MUSIC INDUSTRY
COLLABORATION , INTEGRATION AND DISTRIBUTION | Phil Sillas
“ NO INDIVIDUAL CAN WIN A GAME BY HIMSELF ” - PELE
We knew it was coming we just didn ’ t know when . Collaboration , Integration and Distribution . For so long a bilingual musical collaboration was relegated to only a top tier artist in the U . S . with an artist from Latin America and deemed a “ Special event ” that would grab the attention of both markets . One of the reasons for the slow trickle of “ duets ” was everybody was on the road and any down time was earmarked for new recordings so we could get back on the road . But in the last ten years a noticeable shift was taking place within the audiences of our churches and concerts . Just like our local communities , the racial music mix was becoming more integrated and less segregated . Chris Tomlin introduced Israel Houghton to his audience during his 2009 Hello Love Tour . Every evening audiences were treated to Chris ’ version of contemporary Praise and Worship along with Israel ’ s Gospel R & B Praise . I was fortunate to attend one of those magical evenings in San Diego that year . Chris ’ s audience was not aware that Israel was the songwriter of “ Friend of God ”, but they all knew the song and sang it as loud as they sang Chris ’ s “ How Great Is Our God ”. A few years later Chris embarked on his Worship Night In America Tour and included Spanish Worship Artist Christine D ’ Clario in the lineup . Christine along with Miel San Marcos and Marcos Witt have been paving the way for Praise and Worship in the Spanish church for many years . When Chris took our Christine out for his tour , we began to see the possibilities come to life .
As Spanish church services and Spanish music in the U . S . began to grow , English Christian music started to find its way into Latin America as well . It was not an overnight phenomenon like we witnessed on February 24 , 1999 when a young Ricky Martin opened the 41 st annual Grammy Awards and started the Latin
Johnny Rez , with Daniel Patti , Becca Patti of Highlands Worship
Explosion in the U . S . This was more of a slow marketing plan executed from a central hub . steady infiltration that was hard to monitor until Two weeks into the Covid lockdown , I decided Soundscan , YouTube and iTunes started to to manage a new artist from Miami , Johnny show real consumption numbers in the Spanish Rez . I figured we ’ d meet in person sometime in Christian genre . Until recently a Spanish artist May once the travel ban was lifted and I ’ d make still needed the machinery of a major label the trip from California to Miami , and we would distributor to penetrate the territories in the U . S . hang out and do what artists and managers as well as Latin America . do over great Miami meals . Well fast forward to April of 2021 . I have yet to make the trip to Now with social media platforms , Latin Music Miami , Johnny and I have not broken bread , curators with Spotify , Apple Music , Pandora , but we ’ ve released four singles in multiple Deezer , Sequencias and You-Tube , Latin artists languages . The amount of work we ’ ve done in now have the tools for their songs to have the this Covid year surpasses any output I ’ ve been same reach as the major labels . In fact , the associated with in a year without Covid . Many major labels and booking agencies are now Zoom meetings , countless group texts have led looking to the independent Latin artist to find us to his current release “ Yaweh ”. ways to collaborate with their English artists so they can introduce them to Latin America .
THE TEAM
The geographical and technological barriers are Originally Johnny had sent me the English down . Prior to Covid , one still had the mindset version he had written . After a couple of listens of everyone in the same room , everyone on I asked if he had a Spanish translation for the the same video set , vocals in the same studio , lyric . He did . After sending the Spanish version graphics produced in the same country and the to our trusted group of Spanish eyes and ears ,