When Donald Trump was elected to his second term as President of the United States last November, Billboard‘s senior Latin editor, Griselda Flores, began watching to see if his forthcoming immigration policy changes would impact the Latin music business.
Related
There was already a historical pattern to support this thinking: Back in the 2000s, when George W. Bush strengthened immigration enforcement and tightened visa restrictions, Billboard found that it hurt the business of Latin music concert promoters, who depend on immigrants to fill seats. Abel DeLuna, a California-based member of the veteran Mexican music association Promotores Unidos, told Billboard in 2007 that the policies alone accounted for 20% to 25% of the drop in his concert promotion business, for example.
Through Flores’s extensive reporting, she found that Trump’s policies did, in fact, have some economic and cultural impact on this sector of the music industry. The Michelada Festival in Chicago was cancelled last minute this summer, citing a “rapidly changing political climate” and “uncertainty” around artist visas. Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny announced he would not be coming to the U.S. on his next tour, citing a fear of potential Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in the crowd. Mexican-born Narcocorridos artists and Cuban acts found it hard to get visas, and stadium-level acts like “Box Office King” Julión Álvarez had visas canceled at the last minute before shows.
Related
To explain what she’s been seeing over her last nine months of reporting on the issue, Flores went on Billboard’s new music business podcast, On the Record With Kristin Robinson.
The interview can be watched in full below or listened to at this link.
To catch up on last week’s episode, which focused on how Sphere residencies are put together from booking to opening night, click here.