WARNER LATINA LEVELS UP

After his second full year as president of Warner Music Latin America, Alejandro Duque is making good on his mission to turn the Latin major into a formidable competitor. With oversight from Managing Director, U.S., Roberto Andrade Dirak, WML’s current Latin marketshare reached 12.7% earlier this month—nearly doubling its position (7.5%) since the year began.

WML’s stellar first half finds several acts contributing; rising Mexican stars Yng Lvcas, Natanael Cano and Junior H delivered major streaming activity, including smashes “La Bebe” (Lvcas with Peso Pluma) and “AMG” (Cano with Pluma and Gabito Ballesteros) before Puerto Rican rapper Myke Towers exploded with a global #1 in “LALA.”

All the while Duque has aggressively inked talent to WML; from last year’s string of signings, including those of Paulo Londra, Tiago PZK and hit songwriter-producers Ovy on the Drums and Elena Rose to recent deals with Argentina’s Maria Becerra and Mexico’s Belinda, Duque, Dirak and team have remained in the fast lane.

Unfortunately for them, however, more hits lead to more phone calls from HITS.