Over the past 2 years or so, Latin music's popularity has increased so much that Latin music now sits alongside the most consumed music genres, hip hop, pop, rock, and R&B, according to BuzzAngle's 2018 Report on Music Consumption. In fact, Latin music surpassed country music in terms of album and song consumption in 2018, now making Latin music the fifth-biggest genre.
BuzzAngle's report also noted that 95% of Latin music consumption came from streaming. This is an overwhelming stat for streaming generally because of any genre, "Latin is the genre most dominated by streaming." So, ultimately, as the Latin music genre grows, streaming as the means for consumption grows.
With all that said, even without the stats, there's really no denying Latin music's popularity as it is becoming a staple on the charts, at award shows, at festivals, as well as on late night and daytime TV.
So, what does this mean for internet radio? This means that there is strong demand for Latin music and internet radio can partake in supplying Latin music. This is a great opportunity even moreso because Latin music is overwhelmingly consumed via streaming. Since people are heavily streaming Latin music, this is the perfect time to add Latin music to your programming to improve your station's overall appeal and gain some more listeners.
For some stations, your niche may be too far removed from Latin music so including it doesn't make any sense. For others, such as Top 40, pop, hip hop, and R&B stations, adding some Latin music in the mix makes total sense and could be a great addition. In other cases, you might have a passion for Latin music, but never got around to making a station geared towards that genre. In this scenario, there is no better time than now to create a Latin music-specific station!
As a broadcaster, you should be in tune with music trends to direct and update your station programming. Currently, Latin music is really on the rise, so this is something you should take into consideration. While updating your station based on music trends may not be for all stations, specifically niche stations, many stations can really benefit from some careful incorporation of new music based on the current trends. So, note the most popular genres and what genres and audiences are shifting, either up or down, in popularity and use that information to your advantage! If you know the listeners are there, then you know that you can deliver that content on your station and that, with some promotion, you can pull in some of those listeners.
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