or understood in the US Hispanic market and most of the Americas, too.

I'm especially thinking of stuff like this:
"M-Clan - Memorias de un Espantapajaro" - great song!)

This has three defects. One, too edgy... borderline rock or rock en español has essentially no US airplay on any format. Two, M-Clan sounds very Spanish. Three, lyrics are very Spanish.

"Memorias" is the album. The song is Roto por Dentro, the current single from the album. Unfortunately, the song sounds too much like "Periódicos de Mañana" from a few years back, and that song was not much of a hit.

(The funny thing about that site is they protest American radio stations playing Castillian music without royalties, but at the same time are generous enough to offer the complete samples of each song on the chart!)

I have never heard music from Spain being called "Castillian." Spain is more than Castile, and "castellano" and "español" are essentially synonymous.

Interestingly, in the late 60's and into the early 80's, Spanish artists starting with ones like the Dúo Dinámico, Fórmula Quinta, Juan & Junior, Rocío Dúrcal and Marisol through the likes of Camilo Sesto, Julio Iglesias, Dyango, Trigo Limpio, Juan Bau, Emilio José, José Vélez and Mocedades dominated the pop and adult contemporary playlists all over the Americas.

 

[kc0ltv]

Thanks for your response! I didn't know rock en español wasn't played by Hispanic U.S. stations, but now that I think of it...what do they play? Ranchera, reggaeton, Spanish A/C, etc.

Yeah...I figured the band had a very strong Castillian accent. The "th" and "x" sounds are very apparent. But British groups (Coldplay, Arctic Monkeys, Snow Patrol) have a ton of success in the U.S. Maybe the British accent isn't as distinguishable to an American as the Castillian accent is to a Mexican or Argentine? Also, American and British bands singing in English have no trouble making it onto the radio in Latin America, right? Certainly it's easier to understand Castillian Spanish then English for most listeners?

Another question, since you seem to know a lot about radio in Latin America...does Portuguese or Italian music ever make it on the radio? I know a lot of Italian singers release Spanish versions of their song (but some seem to be in Castillian Spanish), but are any Italian or Portuguese-language songs heard?

 

[davideduardo]

Thanks for your response! I didn't know rock en español wasn't played by Hispanic U.S. stations, but now that I think of it...what do they play? Ranchera, reggaeton, Spanish A/C, etc.

There are really no pure ranchera stations in the US. Ranchera, however, along with banda, durangüense, norteña, grupera, etc., are part of what the music industry and radio (but not the listener) call "regional Mexican." About two thirds of US Spanish langauge stations use this format.

Second in number of stations is Mexican oldies or adult hits, with a mix of ranchera, norteña, grupera, cumbia and ballads that were hits across Mexico in the late 60's through the early 2000's.

Third is the range from Pop (Spanish language CHR) to AC. There are not even 40 of these out of roughly 1000 Spanish language stations in the US. Some Spanish CHRs play a few reggaeton songs, but not many.

Fourth would be tropical, all in the East, with Caribbean tropical music.

Yeah...I figured the band had a very strong Castillian accent. The "th" and "x" sounds are very apparent. But British groups (Coldplay, Arctic Monkeys, Snow Patrol) have a ton of success in the U.S. Maybe the British accent isn't as distinguishable to an American as the Castillian accent is to a Mexican or Argentine? Also, American and British bands singing in English have no trouble making it onto the radio in Latin America, right? Certainly it's easier to understand Castillian Spanish then English for most listeners?

Most listeners to English pop in Latin America don't understand the lyrics, let alone the accent. On the other hand, to someone in Puerto Rico, a strong Spanish or Argentine accent is annoying... as an example. Not only that, a lot of the words are very different in meaning, so that contributes to the problem.

Another question, since you seem to know a lot about radio in Latin America...does Portuguese or Italian music ever make it on the radio? I know a lot of Italian singers release Spanish versions of their song (but some seem to be in Castillian Spanish), but are any Italian or Portuguese-language songs heard?

Portuguese, seldom save in Paraguay...

Italian: not any more. But in the 60's and 70's, many Italian and French songs were part of the playlists of Top 40 stations in Latin America, mostly South America. My Radio Musical in Quito, in the 60's, even had a representative (usually me) at the San Remo Festival to bring back the competing songs the following day... we played Spanish, English, Italian and French hits in the native language. Many of the French and Italian songs were huge hits.

Today, even in Argentina where more people are of Italian heritage than of Spanish origin, there is no Italian music played on any significant station (I have heard some Italian on pirate stations in Buenos Aires, though).