By Leila Cobo
MIAMI (Billboard) - 2007 was not a good year for Latin music.
As of the week ending December 2, only 19 Latin albums sold more than 100,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Two more albums are likely to make the mark by year's end -- but 21 is quite a slide from the 32 releases that did so in 2006 and the 29 from 2005.
Worse, the top-selling Latin album so far, Daddy Yankee's "El Cartel: The Big Boss" (El Cartel/Interscope), had sold 248,000 copies as of December 2. In contrast, his "Barrio Fino En Directo," the top-selling album of 2006, had sold 484,000 by year's end.
All told, through the week ending December 2, the top 20 albums of 2007 had sold nearly 3 million copies, with little chance of matching the nearly 4 million tallied by the top 20 by year-end 2006.
The drop in Latin music sales mimics the drop in music sales in the market in general. But a bigger cause for concern is that, in the Latin top 20 there are only two new acts: pop trio Camila and duranguense band Los Creadorez.
Besides those two debuts, there is Valentin Elizalde, whose November 2006 murder helped usher two of his albums into the top 15. In other words, a dead man held more appeal for Latin music buyers than most anything alive.
And then there's reggaeton, which saved the day in 2006. This year, despite a handful of those 100,000-plus albums -- including chart leader Daddy Yankee -- emerging from the genre, reggaeton was the ugly baby, privately dismissed by many executives. At the Latin Grammy Awards, all reggaeton acts were bypassed in the urban categories in favor of the more off-kilter Calle 13, whose 2007 sophomore album has yet to top the 100,000 mark.
I am reticent to say that there wasn't any good Latin music in 2007. But we've certainly seen better years--mainly, 2007's results are notable for a disconcerting lack of compelling new sounds. Add that to a seeming disconnect between how labels spent the bulk of their marketing dollars and what people wanted or had access to, and the numbers speak for themselves.
If we look beyond such big names as Marco Antonio Solis and Vicente Fernandez...
The most compelling stories of 2007 belong to music that stands out from the pack. Aventura, the only other act besides Daddy Yankee to break the 200,000-unit mark, is signed to an indie (Premium), distributed by Sony. The Dominican-American bachata-R&B act has neither a publicist, major booking agent nor big sponsorship deal. But the group does have an organically grown fan base, a strikingly singular sound and colloquial, storytelling lyrics that connect with its audience.
Sony BMG pop trio Camila also boasts a distinctive sound that, after months on the street, finally got radio play and TV exposure, thanks to a patient, unrelenting push from label and management.
Los Creadorez developed a bond with its audience via founder Alfredo Ramirez's stint with Montez de Durango -- and yes, also via well-placed radio and retail support from its Disa Records label.
And Wisin & Yandel had their recently released "Los Extraterrestres" top 100,000 units in less than two months -- a clear indication that their more mainstream reggaeton has an audience.
Aside from Mana, which continued to see sales of an album released in mid-2006, and Juanes, whose late-year release is just beginning its sales cycle, all the other acts to hit the mark have had sales histories more lucrative than this year's numbers reflect.
The upside? With so little to lose, the time is ripe for labels -- indies and majors alike -- to take chances on new sounds.
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