The Hollywood Reporter released a list of the Top 25 Latino individuals who are impacting entertainment right now, noting the continual growth of the Latino population in the United States and how that growth will impact all entertainment industries will be impacted as these trends continue. The music industry wasn't particularly well represented on the list but that says more about the worth of the film and television industries more than it does about Latino involvement in music.
Check out the four representatives from music that made the cut:
Jennifer Lopez (no. 3)
Of course we consider Lopez to be part of the music front but that's not entirely honest anymore. Her new album A.K.A. was far from her best selling effort and her World Cup single with Pitbull irritated much of the Brazilian populace (which doesn't mean it doesn't reflect her influence in music...or didn't sell well). Her impact is honestly more based in television nowadays, between serving as a judge on American Idol and owning Nuyorican Productions, as well as a stake in NUVOtv. And then there's the fashion and perfumes, plus a furniture line at Kohl's, oddly enough. Either way, you can't escape Lopez. We hear the "Booty" music video went viral as well. Not that we've seen it...hundreds of times.
Pitbull (no. 17)
The Miami-based rapper apparently told The Hollywood Reporter that he considered his work "global music," not "Latino music," which is a totally fair point. Either way, it's got influence. He appeared with J. Lo on "Ole Ola" as well releasing platinum singles such as "Timber," catchy in any language.
Raul Alarcon, Walter Ulloa and Jose Valle (no. 20)
Three names that you probably don't recognize and three names that we'd argue belong higher on this list than no. 20. Alarcon, Ulloa and Valle are (respectively) the president of Spanish Broadcasting System, CEO of Entravision and President of Univision Radio. Between the three of them, the trio operates a combined 144 Spanish-language radio stations in the United States and its territories. If you want real (Spanish language, sorry J. Lo) Latino music, odds are you're going through them.
Shakira (no. 22)
It may be tough for American listeners to grasp that Shakira is one television production company short of being just as influential as Lopez. The Colombian pop star has an even greater foreign audience thanks to her Spanish-language albums. Her international popularity is best exemplified by her social media popularity (The Hollywood Reporter tells that she's the most liked individual on Facebook, with more than 100 millions thumbs-up). Plus the same Brazilians who complained about the official theme song of the World Cup coming from a pair of Americans pushed to replace it with a track from, as we mentioned, a Colombian.
