Features
Touring South To The Other Americas
Opportunities for touring from Tijuana to Tierra del Fuego and the issues related to the entertainment business in Latin America were the topics covered by this panel.
Moderator Steve “Chopper” Borges of Latin Tours Solutions, production manager for
“In the last few years things have really risen, production-wise, in the marketplace to where now it’s really viable to try to do a tour without taking a lot of stuff,” Borges said. “That, as well as the level of the promoters, is what has really changed in the last 15 years.
“You can take small acts [to] really large acts through the marketplace and do a lot of it in trucks like we tour in the States, take a minimum amount of air freight and do a minimal amount of flights.”
Borges also said that a little knowledge about the culture goes a long way toward good communication and relationships.
Maria Cristina Garcia Cepeda, CEO of Mexico’s
“In the last 10 years, I have seen how the industry has grown and become very strong, not only in Latin America but in Mexico,” Cepeda said. “I think Latin America is good business for all. Promoters are professional now. A lot of them are playing in the same field.
“There are more than 20 cities in the country that have the most important venues and they have all the facilities. And the public in Latin America is an [informed] public. If you bring quality [shows], the audience will respond.”
“Before coming to this panel, I reached out to a couple of my associates who do promote in Latin America to get their experiences and I think more artists are expanding their tour dates,” Simonitsch said. “If they’re doing 40 to 70 dates in the U.S., they’re adding another 10 or 20 to go abroad.
“With the lack of revenue from the labels, it just gives another opportunity to create income and rejuvenate some of the classic rock acts as well as grow new acts.”
Jason Greene of Bluefish International, who handled the
“The Black Eyed Peas made 40 percent more per date on average in South America than anywhere else in the world. We did nine cities in Brazil alone and the [venue] sizes ranged from 12,000 up to 75,000 at Estadio Azteca in Mexico,” Greene said. “There is a great passion in the culture for music, especially for rock and pop. Hip hop is still developing and is much smaller.”
“Let’s put it out on the table. [Ringo] reads the news and the news from Mexico at times focuses on what seems to be a terrible situation,” Hart said. “We turned down huge sums of money for what were probably great plays because of that fear.
“How do you deal with that, especially when it’s important for artists if they go to Mexico to play multiple cities?”
Greene said although the problem is real, the violence isn’t widespread.
“The media [has] overblown the smallest thing into the most obscene, biggest, most important thing in the world,” he said. “If there’s some fear, you could always fly in day-of-show and fly out right after the show, which takes away a lot of your time on the ground.
“Security is great. I’ve been to Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey several times and I’ve never seen a hint of a problem. [The violence is] mostly around Monterrey, mostly outside the city, and it’s rival drug gangs killing each other.
The problems arise only if you’re going through that [area] and you get caught in the crossfire.
“I’ve never felt unsafe anywhere in South America.”
Cepeda added that if the problem was so prevalent, acts such as U2,
“Last year was been the best out of the last 20 years at Auditorio Nacional,” she said. “The people are willing to go if you present quality shows.”
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