AMERICA FEELS LATIN BEAT; MUSIC SALES UP 11% THIS YEAR ON WAY FROM NICHE TO MAINSTREAM.

Byline: Dave McNary Staff Writer

Latin music sales, continuing a three-year hot streak, jumped 11 percent in the United States during the first half of year as the sector moves from niche to mainstream, a trade group reported Thursday.

Revenues hit $291.6 million, representing nearly 5 percent of all domestic sales, according to the Recording Industry Association of America. Overall units shipped soared 12 percent to 25.6 million, spurred by a 20 percent rise in compact disc shipments to 17.5 million.

``In the last few years and particularly the last six months, Latin music has made an impact from Madison Avenue to suburban malls, from prime-time television ads to blockbuster film soundtracks,'' said Richard Dopico, RIAA's director of Latin Music.

``Primarily, the buyers are still Latinos, but there has been a lot more interest from nontraditional buyers.''

Shipments of cassettes dipped 3 percent to 8 million and music videos declined 30 percent to 46 million.

The Latin music sector's overall gain came despite tepid sales (a 1.8 percent increase) and shipments (a 0.3 percent decline) in the overall domestic music business and on the heels of back-to-back Latin music gains of 25 percent and 28 percent. ``This year's growth in Latin music is still impressive considering how much it grew in 1997 and 1998,'' Dopico said.

David Masry, president of the New Jersey-based Ritmo Latino chain, said he expects more of the same. ``Not only is the Latino population growing but there are a lot of cross-over sales,'' he added. ``Anglos are buying Latino albums now. My feeling is that these trends will continue.''

Most impressively, the report's figures did not include the quadruple-platinum album sales of Ricky Martin's self-titled album, which included the hit song ``La Vida Loca,'' because the survey only counts albums that are at least 51-percent Spanish language.

However, sales of Martin's ``Vuelve,'' which won this year's Grammy in late February for best Latin pop performance, were included. Dopico noted that Martin's televised performance during the show helped ignite sales in the Latino category.

Other artists with hot first-half titles included Los Tigres Del Norte, Marco Antonio Solis and Shakira, along with the Selena anthology. Masry said an upcoming album from Luis Miguel should sell well.

``The growth is coming from far beyond Ricky Martin's album sales,'' said Thomas Adams of Adams Media Research.

Adams said Latin music sales have been particularly impressive in the Southern California and Florida markets. ``There's no end of savvy Spanish-language media in those places,'' he added. ``It dwarfs any other niche. And there's a ton of room to grow.''

Most recent figures from the U.S. Census Bureau show the nation's Latino population was at 10.7 percent in 1996; in California, Latinos represent 30.2 percent of the population.

Indicative of the crossover appeal of Latino artists, Martin and actress Jennifer Lopez posted strong sales in the early summer, and a pair of Latin stars, Christina Aguilera and Enrique Iglesias, recently generated solid numbers. Aguilera's ``Genie in a Bottle'' has been the No. 1 single for five weeks, while Iglesias' ``Bailamos'' moved from No. 11 to No. 2 last week.

CAPTION(S):

Photo, Chart

Photo: (Color) Ricky Martin

Chart: MUY CALIENTE

Mid-year sales of latin music in the United States show solid growth.

SOURCE: Recording Industry Association of America

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