Latin Notas: Digital Service Offers More Latin Music Choices

Digital music programmer Music Choice will debut two Latin music channels July 7.

The addition of Musica Urbana and Pop Latino brings the service’s Latin channel offerings to seven. Music Choice is carried on cable and satellite TV networks and reaches an estimated 32.7 million homes.

The two channels join Mexicana (Mexican and regional Mexican music), Tejano, Salsa & Merengue, Rock en Espanol and Latin Love Songs, which is essentially adult contemporary and pop.

“We like our channel names to be very specific,” says Regla Gonzalez, Music Choice associate manager of programming for Latin.

Latin music has been part of the service since its start, and the number of channel choices has gradually expanded.

Musica Urbana will feature all forms of urban music, from urban regional to reggaeton, rap and reggae from Argentina.

Likewise, Pop Latino will solely be a pop station.

For those unfamiliar with Music Choice, its programming is available through digital cable or a satellite service like DirecTV. As the music plays, the screen displays artist information and album covers.

Gonzalez oversees programming for all Latin channels, which are available 24/7. Programming is updated every Wednesday.

Normally, Gonzalez says, a single channel will play approximately 20 songs per hour. Each channel has between 600 and 700 songs in rotation at any time.

“We’re not as repetitious as radio, because we have such a big library, and we want to play all the songs,” she says. “We certainly play the hits, and we play them a little more often. But it’s not like radio, where [it will] play a song every hour. And unlike radio, we do play the B-sides.”

Latin labels, she adds, have been increasingly receptive to Music Choice’s service.

“They’re beginning to understand that we have a bigger reach as opposed to radio,” Gonzalez says.

Music Choice is also adding Latin performers to its concert lineup. The concerts air on different channels for each local cable company. The first Latin show to air on the service will be a Robi Rosa concert taped in Los Angeles. It airs nationwide June 14-17.

Thalia:

SHE TALKS, SHE SINGS: A talkative Thalia performed in Miami while on her High Voltage tour. The singer’s chitchat proved to be an asset for the Mexican diva, who came across as accessible to fans, many of them teens and younger.

Thalia, whose name wasn’t listed in the program guide for the Billboard Latin Music Conference & Awards, was a four-time finalist in this year’s awards.

Nods included “Me Pones Sexy,” her duet with Fat Joe, which was up for Hot Latin track of the year, vocal duet. And her popularity in clubs was underscored by two nods in the dance single of the year category: for Pablo Flores’ remix of “I Want You” and for Boris & Beck’s remix of “Baby, I’m in Love.”

Thalia also was a finalist for Latin pop airplay track of the year, female for “A Quien le Importa?”–also the encore song of her tour.

MENUDO MANIA: The William Morris Agency will represent Menudo Entertainment in its massive talent search for new members of boy band Menudo.

Earlier this year, Menudo Entertainment announced plans to launch a series of open calls in the United States, Puerto Rico and Latin America this summer to put together the next incarnation of Latin pop’s most successful boy band (Billboard, March 27).

WMA will oversee development of a TV show that will track the Menudo search. It will also handle merchandising, licensing and endorsement opportunities. Once the group forms, WMA will handle booking and label negotiations.

Last month, Menudo Entertainment secured the rights to the Menudo name from record executive Oscar Llord, founder of Ole Music.

Ole Music is slated to release the new Menudo album. The label is also releasing an album in June by Tic Tac, a newly formed band that original Menudo creator Edgardo Diaz put together.

Much like the new Menudo, Tic Tac will target the preteen set. The quartet comprises four Puerto Rican boys between the ages of 11 and 13.