Mexican teen group RBD jumpstarts Latin pop

By Leila Cobo

MIAMI (Billboard) – On March 18, 63,000 people crammed into
the Los Angeles Coliseum to see an act most Americans have
never heard of.

It was the kickoff show for Mexican pop group RBD’s first
U.S. concert tour. The turnout set a record for a Hispanic act
at the venue; in fact, it was one of the biggest crowds for a
music event in the stadium’s history.

But such numbers have come to be expected from what is
Latin music’s most explosive phenomenon since Menudo.

RBD is a ray of light for Latin pop, generating sales of
more than 3.5 million albums worldwide in a scant 14 months,
according to the sextet’s label, EMI/Televisa.

The group’s success is inextricably tied to “Rebelde,” a
popular Mexican soap opera that is broadcast in the United
States, Latin America and Spain. The show is produced by
Mexican media giant Televisa, which also manages the group.

For the uninitiated, RBD is Anahi, Alfonso, Dulce, Maite,
Christopher and Christian, the young stars of “Rebelde.” All
are between the ages of 19 and 24.

The hourlong show, which airs in the United States on the
Univision network, chronicles the lives of six teens at an
exclusive Mexican private school, where they dream of forming a
band.

In the real world, that band, RBD, has released two studio
albums, “Rebelde” (in November 2004) and “Nuestro Amor”
(October 2005), and a live album, “Tour Generacion: RBD En
Vivo” (September 2005). The release dates of the albums in
various countries coincided with the soap opera schedule, with
promotional campaigns tailored to specific markets.
Additionally, Televisa-published RBD magazines are in
circulation in Mexico and in Brazil.

ALL SYSTEMS GO

The RBD phenomenon is an example of what can be
accomplished when a media powerhouse is firing on all
cylinders.

“Everything is orchestrated,” says Rodolfo Lopez Negrete,
president of EMI/Televisa. “We are all working together to
really optimize the whole project.”

RBD’s upcoming album, an acoustic set titled “Live in
Hollywood,” is due April 4 in the United States and throughout
Latin America — in the midst of the group’s U.S. tour. A
feature film will probably be out by year’s end, and initial
planning is under way for an English-language crossover album.

In the United States, the band’s sales have been
impressive. “Rebelde” has been in the top 10 of Billboard’s Top
Latin Albums chart for 35 weeks, and “Nuestro Amor” has kept it
company in those heights since its release in October. Combined
U.S. sales of all RBD albums have surpassed 800,000 units,
according to Nielsen SoundScan.

“It is the single biggest phenomenon I’ve seen since Menudo
— the kind of thing you see only once every 25 years,” says
Alberto Uribe, head buyer for the Ritmo Latino chain of music
stores. The company reports that RBD has been its top-selling
act for the past five months. That status changed only for a
single week, when Daddy Yankee came out with “Barrio Fino En
Directo” in December.

Two Wal-Mart in-stores in Texas were shut down by police in
January after more than 10,000 fans showed up for each. That
same month, Best Buy store managers in West Paterson, N.J.,
closed their store exclusively for an RBD appearance, which
drew between 8,000 and 10,000 fans.

Mass hysteria over the group is so great in Brazil that
three fans were crushed to death during an in-store in Sao
Paulo.

GROUNDBREAKING PARTNERSHIP

The RBD/”Rebelde” concept is a remake of “Rebelde Way,” the
hit Argentine soap opera. The original series spawned a hit
Argentine group, Erreway, which remained a local phenomenon and
was exported only to a limited number of Latin markets.

While musical soaps tied to albums are nothing new to
Televisa (witness “Timbiriche,” “Amy, La Nina de la Mochila
Azul” and “Clase 406”), the company’s involvement in this
project and its international success are unprecedented.
Managing an act is a departure for Televisa, but then again,
“it isn’t common for the company to generate a group like
this,” RBD series producer Pedro Damian says.

“What we’ve seen is a social phenomenon that is hard to
find in the record industry,” EMI Latin America president/CEO
Marco Bissi says. “And when you have such a strong social
explosion, you can’t confine it to one country.”

For Latin pop supporters, RBD’s success comes at a crucial
time, when many labels are bemoaning the loss of Latin pop
stations to urban and oldies formats.

“RBD proved the pop format isn’t dead,” says Nelson “Pato”
Rocha, programming VP for Entravision, who adds that the key to
RBD’s pop success is the group’s appeal to teens and young
adults as well as little kids.

Just how long the RBD phenomenon will last is anyone’s
guess.

The “Rebelde” soap ends its run in Mexico in May and will
continue to air in the United States until October, which will
give the group ample time to record and release a third studio
album. By then, plans should be finalized for a possible new TV
series, along the lines of the comedy hit “Friends,” and
naturally, that English-language album.

In the meantime, RBD continues its U.S. tour, with plans to
add six more dates for a total of 42 arena shows.

Elsewhere, the soap has begun to air in Asian markets such
as Indonesia, and the RBD albums will follow there as well.

“I am most proud to say that this is a 100 percent Latin
phenomenon,” says Dee Aguirre, VP of Roptus. “Promoters are
always making the point that Latin music does not compare with
the general market, unless it is supported by the mainstream.
But there is no way the general market can say they contributed
to this.”

The big contributor, instead, has been Spanish-language TV.
And that, group member Anahi says, suggests RBD’s next big
challenge: Maintaining a following “even when the soap is
gone.”

Reuters/Billboard

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