Jay Z hires 'King of Bachata' to tap Latin market
Jay Z has hired Romeo Santos, the superstar of bachata music, for an executive post in the rap mogul's record label as it seeks to expand in the Latin market.
Santos, the 34-year-old sex symbol who packs arenas and enjoys a massive following on YouTube, will take the position of CEO of the new Roc Nation Latin.
Jay Z said that Roc Nation, which he founded in 2008 as both a label and management company, hoped to sign new artists both in the United States and in Latin America.
"We recognize there is a huge Latin market that is part of global culture. We're proud and ready to enter into true partnership with an individual that intimately lives and knows that culture," Jay Z said in a statement late Wednesday.
Santos said he wanted to "give back" by identifying new artists and said he considered Jay Z a "visionary" as a businessman for recognizing possibilities for Latin artists.
"I am grateful for his trust and that he has seen in me an ally for all Latinos," Santos said.
With 17 percent of the US population after years of growth, Hispanics are the largest minority group in the United States.
Santos, born as was Jay Z in New York in humble circumstances, has brought a wide new audience to bachata, a danceable but often melancholy genre earlier associated with the poor in the Dominican Republic.
Stunning non-Latin observers who had never heard of him, Santos in 2014 sold out two shows at 50,000-seat Yankee Stadium in The Bronx, where he grew up.
Jay Z, whose net worth with wife Beyonce is estimated at $1 billion, has pursued a range of business interests after his success as a rapper.
In addition to Roc Nation, Jay Z is the lead owner of streaming service Tidal and owns a brand of champagne.