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THE BILLBOARD Q&A: WALTER KOLM
Ayala Ben-Yehuda
When Universal Music Group (UMG) restructured its U.S. Latin operations last year in the wake of its acquisition of Univision Music Group, it put its Latin pop, urban, tropical and rock repertoire under the leadership of Walter Kolm, formerly senior VP of marketing and A&R for Universal Music Latino.
Since May 2008 when he became president of Universal Music Latino and Machete, Kolm has presided over more than a change in administration. UMG's U.S. Latin labels, which also include the regional Mexican imprints Fonovisa and Disa, have launched their own business development team devoted to pursuing sponsorships around artists and content.
When UMG launches its YouTube-powered Vevo online video service, Universal Music Latino and Machete will have an online channel devoted to Latin pop and urban music. Separately, the new business development team is producing visual content around the label's artists that it plans to sell to sponsors for reality shows, making-of specials and other TV programming.
Kolm is also interested in exploring further cross-genre collaborations, such as last year's pairing of Latin pop star Enrique Iglesias and urban duo Wisin & Yandel on a remix of the former's "Lloro Por Ti."
After a year of notable successes, including Wisin & Yandel's hit album "La Revolucion" and pop artist Luis Fonsi's promotional campaign with Telemundo and AT&T, Kolm spoke with Billboard about finding a home for hit songs on multiple platforms and redefining the meaning of "crossover" in Latin music.
Will you line up commercial sponsors before you pitch a package of artist programming to a TV network?
Yes, we bring the sponsor. Our business is to generate content and sell it and be partners with a channel, be it broadcast or cable or Internet.
You can only do it with a powerful company and a lot of hits. At the end of the day, we need traffic and traffic comes from hit songs. So we're seeing how we can be creative and give people what they want to see: their star making an album and how they do this or that. Not after the album comes out and there's a DVD—it's while the album is being made.
My responsibility is to think in terms of an entertainment business. Yes, there are album deals with artists, but there are many other opportunities we're bringing to the table.
When Universal reorganized its U.S. Latin operation, the pop and urban labels were put under your leadership. Is that partly a reflection of people's listening habits?
Urban music has become the new pop in Latin music. Crossover isn't what it used to be, which was, "I used to sing in Spanish but now I sing in English." Crossover, to me, is from one genre to another. At last year's Billboard Latin Music Conference, there was a Q&A with Wisin & Yandel. And right after that was Enrique Iglesias' Q&A. So during the break, I introduced them to each other so they could talk. They had chemistry and they started working on [a new version of] "Lloro Por Ti," Enrique's second single. In the past we'd done a lot of those things, but this time we said we would capture it with an image. We invested in a good video for that song.
In the past, such things were thought of as a remix for radio and clubs. [This time], we said, "No—we'll do it with the intention of crossing cultures." When Enrique sang in Mexico, Wisin & Yandel came a day early so they could sing together at Enrique's show. And when Wisin & Yandel sang "Lloro Por Ti" without Enrique at their own show, it was one of the show's most popular numbers. And I think these types of fusions, when they're done with that type of thinking—it's a way of selling music.
Enrique is going to Argentina to sing with Wisin & Yandel. And now with Wisin & Yandel's new single, it'll feature Enrique Iglesias, and they'll film a video together in Argentina. We just did Paulina Rubio's new single with Pitbull, "Ni Rosas Ni Juguetes." We just finished it and now we're going to do a video. It's another explosive combination.
This will be the promotional single instead of the original?
In Enrique's case, when "Lloro Por Ti" was already a hit, we put out the version with Wisin & Yandel. We'll do the same thing with Paulina. When "Ni Rosas Ni Juguetes" gets up there, we'll put out the version with Pitbull, but not at radio. The best premiere is a viral campaign so that people can discover Paulina and Pitbull together.
Do YouTube video streams really bring in significant income for Universal Music Latino and Machete?
Absolutely. YouTube is a partner with us, and every hit we make, the revenue doesn't just come from the U.S., but from YouTube's agreements in each country.
How much of your revenue comes from things other than music products sold to the consumer—for example, sponsorships, synchs and YouTube streams?
I can't tell you a percentage, but our business is going in that direction. Our business is focused on monetizing all of our actions. So what are we doing? Generating a lot of visual content. Let's say we're working on a star's album. We'll film in order to create a making-of-the-album reality show for webisodes or mobile phones. We're creating a lot of content around our artists to look for that type of commercialization.
How has your strategy for signing new artists changed?
It used to be that we would sign an artist and record an album with 12 songs, and we'd go to radio. That's over. Today, we sign an artist and we record one, two or three songs and we start a different promotional strategy. We start working it at social networks and online and go directly toward the consumer. With that direct consumer contact, we know which direction to go with the project. For example, with [new artist] Jery Sandoval, we noticed that people liked the urban side of her more. So our A&R department started recording her with other producers.
So why even sign new artists for albums?
If an album isn't ready, we put out singles to the market. There's no pressure to put out an album, but there is a lot of pressure to make hits. We'll make a deal in which we're not obligated to release an album.
You sign new artists single by single?
It's not like you put out a single and then I renew you. It's an open deal. I sign with you and we work together. We can put out a single, or an EP, or whatever. Or maybe we'll do a song for a film and keep working on the repertoire.
We just signed J. King and Maximan through [Puerto Rican reggaetón label] White Lion. They're the two biggest reggaetóneros in Puerto Rico. We signed them, and what did we do first? The remix of Fanny Lu's second single, featuring J. King and Maximan. Today they're filming the video in New York. We signed J. King and Maximan and we're not talking about an album. First we put them with Fanny Lu and we've put together a compilation of new artists with White Lion and put a couple of their songs there. If they could be for an album, perfect, we'll put out an album. When, we don't know. Today, we need to make artists, because albums are a thing of the past.
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