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 Entertainment | October 2007 
Mexican Music Enjoys Strong Sales, Timeless Appeal
 Leila Cobo - Reuters/Billboard
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Miami - Regional Mexican music, buffeted by a slow economy, immigration crackdowns and the malaise of the music industry in general, has seen sales slide in the past year, along with those of Latin music overall.
Nevertheless, it remains the strongest-selling genre of Latin music in the United States by far, and its appeal seems to be growing way beyond its core fan base of first-generation Mexicans.
A three-year analysis of Nielsen SoundScan numbers for Latin music by genre found that in 2005, regional Mexican accounted for 46.4 percent of all Latin music sales, and in 2006, it accounted for 47 percent. According to the Recording Industry Association of America, the genre accounts for more than 50 percent of all Latin music shipments in the States.
Despite continuing challenges that affect the genre's performance, for the first seven months of 2007 regional Mexican sales rebounded, accounting for a whopping 57 percent of all Latin music sales. Those numbers should hold for the third and fourth quarters, thanks to a schedule of strong releases that include albums by Los Temerarios (Fonovisa), Horoscopos de Durango (Disa) and Pesado (Warner).
"It's still very constant," said Alberto Uribe, head buyer for the Ritmo Latino retail chain. "Most first-generation immigrants who arrive here are Mexicans, and obviously, they buy Mexican music. Even in places that wouldn't seem obvious, like Miami, our sales of regional Mexican music and DVDs are growing."
TAKING CENTER STAGE
Mainstream media routinely ignores regional Mexican, unlike other genres of Latin music. Even Spanish-language TV - much of it based in Miami - long downplayed regional Mexican's importance. But that has changed.
"Ten years ago, you would look at (awards) shows, and there were never any Mexicans in them," said Ricky Munoz, lead singer of norteno group Intocable. "And if there were, they would get their prizes during the commercial breaks."
That has not been the case for years. Regional Mexican now has a constant presence in Spanish-language media, and is represented in youth-oriented media like NBC Universal's cable network mun2, which dedicates several shows to the genre.
Constantly buoyed by immigration, Mexican music enjoys a rare dichotomy. On the one hand, it is purchased by those first-generation arrivals who long for home. On the other, it has become increasingly popular among second- and third-generation Mexicans who may speak little Spanish but still feel strongly connected to their parents' music.
The result is a genre that is steadily successful, even as the fortunes of more-hyped genres ebb and flow.
"The biggest difference I've seen is in the audience itself," said Abel A. De Luna, chief operating officer of Luna Communications, whose holdings include radio stations, management, a record label and concert promotion. De Luna said the demographic for concerts featuring regional Mexican music continues to be the 18- to 35-year-old crowd, same as it was 20 years ago.
But today, he said, most of that crowd speaks English, not Spanish.
"I remember one time a DJ played (an English-language) hip-hop track in the middle of a dance and they booed him," he recalled with a laugh. "Now, I see everybody speaking English all the time, everywhere."
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