Live Nation’s Hans Schafer — the promoter that has helped Latin artists take on the world — leads Billboard’s annual list of the genre’s most powerful executives.

Music Groups

Sony Music Latin-Iberia

Afo Verde
Chairman/CEO
María Fernández
COO
Juan Alfonso Sánchez
CFO/senior vp
Herb Payan
Executive vp of digital strategy and ancillary revenue
Guillermo Gutiérrez Leyva
Senior vp of A&R
Gaby Martínez
Senior vp of regional marketing
Rafael Madroñal
Vp of brand partnerships

From Shakira’s World Cup anthem and Rosalía’s LUX era to new investments in film, documentaries and creative studios, Sony Music Latin-­Iberia chairman/CEO Afo Verde says the company’s greatest achievement has been building a deeper, more versatile ecosystem around its acts.

“We’ve had a year with a very special focus on our roster,” Verde says of the past 12 to 18 months. “What makes me most proud is the quality, diversity and strength of the projects we’ve been able to develop alongside our artists.”

That depth was evident across Sony’s roster, which includes Shakira, Rosalía, Alejandro Sanz, Milo J, Rauw Alejandro, Jorge Drexler, CA7RIEL & Paco Amoroso, Mon Laferte, Kany García, Carlos Vives, Trueno and Beéle. Verde also points to Romeo Santos and Prince Royce’s collaborative album Better Late Than Never (which debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Tropical Albums chart), as well as projects from the company’s rock roster, including Arde Bogotá, Dani Martín, Draco, Dante Spinetta, Emmanuel Horvilleur, Fito Páez and Leiva.

Sony continued investing in the next generation — signing Amaia in Spain and Natanael Cano in Mexico through a distribution deal with Rancho Humilde — while maintaining a strong focus on música mexicana. Sony’s Brazilian operation, led by Fernando Cabral, also had a notable year with artists including Grupo Menos É Mais, Luan Santana, Pedro Sampaio and Gusttavo Lima.

Beyond recorded music, Sony Music Vision has developed a diverse slate of documentary series, movies, concert films and music videos, while a new 5020 Studios location in Los Angeles will soon provide additional creative space for its roster. Capitalizing on this momentum, rapper Residente began filming Porto Rico, his feature directorial debut.

“Our responsibility as a company is to serve our artists by giving them the tools and support they need to develop their full potential and advance their creative visions,” Verde says. “That commitment to talent and artistic quality is essential for Latin music to continue growing in a strong and sustainable way globally.”

That global growth was evident in Verde’s favorite moments of the year: Shakira’s appearances at both the opening and closing of the World Cup, which was an unprecedented opportunity that she delivered with “quality and impact,” he says. “Dai Dai,” her official World Cup collaboration with Burna Boy, reached No. 1 on both the Billboard Global 200 and Global Excl. U.S. charts, leading for seven and 10 weeks, respectively.

The executive also praises Rosalía and the worldwide impact of LUX. “The album is a true gem, a work of art,” he says. “We feel that many things are happening around Rosalía, and that her talent deserves everything that is happening to her.” —ISABELA RAYGOZA

Universal Music Latin America & Iberian Peninsula

Jesús López
Chairman/CEO
Elsa Yep
COO
Luis Estrada
Executive vp of marketing and artist ventures
Skander Goucha
Executive vp of e-commerce, business development and digital
Angel Kaminsky
President of A&R and artist relations

Warner Music Latin America

Alejandro Duque
President, Warner Music International/ADA
Giselle De Armendi
Senior vp of business and legal affairs
Marcela Vaccari
Senior vp of marketing and commercial services

For Warner Music International and ADA president Alejandro Duque, a telltale sign of success is the talent that wants to work with you. “We remain a company that attracts the youngest talent — artists who are at that point where they’re starting to break out and really turn heads,” he says. “I believe we’re still the company these artists want to partner with,” adds Duque, who held the dual roles of president of Warner Latin and president of ADA and was upped to his new role in September, adding Asia-Pacific and Europe, the Middle East and Africa under his oversight. (Duque will continue to oversee ADA outside the United States.)

Warner Latin’s roster includes Colombian urban pop and Afrobeats singer Aria Vega, named Billboard’s Latin Up & Comer for July and whose hit “Chévere” with Ryan Castro reached No. 1 on the Latin Airplay and Latin Rhythm Airplay charts in September; Omar Camacho, a promising young Mexican artist who, at 19 years old, has amassed 13 million monthly listeners on Spotify; and Puerto Rican acts De La Rose and Clarent. “We are at the forefront of new talent, consumption drivers, the younger generations who are beginning to connect with younger audiences as well,” Duque adds.

He attributes this to a combination of the services Warner offers, along with its commercial flexibility. “We have a fully vertically integrated company encompassing both distribution and the label, so we have business models that are incredibly flexible and truly adapt to what these artists need and what their aspirations are,” he says. “That helps us immensely, as does the team — a top-tier team that artists connect and identify with, engage in dialogue with and feel comfortable around.”

That same approach led to another major achievement for the label this year: signing the Brazilian sertanejo duo Hugo & Guilherme, one of the genre’s most successful acts. “In Brazil,” he says, “we are a powerhouse in urban music and funk, but we are just getting started in regional genres and this signing is a major validation of our strategy.”

In April, Warner Music Group also entered into a strategic partnership and made a minority investment in independent distributor TuStreams. “It is a platform that has hosted many of the biggest Mexican music artists currently topping the charts. By making this strategic investment, we are positioning TuStreams to retain artists and, naturally, secure longer-lasting relationships with them,” Duque explains, adding that he hopes it will serve as a “highly powerful incubator” for his Mexican music team.

However, Latin music and music in general, Duque believes, is still undervalued compared with the price trends of video subscription platforms, which have doubled or even tripled since launch. In music, “we have seen a price increase of 30%, so we remain a form of entertainment that is extremely undervalued,” he says. “Clearly, there is a huge opportunity to close that gap for the benefit of everyone in the ecosystem, especially the artists.” —SIGAL RATNER-ARIAS

Labels, Distributors and Artist Services

5020 Records

Rafa Arcaute
Bruno Duarte
Co-presidents

ADA

Nicolas Cortázar
Senior vp of growth strategy, Latin America
Diego Abaroa
Vp, ADA Latin

Believe

Alejandra Olea
Managing director, Americas
Rodrigo Gonsalves
Head of label and artist solutions for U.S. Latin, Andean and Southern Cone
Bruno Duque
Head of Latin America and Brazil, TuneCore

BMG/Craft Recordings

Bruce McIntosh
Vp of Latin catalog
Eliezer Ponce
Vp of contemporary Latin catalog

Downtown Artist & Label Services

Ben Patterson
President
Raymond Tapia
Vp of A&R

Dynamic Records

Luis A. Suárez Silva
Co-founder/president

Fono

Antonio Silva
Managing director of U.S./Mexico

HYBE Americas

Isaac Lee
Chairman/CEO
Juan S. Arenas
President of global label services, HYBE

With BTS’ spectacular return to the stage and additional world tours by groups including ENHYPEN and KATSEYE, HYBE has been on a high, and has found a growing fanbase in Latin America. In addition, HYBE Latin America, which launched its first Latin boy band, Santos Bravos, in 2025, has also gained an enthusiastic response in the United States and Latin America.

In the first year since its inception on a reality show also titled Santos Bravos, the group — comprised of Drew Venegas, Alejandro Aramburú, Gabi Bermúdez, Kauê Penna and Kenneth Lavíl from the United States, Peru, Puerto Rico, Brazil and Mexico, respectively — has received industry recognition and awards including a nomination from Premio Lo Nuestro, two wins at ­Premios Juventud and one at Premio Tu Música Urbano.

“It’s all connected,” HYBE label services president of global Juan S. Arenas says. “I think of the success K-pop has seen, the reception ENHYPEN got in Brazil, what BTS is doing in Mexico right now and their upcoming tour across various countries in October — all of that has fueled the success of Santos Bravos.”

“The most important thing for the company over the past year is the validation that Bang’s formula — as both creator and producer — has been confirmed,” adds HYBE Americas chairman/CEO Isaac Lee, speaking of HYBE founder and chairman Bang Si-Hyuk. “Santos Bravos is the first test of that concept in Latin America, a region that hadn’t seen a boy band in a very long time, bringing together guys from five different countries and utilizing the methodology Bang created.”

Right now, the company is holding auditions to launch a group in India and is preparing to assemble a U.S. boy band next year with the help of producer Ryan Tedder, Lee says.

The biggest issue the music community faces, Arenas says, is breaking through the noise. He believes that with so much content being released — including that created by AI — standing out from the noise is harder for every artist, Latin or not.

“That means the connection with fans — the way you tell your story — becomes much more important, in addition to the music. And that’s why, as Isaac says, our methodology has been so successful,” Arenas says.

“At the end of the day, a good story is a good story,” Lee adds, “and a good song is a good song.”

HYBE Latin America has helped tell the Santos Bravos story through its reality show formation, as well as with multiple documentary series and the band’s K-pop-style variety show, ¡Vamos, Bravos!, on both YouTube and Spotify.

“There is such a strong focus on the artist’s ecosystem,” Arenas says, “and we put a lot of effort into how we tell the story — not just the music itself, but who the members are and how they connect with their fans.” —S.R.A.

InnerCat Music Group

Paris Cabezas
Ana González
Managing partners

Interscope Capitol Miami

Nir Seroussi
President
José Cedeño
Executive vp/GM
Manny Prado
Senior vp of marketing and A&R
Cristina Nadal Ferreria
Vp of commercial strategy and operations

The Orchard

Erol Cichowski
Jason Pascal
Executive vps of global artist and label partnerships
Laura Tesoriero
Senior vp/managing director, Latin-Iberia
Albert Torres
Senior vp, Latin-Iberia and Southern Europe

Sony Music U.S. Latin

Alex Gallardo
President
Esteban Geller
GM
Nerea Igualador
Senior vp of digital business, commercial partnerships and operations
Txema Rosique
Senior vp of A&R

Street Mob Records

Jesús Ortiz Paz
CEO
Cristian “Toro” Primera Dimas
COO
Gustavo López
President
Jesús Ivan “Moska” Amezcua
Vp of marketing

Symphonic

Jorge Brea
CEO

Universal Music Latin Entertainment

Alfredo Delgadillo
President/CEO
Daniel Luna
GM, Universal Music Latino

Virgin Music Group

Victor González
President of Latin America, U.S. Latin and Spain
Cris Falcão
President of Brazil and Portugal
Armando Rodríguez
Senior vp/GM of U.S. Latin

Warner Music Latina

Roberto Andrade
Managing director
Brenda Carrasco
Senior vp of marketing and artist strategy
Francisco Granados
Senior vp of A&R
Rubén Abraham
GM of música mexicana

Multisector

AP Global Music/EMM

Pablo Casals
CEO

Bichota Records

Jessica Giraldo Navarro
CEO; co-manager, Karol G

La Buena Fortuna Global/La Buena Fortuna Music

Polo Montalvo
President/CEO

Cinq Music Group

Barry Daffurn
Co-founder/president
Ruben Santos
Vp of A&R, Latin America

Dale Play Records

Federico Lauria
Founder/CEO

Double P Records

Hassan Emilio “Peso Pluma” Kabande Laija
Co-founder
George Prajin
Co-founder; founder, Prajin Parlay

EMPIRE

Ghazi
Founder/CEO

Estefan Enterprises

Emilio Estefan Jr.
CEO/producer

Fairwinds Entertainment

Luana Pagani
President

La Familia Presenta

Aaron Ampudia
Christopher Den Uijl
Co-founders

FPM Entertainment

Jorge Ferradas
President

“I no longer believe in the model of the manager who knows everything and can respond to everything,” FPM Entertainment president Jorge “Pepo” Ferradas says. Instead, the executive favors a network of specialized partners who can help artists navigate an increasingly complex global business.

That approach has powered a major year for FPM’s roster. Ferradas points to Rauw Alejandro’s Cosa Nuestra world tour as a defining achievement: The Puerto Rican star performed more than 70 shows across the United States, Latin America and Europe for his first trek alongside Ferradas. “It was a very important tour for his career,” Ferradas says. “It puts him in the position of an artist who has the recognition that we believe he deserves.”

The company’s management structure varies by artist. Ferradas oversees Camilo through FPM; co-manages Alejandro with his personal manager, Matías Solar, and business manager, José Juan Torres, of JAK Entertainment; and shares responsibility for Rels B with Dale Play founder and CEO Federico Lauría, whose company handles booking and related areas. The model, Ferradas says, reflects the needs of contemporary artists better than a traditional one-manager approach.

“It’s more about teamwork and finding alliances with the people who know other areas of the business better,” Ferradas says. “Then you give the best through that team.”

The results have been substantial. Rels B followed a Latin American tour with his first stadium performance in Madrid, drawing 45,000 people to Riyadh Air Metropolitano in July. Camilo released his fifth album, Para Cuando Sean Mayores; renewed his recording agreement with Sony; graced the June cover of Billboard Español; and completed nine European dates ahead of a new North and South American tour. FPM also helped expand Rauw’s work into film, with the artist set to appear in Guy Ritchie’s 2027 action-thriller, Viva La Madness. And recent brand partnerships include Rauw with Prada Beauty, Red Bull and Buchanan’s Whiskey and Rels B with G-Shock.

The FPM president identifies touring as a central priority for Latin music, particularly as immigration concerns, shifting streaming economics and a crowded attention economy create new ­challenges for artists earning income. Ferradas believes artists must continue delivering world-class shows while preserving the emotional connection that distinguishes Latin music.

That bond was especially present for Ferradas this past year as he helped to bring Rauw’s Cosa Nuestra tour global and watched Rels B’s Madrid show in a stadium filled with family, friends and fans. “Beyond the professional side, it’s important to stop and feel those moments,” he says. “Music defended its identity; it didn’t copy. When we began defending our sound, our colors and our identity, the music exploded.” —I.R.

Global Talent Services

Narcis Rebollo
President/CEO
Rosa Lagarrigue
Executive vp of global

Grassroots Music

Polo Molina
Founder/CEO

La Industria

Juan Diego Medina
CEO/artist manager
Diego Toro
Business and brands

Jak Entertainment

Andy Martínez
Co-founder

Josa Records

Jesús Josafat Chávez Angulo
CEO/manager/producer

Magnus

Michel Vega
Co-founder/CEO
Tomas Cookman
Co-founder; founder, Latin Alternative Music Conference/Nacional Records
Ana Christina Ordóñez
Vp

Mr. 305 Inc./Entotal Agency

Robert Fernandez
Co-founder/CEO, Mr. 305 Inc.
Tom Muzquiz
Managing partner, Entotal Agency; executive business partner, Pitbull
Jorge Sanchez
Managing partner, Entotal Agency; manager, Jenni Rivera estate

Music VIP

Isael Gutiérrez
Founder

ONErpm

Pablo Belalcázar
A&R senior director/Colombia co-director of operations

Rancho Humilde

Jimmy Humilde
Co-founder/CEO
Jose “JB” Becerra
Co-founder/COO
Roque Venegas
Co-founder/CFO
Miguel “Mickey” Sánchez
President

The United States’ ongoing visa restrictions have affected Rancho Humilde’s business, especially its booming roster of música mexicana artists. “It’s very frustrating for the entire industry, as we haven’t been able to work the way we always have,” Rancho Humilde president Miguel “Mickey” Sánchez says.

Nonetheless, the current political climate in the ­United States has encouraged Rancho Humilde to focus on other markets, and the independent label has started to work outside of the United States and Mexico with both Natanael Cano and Junior H touring Central and South America. In July, Junior H played Spain for the first time, including a date at Madrid’s Movistar Arena. Meanwhile, Cano performed at the 2026 Premios Juventud in Spain followed by an extra week of promotion in the country.

“We’ve crossed the pond, as the saying goes,” Sánchez says. “We’re opening doors with an audience that has heard our music but never seen us perform live. Those two have been the ones to blaze the trail for the [corridos] genre, and we want to achieve the same thing across Europe.”

Thanks to global streaming trends, the label has witnessed other regions interpret música mexicana, including “Italian corridos” and “flamenco corridos” emerging in Spain.

“Talented artists influenced by the corrido styles are already stepping forward,” he says. “They take those musical influences and adapt them with their own lyrics. We’re thrilled about this, and perhaps down the line, we’ll be able to collaborate with a group or artist from over there.”

Meanwhile, the label’s rising group Herencia de Grandes from Culiacán, in the Mexican state of Sinaloa, is making waves. This spring, the group’s “Ya Borracho” became its first and only top 10 on Hot Latin Songs, reaching No. 6 in March. It also ruled Regional Mexican Airplay and landed at No. 3 on the overall Latin Airplay chart in April. The group is also a finalist at the 2026 Billboard Latin Music Awards including artist of the year, new; hot Latin song of the year for “Ya Borracho”; and regional Mexican artist of the year, duo or group.

The band’s impact is especially exciting for “a group that specifically went down a more romantic path,” Sánchez says. “We aren’t just a corrido label. We’ve signed a great many groups, though we’re still grinding to build our success,” pointing to additional emerging acts Lencho and Los Farmerz.

“Jimmy [Humilde, founder of Rancho Humilde] has the sharpest ear in the industry; he keeps signing artists and consistently hits the mark with what people want to hear,” Sánchez says. “Seeing Herencia de Grandes, a group no one expected or had even heard of, hit No. 1 on the charts makes me proud, because people tend to think we only reach those positions with major artists.

“For an independent record label to reach the level we have,” he adds, “that is the real feat.” —JESSICA ROIZ

Rimas Entertainment

Noah Assad
CEO
Jorge Bracero
COO
Jonathan Miranda
President
Rodrigo Prichard
GM
Mónica Jiménez
Head of marketing and brand relations for Bad Bunny
Alejandro Pabón
Head of operations; partner, Move Concerts

Socios Music

Jorge Juárez
CEO

This summer, Carín León made history as the first Mexican artist to headline the Summer Sonic Festival in Japan, where he performed Aug. 14 in Osaka and Aug. 15 in Tokyo. Beyond just a festival performance, the artist from Hermosillo, Sonora, immersed himself in the culture by producing an edition of his album MUDA featuring Japanese art, hosting a gastronomic pop-up with food from his hometown and filming a music special at a 400-year-old Japanese temple.

“Japan is the second-largest music market in the world; you realize you have to be there, and the language barrier shouldn’t be an obstacle,” says Jorge Juárez, León’s manager and co-founder and CEO of Socios Music. “Japanese audiences are deeply cultured and very open to music. If you look at the market, there is a wide range of independent record labels. For me, it was about connecting with the right people and presenting a musical proposal that was very exotic to them. It’s about daring to be disruptive.”

A month later, León once again made history at Sphere, becoming the first Latin artist to headline a residency at the innovative Las Vegas venue. The two-weekend stint took place in early September. He will return to the venue in 2027 during Mexico’s Independence Day celebrations — a booking planned 48 months in advance, according to Juárez.

“When I execute, I’m working on plans made two years prior,” he says. “The only way to keep things largely under control is to plan ahead. When you have a clear sense of direction for your artist — combining planning, direction and a clear goal — you make those steps happen, turning them into solid, impactful achievements.”

Additionally, Juárez produced Elton John’s two concerts at the Estadio Banorte in Mexico City in October, marking John’s first shows in the city in nearly 15 years. Producing John’s farewell dates in Mexico and bringing León to Sphere “are like my life’s trophies,” he says. “I aim to be someone who fosters culture, drives disruptive change and is genuinely committed to innovation and creating experiences.” —J.R.

Starlite Music Group

Sandra García-Sanjuán
Co-founder/executive president

Summa Marketing & Entertainment

Gabriel Buitrago
President

United Masters

Gerardo Mejía
Senior lead of Latin music; president, Crossover Management
María Gracia
Head of Latin marketing

Westwood Entertainment

David West
Founder

WK Entertainment/WK Records

Walter Kolm
Founder/president
Miguel Lua
Head of music

Management

Akela Family Music

Fabio Acosta
Founder/president

Chaf Enterprises

Patty Vega
Director/office manager

Criteria Entertainment

Diana Rodríguez
Founder/CEO

FEID

Luis Villamizar
Manager

Habibi Management

Raymond Acosta
Head of talent management

Hits Don’t Lie Music

Andrés Castro
CEO/artist manager

Lionfish Entertainment

Rebeca León
Founder/CEO

Pimiento Entertainment

Felipe Pimiento
Founder/CEO

Sound of Light Entertainment

Lorenzo Braun
CEO
Carlos Framil
Partner

Versatile Creative

Nadine Eliya
CEO; manager, Shakira

Streaming

Amazon Music

Rocío Guerrero
Director of music, Latin-Iberia
Paul Forat
Head of music, Spanish-speaking Latin America

When Bad Bunny announced his 30-date No Me Quiero Ir de Aquí residency at the José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum in Puerto Rico in January 2025, Rocío Guerrero, Amazon Music’s director of music for Latin-Iberia, remembers feeling “like I’ve been working my career to this moment. This is the moment where we utilize the Amazon power with one of the biggest icons of today to mark the evolution of what artist partnership looks like between [digital service providers] and artists.”

The residency allowed Guerrero and her team at Amazon Music LAT!N to partner with Rimas Entertainment (the management and promotional team behind Bad Bunny headed by Noah Assad) for a yearlong celebration of Puerto Rico through the platform’s Music Connects Us campaign. Launched every year in September, the campaign has previously focused on música mexicana with ambassadors like Peso Pluma. For 2025, Amazon Music launched the Uno Más initiative that kicked off with a livestream of the 31st and final date of Bad Bunny’s residency on Sept. 20 — the eight-year anniversary of Hurricane Maria devastating the island. The event became the most-watched livestream ever for Amazon Music and, more than 3,000 miles from Puerto Rico, New York bar Bad Habits transformed its facade into Bad Bunny’s famed onstage casita for a watch party event.

“Look, I get goose bumps,” Guerrero says, discussing the livestream’s cultural impact a year later. “It was such a beautiful moment.”

During the livestream, an exclusive Amazon edition of Bad Bunny’s DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS became the top-selling item on the entire e-commerce site.

But the livestream was just the beginning. Amazon committed educational resources and disaster relief to Puerto Rico alongside Fundación Rimas and Fundación Good Bunny. Together, they have bolstered STEM programs in Puerto Rican schools, funded the building of schools that can double as hurricane shelters and are working on support for local agriculture. In addition, Amazon created a digital storefront called comPRa Local to highlight Puerto Rican goods and music in time for Bad Bunny’s historic Super Bowl halftime performance in February.

“For both parties, it was very important that this was more than just a livestream,” she says of the monthslong negotiations with Rimas. “What unlocked the deal was all of the Amazon doors we were able to open. Literally, we knocked on I don’t know how many doors inside Amazon of teams I didn’t even know existed. It created a blueprint of what we want to continue doing in the future.”

That blueprint has informed Amazon Music’s latest Music Connects Us campaign, The Women Shaping Latin Music, alongside Shakira, whose Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran world tour became the highest-grossing tour by a Hispanic artist earlier this year. In September, Amazon unveiled El Museo Shakira, an interactive experience on 30 years of her influence on music, fashion and more on-site at ES Latina festival in Madrid. Amazon also streamed one of the final nights of Shakira’s tour in Spain on Oct. 3 (which became the most-viewed livestream performance by a female artist on the platform) and launched Las Mujeres Facturan, an Amazon storefront that will give greater visibility to women entrepreneurs and female Latin artists.

Alongside Shakira’s Fundación Pies Descalzos, Amazon Web Services will also work with the Laboratoria organization that provides tech education for women in Latin America.

In Brazil, Amazon is also celebrating Marília Mendonça’s legacy through a Maiara & Maraisa livestream, new music, vinyl and Amazon Music Originals. Documentary Marília Mendonça: Sentimento Louco will air on Prime Video this October, with a feature film on the artist arriving next year.

“It is kind of like copying a model, but why not? It’s a model that works and that is good for humanity,” Guerrero says, comparing the last two Music Connects Us campaigns. “I will continue doing this for as long as I am allowed.” —TAYLOR MIMS

Apple Music

Juan Paz
Global head of Latin music business
Patty Flores
Head of U.S. Latin music business partnerships
Andrea Portela
Head of U.S. Latin music marketing
Jerry Pullés
Head of urbano Latino and música tropical editorial

SoundCloud

Dion Baez
Vp of community

Spotify

Mia Nygren
Vp of Europe and Latin America
Maykol Sánchez
Head of music, Latin America
Antonio Vázquez
Head of U.S. Latin and Canada editorial
Samantha Aanerud
Artist and label partnerships lead, U.S. Latin

YouTube

AJ Ramos
Head of artist and label partnerships, Latin music and culture
Sandra Jimenez
Regional director/head of music, Latin America and U.S. Latin
Andrea Barbosa
Artist partnerships manager, Latin America

Publishing

BMG

Yvette Medina
Vp of A&R, Latin music

Kobalt

Leslie Ahrens
Managing director/executive vp of creative, Latin America

peermusic

Elizabeth Rodda
President of U.S. Latin, Latin America and global society relations

Rimas Publishing

Carlos Souffront
President

Sony Music Publishing

Jorge Mejía
President/CEO, Latin America and U.S. Latin

Universal Music Publishing Group

Alexandra Lioutikoff
President, Latin America and U.S. Latin

In the midst of a busy and fruitful year for Universal Music Publishing Group, Alexandra Lioutikoff, the company’s president of Latin America and U.S. Latin, lists “the continued expansion of our global A&R program, being named ASCAP publisher of the year for the fourth consecutive year and signing exceptional talent” as some of the publisher’s greatest achievements of the past 12 to 18 months.

Los Angeles alternative band The Marías, a UMPG signee, spent the last two years earning recognition for its 2024 album, Submarine, which led to nominations for American Music Awards, Billboard Latin Music Awards and MTV Video Music Awards in 2025 and, in 2026, a nod for best new artist at the Grammy Awards.

In April, UMPG signed an exclusive publishing deal with Latin Grammy-winning Argentine rapper Trueno, who has had four entries on the Billboard Global 200 chart, five titles on the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart and 30 hits on the Billboard Argentina Hot 100. “For me, this marks a new stage in my career and a new team to share with and learn from,” Trueno said upon signing. “I’m proud that, from Argentina, we can connect with a team as big as Universal.”

Other recent signees include Pepato, DannyLux, Julia Costa, Majo, Aguilar, Xavi, Marcos Villalobos and Papi Sousa — all of which Lioutikoff says are achievements she’s incredibly proud of. “Together,” she adds, “they reflect both the strength of our team and our commitment to identifying and supporting the most exciting songwriters and artists in Latin music.”

With such a robust roster of talent, Lioutikoff remains vigilant in ensuring the fair compensation of songwriters for the enormous value they create. “Latin music has become a truly global force, yet Latin America is still not always valued or treated on equal footing with other regions around the world,” she says. “There is still significant work to be done to close that gap.”

Lioutikoff’s favorite music moments of the year also came from UMPG songwriters. “Seeing Carín León become the first musical artist to perform at Miami’s Nü Stadium was incredibly meaningful because of what he has come to represent for regional Mexican music and its continued global growth,” she says. With more than 24,000 fans in attendance, the performance was also the first sold-out show at the venue, which is the home of MLS’ Inter Miami CF.

Another highlight: watching Rosalía close out her critically acclaimed LUX tour that made nearly 60 stops throughout North and South America and Europe in 2026. After rescheduling the first three dates of the U.S. leg, Rosalía concluded the tour in Orlando, Fla., and Miami in September. “I saw her the very first time she performed in Miami,” Lioutikoff says, “so witnessing firsthand how much she has grown and evolved as an artist was extraordinary.” —S.R.A.

Warner Chappell Music

Gustavo Menéndez
President of U.S. Latin and Latin America

Live

AEG Presents

Jay Marciano
Chairman/CEO; COO and office of the chairman, AEG
Rich Schaefer
President of global touring

Cárdenas Marketing Network

Henry Cárdenas
CEO
Carolina Daza
Alexander Cárdenas
Senior vps of live entertainment

Live Nation

Hans Schafer
Senior vp of global touring
Fabi Kulick
Vp of Latin tour marketing
Manuel Morán
Vp of Latin touring
Viviana Suárez
Vp of Latin touring, Live Nation Latin America
Jorge García
Global tour promoter

In 2021, Hans Schafer took what may have been his biggest roll of the dice in a career full of them.

That summer, as the live sector restarted following the pandemic, the legendary grupero band Los Bukis decided to reunite after 30 years. At the time, Schafer explains, Los Bukis “was not an Instagram phenomenon. There was no viral moment. There was no real, current streaming story that fully explained what was there.”

But Schafer and his team understood the band’s intangible “cultural ­currency” — and how it could “open the gate for something that seemed unrealistic, that hadn’t been done before.” Under Schafer’s guidance, Live Nation put Los Bukis in the Los Angeles-area SoFi Stadium for two nights that August. The shows grossed $13.8 million, according to Billboard Boxscore, a figure that “exceeded what we thought we could do,” he says. Those shows forever altered touring for the biggest Latin artists. “The scale became bigger than what people expected and helped redefine the stadium ceiling for Spanish-language touring in the U.S.”

Previously, stadium touring had been nearly unheard of for even the most popular Latin acts. But Schafer and his team didn’t stop with Los Bukis, soon plotting stadium tours for ascendant new artists including Bad Bunny, Karol G and Fuerza Regida, as well as veterans such as Shakira.

In one form or another, Schafer has been making these bets — successfully — for the last 20 years. Since joining Live Nation in late 2017 as a senior vp of global touring, the promoter, 44, has played an integral part in reimagining the touring map for Latin artists, putting them on bigger stages than ever before, and in places far beyond the long-standing traditional markets and territories. He’s grown what began as a largely U.S.-focused role into one of ­global influence, and today, he “[thinks] across markets and [connects] teams around the world,” harnessing Live Nation’s vast resources and network of promoters to help Latin artists scale their businesses and meet high demand worldwide.

Read the full story on Executive of the Year Hans Schafer here.

Loud and Live

Nelson Albareda
CEO

Move Concerts

Phil Rodríguez
CEO

No Limit Entertainment

Francisco “Paco” López
President

OCESA Seitrack

Alex Mizrahi
CEO

The Zamora Group

Pedro Zamora
Chairman/CEO

Agencies

CAA

Mac Clark
Devin Landau
Music agents
Rudy López Negrete
Music brand partnerships agent

THE·TEAM

Ryan Soroka
Juan Toro
Vps

UTA

Jbeau Lewis
Nigel Meiojas
Partners/agents
Toni Wallace
Partner/head of global music brand strategy and partnerships
Carlos Abreu
Agent

Arguably no Latin artist, and arguably no other artist, has had a bigger year than Bad Bunny.

UTA’s star client made a global impact in 2026, winning the album of the year Grammy for his Billboard 200 No. 1 DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS — a victory that made him the first artist to win the category with an entirely Spanish-language album. A week later, the Puerto Rican superstar became the first Latin artist to headline the Super Bowl halftime show solo and followed that zeitgeist-shaking performance with a world tour that grossed $472.2 million and sold 3.1 million tickets over 57 shows, according to Billboard Boxscore.

“One of the most exciting parts about everything we’re doing in Latin music right now is that our artists are becoming the first to ever do things,” UTA partner/­agent Jbeau Lewis says. “When you see a tour like Benito’s — clearly playing 10 sold-out shows in Madrid is historic — but when you also see sold-out nights in Stockholm and Warsaw [Poland] and other places like that, that’s never happened before. A Spanish-­speaking artist has never headlined a stadium-level tour across Europe.”

Bad Bunny wasn’t the only Latin UTA artist to clock such history-defining touring achievements this year. In April, Karol G became the first female Latin artist to headline Coachella. “It’s taking these artists to new cultures where they’ve never been,” Lewis says, “and it’s allowing these new places to understand their cultures in the way we saw Benito bring Puerto Rico around the world or we’re seeing Karol bringing Colombia.” (Karol G is currently on her global Viajando Por El Mundo Tropitour stadium tour.)

These massive moments have also fueled each artist’s overall business. For Bad Bunny, this has included brand partnerships with companies like adidas, Zara, Ritz Crackers, Method and Hennessy, with the artist now on his native island shooting the film Porto Rico, his first starring role in a cast that also includes Javier Bardem and Viggo Mortensen. “To be true partners with our clients and work with them across so many different aspects of their business,” Lewis says, “is what I think we’re proudest of.”

Lewis also feels that representing these artists requires educating both the business community and fans about where each act is coming from. “People may not understand the difference between reggaetón and regional music, or the difference between a Puerto Rican or Colombian or Mexican artist,” he explains. “We take the role we have in these clients’ lives seriously, so we make sure we’re helping the community at large understand who they are.”

But Lewis knows it’s also crucial to remember how far he and the team have already come on this mission. “It’s not just career goals, but life goals,” he says of Bad Bunny’s record-breaking moves. “We were all like, ‘This is never going to happen again in the history of the world, so let’s savor every minute of it.’ ” —KATIE BAIN

WME

Richard Lom
Partner/head of Latin
Richard Vega
Partner/agent
César Figueiredo
Agent
Melissa Rodríguez
Marketing executive

For WME’s Richard Lom, the agency’s Latin music business is defined by scale, cultural fluency and, above all, teamwork. As partner and head of Latin, Lom points to the agency’s investment in a Latin music group of more than 30 professionals across touring and branding as a key recent achievement.

“Our diversity is our superpower,” he says, noting that the team includes professionals with roots in Cuba, Mexico, Nicaragua, Brazil, Colombia, Spain, Argentina, Peru and Ecuador. “This company has really gone all in on our team, and they’ve given us the resources to really help supercharge so many of our clients’ careers.”

Over the past 18 months, WME’s Latin team worked across 21 global tours, in addition to festivals, one-off performances and private events, performing throughout the United States, Latin America and Europe, as well as in Asia and Australia. Among the highlights: 49 dates with Mexico’s Humbe; a 22-stop tour with Argentine rapper Paulo Londra, including his first stadium show in Lima, Peru, where WME says he sold 44,000 tickets; and international milestones for artists including J Balvin, Danny Ocean and Aria Vega.

The team’s work also extends beyond live music. Brand partnerships included Becky G’s UGG collaboration with Mexican American designer Willy Chavarria and Maluma’s Hot Wheels collaboration, which connected the Colombian superstar’s childhood memories of the toy brand with his heritage and latest album, Loco X Volver.

Lom sees the Latin music community’s most important current issue as the rapid expansion of its global live ecosystem. He explains that promoters are increasingly willing to take chances on developing artists, giving them opportunities to perform for fans around the world. “It’s a good problem to have that there is so much content out there,” he says, “and people — not only the hardcore fan, but the casual music fan — have a chance to really dig into our culture.”

His favorite recent musical moment was an international crossover: Pitbull’s performance at London’s BST Hyde Park, where the veteran Latin superstar set a ticket-sales record with nearly 70,000 attendees. At the show, thousands of fans also wore bald caps in Pitbull’s likeness, setting a Guinness World Record. For Lom, the moment captured Pitbull’s enduring global appeal and WME’s broader mission. “Everything that we do here, within our Latin group, somos un gran, gran equipo [we are a great, great team],” he says. —I.R.

Media

iHeartMedia

Enrique Santos
President, iHeartLatino; host, The Enrique Santos Show; co-founder, My Cultura Podcast Network
Pedro Javier “PJ” González
Senior vp of programming, iHeartLatino

NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises

Luis Fernández
Chairman
Javier Pons Tubio
Chief content officer/head of Telemundo Studios
Ingrid Graham
Executive vp of business operations

SiriusXM

Trinity Colon
Vp of music programming
Bryant Pino
Senior director of music programming
Manuela Ferradas
Senior manager of Latin talent and industry relations

SoundOn at TikTok

Gabriel Llano González
Head of A&R Americas

Spanish Broadcasting System

Raúl Alarcón
Chairman/CEO

TelevisaUnivision

Ignacio Meyer
President of Univision Networks Group
Ulises Chang
Vp of live events and music
Cindy Hill
Vp of content and industry relations
Ismar Santa Cruz
Senior vp of audio first content and music strategy

Finance

HarbourView Equity Partners

Sherrese Clarke
Founder/CEO

Associations

Latin Recording Academy

Manuel Abud
CEO

Rights Organizations

ASCAP

Gabriela González
Senior vp of Latin membership and international affairs

BMI

Jesús González
Vp of creative, Latin

SESAC Latina

Celeste Zendejas
Senior vp

Contributors: Katie Bain, Eric Renner Brown, Pamela Bustios, Anna Chan, Leila Cobo, Thom Duffy, Ingrid Fajardo, Eric Frankenberg, Paul Grein, Lyndsey Havens, Gil Kaufman, Taylor Mims, Sigal Ratner-Arias, Isabela Raygoza, Kristin Robinson, Jessica Roiz

Methodology: Billboard executive power list honorees are chosen by our editorial staff with consideration given to industry nominations. For industry-sourced executive lists, nominations open no less than 150 days in advance of publication. A submission link is sent to all who request to participate in the power list process before the nomination period. (Email thom.duffy@billboard.com for inclusion on the email list for nomination links and for how to obtain an editorial calendar.) Priority for the Latin Power Players list was given to companies previously recognized on the Billboard Power 100. Priority for managers was given to those whose clients ranked highest on year-end artist and Boxscore charts, and those whose clients are participants in the Latin Power Players event. Honorees are chosen by editors based on factors including the impact of honorees and their companies on consumer behavior, as measured by year-end Billboard charts, sales and streaming performance, market share, revenue or, where not available, Billboard revenue estimates, which may be aided by company guidance, social media impressions and radio audiences reached, using data available as of Aug. 16. Career trajectory and momentum were also considered. Where required, U.S. record-label market share was consulted using Luminate’s current market share for albums, plus track-equivalent and streaming-equivalent album consumption and Billboard’s quarterly top 10 publisher rankings. Unless otherwise noted, Billboard Boxscore and Luminate are the sources for tour grosses and sales/streaming data, respectively. Luminate is also the source for radio audience metrics. The source for radio metrics is monitored station airplay from Mediabase provided by Luminate.

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Executives on the Rise

Separate from Latin Power Players, these five executives are designated by Billboard as up-and-comers to watch.

Luis Mesa
Label and marketing director, Bichota Records

Clarissa Paez
Founder, CP Music Marketing

Gaby Pino
Vp of programming, Kaseya Center

Marcos Fernández
Talent manager, Lionfish Entertainment

Victor Zambrano
Founder/CEO, Vizual

This story appears in the Oct. 10, 2026, issue of Billboard.