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MIDEM, the international music industry convention, and its digitally focused MidemNet Forum will open shop Jan. 23-27 in Cannes. The events will draw some 10,000 executives from nearly 100 countries, [...]

The last thing an industry devastated by Europe's worst street piracy--as well as the distorting influence of reality TV talent shows on the pop charts--needs is internal instability. But that's [...]

D-I-Y Overt There: Indies Abroad Time-Bomb Songs AIMP Turns 20 Making the MIDEM Trip HANDS-ON AND HEALTHY: Today's Indies Are Involved And Doing A Better Job Than Ever 'Chasing The […]

While Media Disregards Music Industry, Executive Decisions Must Be Made To Nourish New Artists And Bring Spanish Music To Its Full Potential With its role in the European Union consolidated […]

Every new trend reaches Spain later than elsewhere - hippies, punks, rap, neo-Nazism - while the techno dance craze hasn't even shaken its hips here yet. And, true to form, […]

BRITS AROUND THE WORLD Terry Ellis brought along his well-appointed luggage to last summer's annual general meeting of the British Phonographic Industry in London. Not literally, of course, but figuratively. […]

On the fast taxi ride from the Nice airport to the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, a MIDEM attendee once quipped that many music companies at this annual convention seemed [...]

A Territorial Guide to Home Video Growth in Europe U.K.: Following last year's setback, the industry has experienced an optimistic first quarter which has seen rentals steadying and plenty of [...]

MAJOR ALLIANCE, MERGER: The landmark multiple alliance signed by U.S.-based Univision Communications, Mexico's Grupo Televisa and Venezuela's Venevision in late December promises to change the Latin music panorama in the [...]

BARCELONA -- The 48th Premios Ondas awards, organised by Cadena SER's Radio Barcelona and previously only aired on pay-TV, was screened for the first time by national terrestrial TV channel […]

MADRID -- A TV music talent show on Spain's public channel TVE 1 has stolen much of the thunder of this year's Premios Amigo awards. Despite live performances by international […]

SYNTEK GOES SOLO: In his first solo outing, pop/rocker Aleks Syntek (former member of La Gente Normal and producer of acts like Cal6) took all his musical influences and blended [...]

THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT: Miami-based J&N Records and Flia Entertainment have created Flia Recordings Incorporated, a strategic alliance designed to create, produce and develop rap, merenhouse and other alternative acts. Flia Entertainment, [...]

MADRID--What was already a slow traffic flow across the repertoire bridge linking Spain and Latin America trickled to a near halt after the terrorism attacks of Sept. 11. The year [...]

For Latin artists and their labels seeking to make an impact in Spain, a basic knowledge of the Spanish radio landscape is essential. The music-radio scene in Spain is puzzling [...]

MADRID/PARIS -- Following the negative impact of the September 11 US terrorist attacks on music radio stations in Sweden and Italy (M&M, November 10 and November 24) latest ratings for […]

MADRID--Piracy in its various forms is '100% to blame' for a slump in Spanish music sales in the first nine months of this year, according to the VP of the [...]

MADRID -- A hip young man passionately kissing a sensual, young Latina girl. That's one of the images being used by Cadena Dial in full-page newspaper ad campaigns to promote […]

LONDON -- Just how far are radio stations prepared to go in the race to be "the first"? In recent weeks, new singles from Michael Jackson and Britney Spears both […]

Female-fronted trio Camela's album Amor.com (EMI Hispavox) has not only kept bigger stars at bay in the Spanish album charts this fall but has also led to the group being [...]

Spain's Biggest Audiovisual Conglomerate Gels Structural, Personnel Shake-Up MADRID--Music-related entertainment looks set for a higher profile at Spain's biggest audiovisual conglomerate, Grupo Prisa, in an ongoing key structural and personnel [...]

Strategy Entails Building Media Group In Latin America Before Crossing Border MADRID--Spain's largest audiovisual holding, Grupo Prisa, has taken a big stride toward entering the U.S. Latin music radio sector [...]

After three years, Spanish singer songwriter Rosana Arbelo is back selling records with her third, eponymous album. A week after its September 24 release, Rosana (Mercury Spain) had already sold […]

MADRID - Luis Merino, who currently heads up SER's four national music radio networks, has been appointed to n powerful new executive post at SER's parent company Grupo Prisa, which […]

BMG Spain has launched a flamenco label, Tablao, with three releases, Corren Tiempos de Alegria by young Gypsy singer Diego El Cigala, El Sorbo by guitarist Nino Josele, and an [...]

Madrid rock band Dover sold half a million units of its second album, Devil Came to Me (Subterfuge), in 1997. It was the first indie album in Spain to ever [...]

MADRID--You have been warned. The next Spanish 'Macarena' -style song/dance phenomenon that could sweep the world is called 'El Baile del Gorila' (The Dance of the Gorilla). It has been [...]

MADRID -- Spain's Onda Cero group is adding one of its heavyweight speech presenters from its flagship news/talk network Onda Cero Radio (OCR) to the lineup of its Onda Cero […]

Entertainment Coalition Established Amid Fears About Pre-Christmas Sales MADRID--A broad-based anti-piracy coalition has been set up in Spain to combat the increasing economic damage being reported by the music, literary, [...]

MADRID -- Hot AC network Cadena 100 has brought in new presenters in a bid to regain the symbolic figure it lost a year ago of one million listeners a […]

Ana Torroja, former singer of Spain's most successful ever pop group, Mecano, has become one of BMG France's priority artists. Ensconced in a Paris apartment since March and rapidly improving [...]

MADRID -- Sello Autor, the non-profit-making record label of the Spanish authors' and publishers' society SGAE, is to expand with the creation of parallel label Factoria Autor dedicated to new […]

Bagpipe-playing used to be a man's job in Spain's northwestern Celtic corner of Galicia and Asturias. But in recent years, 25-year-old Susana Seivane has turned that around. She will become [...]

MADRID--Spanish sales sensation and BMG Latin priority act Estopa is to spearhead this year's Rock en N, a rock en espanol tour that will go to the U.S., Mexico, and [...]

LONDON--While the recent terrorist attacks were aimed at devastating the U.S., what became clear within hours of the atrocities was that citizens worldwide were affected by the tragedy. Thousands of [...]

MADRID -- The former Imaginarock contest, which aims to discover new Spanish talent, has been re-branded and re-focussed. Public alternative music station RNE Radio 3 has replaced commercial Hot AC […]

MADRID--Sello Autor--the nonprofit label arm of Spanish authors' and publishers' society SGAE--is to expand, with the creation of a sister imprint, Factoria Autor. The new label will be dedicated to [...]

In addition to being a popular year-round beach destination for European tourists, the Spanish-controlled Canary Islands off the coast of West Africa are now the Latin music center of Europe. [...]

Spanish indie distributor Alfa Discos has inked a deal to distribute U.K. world- and roots-music label Nascente in Spain. Madrid-based Alfa claims the pact is its biggest foreign deal yet. [...]

MADRID -- Spain's second biggest radio group, Onda Cero Radio (OCR), is poised to purchase the 33 stations comprising the Galicia-based Grupo Voz. Talks currently taking place between OCR and […]

The demise of flamenco is predicted with depressing regularity in Spain. Yet the music remains stronger than ever, and two new collections this summer explore its influence beyond Spain's borders. [...]

MADRID -- The suggestion that adverts could return to the airwaves of public radio group Radio Nacional de Espana (RNE) has provoked an angry reaction from the Spanish Association of […]

Spanish indie label Nuevos Medios is used to making history. Label founder and owner Mario Pacheco pioneered the new flamenco movement in the early 1980s, signing the group Ketama, which [...]

MADRID--Virgin Spain's worldmusic imprint Yerbabuena has taken over the promotion and distribution of U.S. labels Higher Octave and Narada, as well as the U.K.'s Real World, to become what Yerbabuena [...]

Madrid is to gain a 15,000-capacity indoor music venue within 20 months, which should go some way toward putting the Spanish capital on the European touring circuit. The June 28 [...]

Ibiza's biggest music export was originally an import. Jose Padilla was a street kid in an impoverished Barcelona barrio when the Balearic island of Ibiza became a hippie haven in […]

MADRID -- New Universal Music Spain (UMS) president Carlos Ituino has announced a further series of changes at the company, designed to reflect the changing marketplace. "The aim is to […]

MADRID -- Cadena COPE's Hot AC network Cadena 100, the only non-SER station among Spain's five most popular music networks, has finally thrown in the towel and accepted its fourth […]

New President Makes New Media A Priority MADRID--The new president of Universal Music Spain, Carlos Ituino, has signaled his intention to prioritize new-media activities with the first structural changes at [...]

IBIZA, Spain-The Spanish Balearic island of Ibiza in the Mediterranean has been a music haven for gentle outcasts since the first hippies, as well as U.S. draft dodgers avoiding the [...]