Yo quiero mi MTV!: Making music television for Latin

12
"Yo Quiero Mi MTV!"
M ak ing Musi c Television
for Latin Ameri ca
Robert Ha~ ke
h is chapter considers the rranvnanonalrzanon ot mustc television,
focusing on the introduction of 1\1TV J\lUSK Tele vivron In Latin
Amertca.! As part at a new transnational media order in Latin America, J\ITV Latino raises old questions about the pohtical ec onomy of music
televisio n and its impact on Latin American popular music as wel l as th e cultural identity of Latin American youth However, It is also important to con-
T
sider new communication technologies and emerging transnatio nal ne t-
works within the context of globalization (M o rley and Robbins, 1995 ) an d
to theorize music television in relation tn the process of transculruralizatron
and hybridization ( Lull, 199 5). Only with such a dual focus can we begin to
address what implications the diffusion of what Columbian -born 1\1TV Lat ino producer Raul Estupmcn calls "a new language , an M TV language" may
have fo r Latin American popular music and everyday life (q uoted in Lorcnte ,
1994 ).
To begin , I dcscnbc the development , corporate strategy. an d pro gram ming flow of this new network My descnpnon 01 the making of music te lcVision fo r Latin America highlights the netwo rk 's pan-Latin ap proach, "local.
izatio n" st rategy, and "Latin American" structure 01 [cclmg I go o n to d iSC U SS
the place of the Latin sound/vision mix within the context of Lat in Amc ri 219
22 1
Locdliol1 alld Movtllltrl t ill dx Spaces oj Popljlar /\lulie
Yo Quie ro M i MTV!
ca n po pular culture . H en: I d raw on work in Latin America n cultu ral stud ics
(Barbe ro, 199 3<1 , 199 3b ; Rowe and Schelling, 1991 ). This work o n the histo ry o f cultu ral mixing in Lati n Amer ica, alo ng side ot he r engagemen ts with
postcolonialism and world music , suggc sh th at the Latin prese nce o n MN
Latino is a margina lized yet pro duc tive local mar gin of a US·based g lobal
ne twork. - a "Latin audrovrsual space o f juxtapos ition , transculturiza tion,
and hybridi zation. In this se nse , M1V Latino might he fo rgmg a new, clectmnic landscape that may be less cultu rally homogeneous than we o fte n
assume , Formed out o f the int eracti on of ho mo gen izing and hete roge nizing
forces, MT V Latino th us con st itute s an imag inary "latin" audi ovisual space
"in whic h co mmon sounds, la nguages, syntax, mate rials and ins titutions arc
oc cupied and articulated in d iverse direct io ns" (C hambe rs, 1994: 83 ). Th is
line of reasoning puts int o question any simple linkage be tween the mo nopo lization of music televisio n, the commodification of global music culture,
the telcvisual mcdiatron of Latin po pular music , and its place in lati n Amer ican everyday Me .
the Latin margin o f th is network , which med iates a Latin ..wle of "ho ld ing
to get her he ter og enous ele me nts," may have a cultural effec tiv ity that is not
en tirely d irect ed by, no r reducible to , the logic o f worldw ide ca pitalism.
This line of inq uiry makes mapping MTV's latin be at a mo re co mplicated
task, for in this telemusical, canogrephrcally de nse space , Latin roc k and the
cultural ide nti ty o f musicians and fans take place in transie nt and tra nsnational ways .
220
8
In map ping th e Latin aud iovisual space co nstruc ted by J\.1TV Latino, my
ap proach presu pp oses that th e ..rudy of the texts and practices of MTV lat ino req uires not on ly an eye for images bu t an ea r lor music. Indeed , Berla nd
ha s cla imed that music televmon's visual images "neve r c ha llenge o r emanc ipate the mselves from their musical Ioundeuon" ( 19 9 3, 25 ); "the rhythm of
the song bot h first and pnmary, annctpates and conquers the eye" (40).
Such cl aims, butt ressed by Goodwin'.,: ( 19 92) critique o f many crit ics'
neglec t of the soundtrack, require us to ret hink earlier argumen ts about
oo suuodcm MT V. H owever abstra ct , no n narr ative, or te levisual the field o f
MTV Lati no's rep resent ation, "melody itself is a so norous lan d..cape in counter po in t to a virtua l land scape" [Deleuze and Cuatran. 199 1: 3 18).ln my riff
o n Delcuee and Guattari, the work that Laun Ame rican music ians do can be
descn be d as a "territo rial avsemb lage" of Latin styles . Wi th th eir d iffere nt
timb res , te mp os, rh yth ms, melod ies, harmo nies, arrangemen ts, ly rics ,
motifs, and cou nt erpo ints, Latin po pular music ca n be hea rd and see n to
"express the rela tion to int erior impulses or ex terio r circumstances" (3 18).
MTV Lati no's tlo w and juxtapositio ning of Ang lo and Latin sou nds and
visions no doubt participate in the movement to wards cuh ural homogen eity, bo t Latin popular music is bes t u nderstood as a fo rce t hat creates a "co n.
sohdenon o f coe xiste nce and succession: which is not homo geneou s. So as
co-motion music tele visio n, MTV Latino has differennal eco no mic e ffects
upon th e cultura l mob ility o f intern ational Anglo a nd Latin roc k. H owever,
Yo
QU IERO
MI MTVI
MTV Lati no , a J:4-hou r, Spanish -language netw ork, was launch ed o n O ctohe r I, 199 3 2 The cable serv ice is o wned by l\tTV Networks. a division o f
the ente rtainment co nglomera te Viacom Intern ational I nc "'~ The net work's
pro grammmg IS prod uce d by Pos t Edge, a prod uctio n an d satellite-signal
d rsmbunon company:' When it was lau nched , MTV Lanno was MTV N et works ' fourth global affIliate , jo ining MTV Europ e (launched 1987 ), /\t TV
Brazil ( 1990), MTV Asia ( 199 1; rela unched 1995), and MTV Japan ( 1992).
More recen tl y, MTV Networks has launc hed MTV Ma ndarin ( 1995) and
MTV Ind ia ( 1996 ).
The worldwide audience for MTV Ne two rks IS cu rre ntly estimated to be
abou t 265 .8 millio n households in 75 te rritories o n five continents . At its
lau nch, MTV Latino's esti mated audience was 1 .3 mill io n households in 2 1
"territories", b y Jun e 1996, the net wo rk claime d to reach 6.9 millio n household s Such est imates, provided by I\IT V Lat ino, do not merely reflect the
size of the actual aud ience ; they are part o f the prod uctio n o f the audi ence
commod ity th at is so ld to advertisers o f glo ba l b rand...5 The es timated aud ience for MTV Latino is very small compared to MTV US, which is available
In ove r 62 .6 million ho useh old s, and MTV Europe, which is availa ble in
53 .6 million households Nonetheless. MTV Latino quickly establishe d
itself. By Oc to be r 1994, MTV Lanno was re ported to he the number o ne
cable netwo rk in So uth America (Faio la, 1994h ).6
MTV Leuno is d oanbuted via satclbre rep or tedl y to eve ry So uth America n country. Brazil, ho weve r, IS the territory of MTV Braz il, a portuguese language network based III Sao Paulo and hos ted by Brazilian V) s th at is esti mated to reac h more than 14 millio n households . MTV Lat ino is also not
available in Cuba, and there are no plan,> for di..mbunon th ere until "C astro's
go ne , o r when it's politically correct to be there" (Friend, 19 94). As a for -
222
Location and Movemmt in the Spam oj Popular MU5ic
Yo Quiero M i MTV!
eig n-o wned cabl e service, th e network d oes nut have to deal with go vernmen t regulatio ns, except in Mexico? In some countr ies, like Ecuador, MTV
Lat ino is also offered by broadcast stat ions th at pay for th e prog rammin g;
ho weve r, MTV Lati no's reach is primarily depe ndent on the d iffusio n of
cable tele vision in the regio n." In the U S, MTV Lat ino is carried by cable
o pera to rs in Miam i Beach and H ialeah , Florida . Furth er US dist ribution is
limited to nin e c ab le syste ms in sout he rn California , an d one in Boston , but
ot her cable oper ator s, such as Tucson Cablevisio n, have bee n add ing the
net wo rk to attract new ca ble subscribe rs (Saralegui, 1994 ).
Sara Levinson , an execut ive vice preside nt of MTV U S who was
involved in the planning of MTV Latin o, also emphas izes a cultura l facto r
in the locat ion of the net work's headq uarte rs. "M iami seeme d to be very
much a music and cultural ce nter for Lat in Ame rica and the U S.... The stu.
die co uld be anyw here in so me re mote area in th e world, and yo u wou ld
never know whe re we were bro adcast ing fro m. But we often go outside the
studio, and we felt yo u could find a lot of th e Latin culture right in th e
streets of Mia mi" (quo ted in Rodr iguez, 199 3b). In addition to this connection to the pan-Lan nity of the Mi ami streets, Ric hard Arroyo, net work pres.
ide nt, observes that "South Beach was a com patible place, It kin d o f captu res
th e trendy, hip culture tha t we're in touch with" (q uo ted in Lo rc nte, 1994 ).
Since the telev ision sho w Miami Vic( first appeared in 1984 , Sou th Miami
Beach and the Art D eco dist rict ha ve become a ce nte r for the inte rnatio nal
fashio n indust ry. MTV Latino's connection to this culture industry is visible
in the mix of desig ne r, funky and vintage fashions worn by MTV VJs, pro vide d in exchange for on-air fashion c redits .
N etwork revenues are der ived from sales to pan regio nal advert isers of
g lobal brands and affiliate salesY At its lau nc h, C oca-C o la and Everkeadv
were th e o nly "c harter" adver tisers; by 1995 the netwo rk had contracts with
over .~o advert isers, includin g Kodak, IBM, Budwe iser, L A. Gea r, MasterCard, Nik c , Philips Elect ro nics, Warn e r Bro thers, Sony, an d M iller (W hite field, 1995c ).
MTV Latin o is t>.-1TV's o nly globa l affiliate base d in th e U nited States.
Miam i was chosen as its head q uart ers because it is both a transfer po int
between many cap ital cities in Latin America and close to MT V US in New
York , which pro vided "leverage" and talen t in launching the service (Frie nd,
1994 ). Tak ing adva ntage uf "sy nergy" in a gcoec o no rntc sense was another
reason 10 Wh ile synergy may o pera te between the various divisions of a
co nglomerate like Vracom Inte rnatio nal Inc , th ere are alsu be nefits to the
media firm that are believed to accrue from be ing located in close prox imity to other med ia industry firms, such as tale nt agenc ies, record ing studios ,
adve rtising agencies, o r Spa nish -language televisio n networks. Sou th Florida has continue d to de velo p a television an d film product ion infrastructure
th at woul d make Miami the nonuni onized "H o llywood" o f Latin Amer ica
(Arrarte, 1994; W hitefield, 1995b; Bell. 1996). In recen t years, many major
reco rd labels with Latin music o pe rations have esta blished Miam i as a
national a nd internat iona l production ce nter for Latin popular music Five
major recordi ng labels (So ny, Wa rner, BM C , EI\1l, and Pol yG ram), multina tional labels Fo novrsa and Rod ven , and a num ber of independe nt labels
(Karen, Biscay ne Europ a, M PI, Cubaney , and Velvet ) are located in M iami
(Tarradell, 199 3). Finally, a conside ration for th e Talent a nd Artist Relati ons
dep artm ent was pro ximity to Latin American popular music stars, espe cially
those who visit Miami du ring concert tour s.
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P UrriN G THE " PAN- LAT IN" CONCEPT INTO PRACTICE
Mf'V Latino is building on the "pan-Euro pean" co ncept deve lope d for MTV
Euro pe. In the case of MTV Europe , where the relation ship betwe en music
telev ision an d tram national ad ve rtising was first developed, one major problem was "that Euro pean you th is not a homoge neous ent ity, and [MTV'sJ aim
must rhe refo re be to com b ine glo bal market ing with target ing regional con sumers " (Sturmer, 199 3 52 ). T he largest pan- European adver tisers (CocaCola, Levi-St rauss , ct c.) turned to rock 'n' roll as an "intern atio nal lan gua ge"
in order to overcome lingu istic and cul tural "barriers," In this way, advertisers began to pursue the Europ ean yo uth audience, and to use music television to constitute po p audiences as a social grou p wh ose "lifesty le" was
expressed th ro ugh rock sounds, stars, and styles (Frith, 199 3).
In the Euro pean tes ting g round for MTV .as-world network , MTV exec utives were co nce rned about possib le accusations of "cultural imperialism";
thus, J\ITV's international operating maxim became 'Th ink globally, act
locally ." According to W illiam Roedv, Londo n-based president of MTV
Netwo rks' intern atio nal o pe rations, MTV Europ e was 80 percent American
or Brit ish music when it began; but by 1995, when the network began to
turn a pro fit, Reedy wou ld claim the programming was 80 percent "loc al
224
Loca tio" and MOVtmw l ill tbt Spam oj POPUllH Alu!;c
Yo Quiero Mi f\IT V!
Euro pean." As Roedy sums up the operating logic: ~ i t's not like McDonal d's
o r one-size- firs all. Really, I t ~ th e anti th es is of homogene ity" (quo ted in
Whi tefiel d, 199501). In this way, M1V could enter the new, tran ..nanonahz109 media or der of Europe as a stateless rransnanonal co rporation, bypassIng bot h historical fears about "Americanizatio n" and debates about the role
that telev ision would have in lorging a d rstmcuvc European identity in a
transn arion ahzmg Euro pe- (see Morley and Robbi ns 1995 ).
interna tio nal discourse through and about musica l and nonmusical co nsumer
goods (Le iss, Khn e. and Jhall y, 1990 ).
f\I1V Lat ino represents a n extension of t his global stra tegy into the
Latin Americ an context . Whi le MTV Lanno is based in the Uni ted States,
and H ispanics repr esent a g ro wi n ~ proportion of th e US po pulat ion , distr ibution to U S cable operators has been a low priority, rather, "the net wo rk
was established to capture th e ,L: TOwth of Latin America" (Arroyo q uoted in
Lorcn te, 1994). T he lack of atte ntio n to the US Hispumc market i ~ also d ue
to two add ition al factors: recent fede ral cable regulati o ns placing limits on
rates have made the US marke t less lucr ative and almos t all US househ olds
With cab le alrea dy rec e ive MTV U S (Banks, 1995 ). Second, Within the net work's pan -Latin strategy, th ere is much mo re attention to Mexico and
Argentina th an any other countries in th e region . The..c two cou nt ries are
no t o nly where the majoruv 01 t\ 11V Latino's current vicwcrs live, but they
have also develo ped their own Laun pop/rock tradi tion" and represent the
larges t markets for thiS form of popular music. I I
M1V Latino, like m other global affiliates , alms to appeal to viewers
from 12 to 34. The network clearly seeks to add ress and construct its young
Lat in Ame rican viewers as co nsumers . As Frien d ( 1994) elaborates : ~ ... they
want Levis jeans and they want Reebok sneakers They want the global
brands th at are big and It son of gives th e tee n cultu re It" ow n ide nt ity. But
teem te nd to loo k to Amcnca to set the tren ds, and we are sort of the voice
of the MTV gc ncra no n. o f the teen generauon." In thi" statement, the locus
of cultural Identity app ears to be completely c ircumscrihed by global marke ting int erests 12 Whatever soc iocul tural o r historical differences th e re
may be between geographi cally dis persed Lat rn youth , "the re arc thin gs th e
audience shares in term s of their co nce rns and feelings th at link th em to a
ge nerat ion" (Levinson q uo ted in Srlvcr, 199 3). MTV Networks' searc h for
Latin youth, as a transnation al segment, thus involves the effort to def ine the
sociocultural men tality of thi s "generatio n," to give them a "voice," and to
help def ine th e ir desires and sense 01 well-be ing o r satisfactio n through a n
225
Pro gramming a transnatio nal music television network. to fulf ill th ese
com mercial ambi tions en tails a strategy 01 "localizanon" As To m H unt er
exp lains: "W111 le we have a huge advantage of a com mon language, the
diversi ty withi n th e territories we're talking about - I mean , just in So uth
America, there arc so man y differe nces, and the n yo u throw in Ce ntral
Ame rican co unt ries and the Ca ribbean countnes. and th e US H ispanic market, and you have a huge, wide range of experience'> and tastes and app eals.
Putt ing all that together is o ne of our greatest challenges , but it's no t a mat ter of hn dmg the lowest co mmo n den om inato r It you're gon na do that , th en
you really co uld do o nly o ne MTV for th e wh ole world , We think that localizatio n is every th ing" (q uoted in Rod ng uca, 1 9 9 .~ h ) .
H o w, then, docs MTV Lat ino try to establish a prese nce in , and be a part
of, local Latin Ame rican culture) We ca n bcgm to add ress this ques tio n by
exa mining how the ne two rk reaches int o th e loc al throug h its prod uct io n
and progr amming pract ices, These inclu de seg me nts shot o n locatio n from
South Beach, Miami ; a dally vie.....er request program ( Con(Xion MT V), during
which excerpts from viewers' letters are read , spec ials taped in Argentina,
C hile , Colombia , Ecuador, MexICO, Peru, Venezuela, and U ruguay; o r programs devoted exclusively to videos by lesser-known ac ts th at are po pular in
a part icular country. In rnuctc prograrnrmng, the playlists 0 1local roc k radio
stations 10 Laun America are continually reviewed In music videos, a local
sense may be expressed by iconographic elements that signify particular
cities o r landsca pes. In no nmusic programm ing. Au/aoJ (O utside) and S(molnol
Rock (Rock Wee k) highlight Latin American places or news.....o rthy eve nts.
Playa MTV - a sene, be ing developed to present the best beac hes in Latin
America - presents these places in Latin Amer ic a as sites of internatio nal
tourism and lel\ure. As the networ k "regio nalizes" its prog ramm ing , there are
plans to de velop more progra mming devot ed to local contests, eve nts, and
special s (e g., Ski MTV )
At the same time, the meani ng of "local" is no t without bo undaries that
limit MTV Latino's menu of music videos Smce the majo rity of the net work's cur rent viewers arc in Mexico and Arge nt ina, more att ention is paid
to local music ta,>tes and markets in these counrnes. As far as local popular
226
Yo Q uiero J\1i MT V!
22 7
music in f\bam i 1\ co ncerned, the most com mo n complaint is that MTV
Lat inu', cclcc uo n o! Latin music video clips exclu des one of the most po pular, and local musics of all - salsa - even though salsa music video, arc av ail.
ab le.
ma ke an e ffort - wel l, yes we do go in there with G um N' Roses
and Aerosmit h and th ose ban ds - we make an effo rt to find ou t
what's 1I;0mll: un loc ally With the loc al music. It's no t just . . . i\nV
U S Imported
He re it is important to no te tha t "'lTV Latino ha.. defended It S rano of
about 80 percent Anglo to 20 percent Latm videos as be mg due to the ..mall
pool o f lat in videos to c hoos e from . But Latin music indus try exccunvc-,
have bee n c nucal 01 t hiS rati o and th e netw ork's pop-rock form ula (Lannert,
1 99~ ) . Since Spa nish . la n~ua/o(e arti sts comprise ab out 60 percen t 01 album
sales tor most record co mpa nies 10 lat in America , Francrco Ni et o , re gional
Such state men ts ech o MTY Lann o prom o tional spots enjoinmg its aud ie nce
to "Th ink globally, act locall y." The ro le an nb uted to popular music is the
decisive link between the global and th e local. hut the net work's rhetoric
rests upon th e assu mpnon that Anll;lo music is mo re ' u nive rsal" than latin
music . ~ITV Launos co mmitme nt to "local" Lann American popular music
would be a sou rce 01 new, and d. Itcrcn r, sou nds . at the same time, MTY's
fo rmat co nctruc t-, a mo re ho mog e neou s global VIsion. One MTY latino network 10 seg ment . a co llage 01 sounds occurring at the same t ime 10 different places (Mo sco w luhhock , N airobi . Tok yo , etc ) proclaims "O ne Sound,
One li me , One Place." Another ID segme nt anc hors its stre am of images
with t he: ..loga n 'O ne \\;'orld, O ne Image, O ne C hannel."
mana geme nt director o t Er..t l Muvic Intern atio nal latin Amer ica, a....ertc that
"th iS Ind 'Glles th at the netwo rk should br oaden its musical I mt'u r~ (q uo ted
In Lan nen , 1994 ). Obviously, "loc ahz anon" in th e selection ot music videos
mvolvcs MTV latino\ dehrunon a t "hip" Latin Amencan pop-r oc k - a def mmon th at , at lea~t m th e bel-:"mn ing , somewhat confhctc WIt h record com .
oamcs' mterest in market ln):: calca, merengue and o ther regional genrcs
According to Bapnvrc ( 199 6), the po o l o f Latin videos th e network ..elects
tro m ha-, inc reased , vo th at by june 1996, latin vldens were esti mated to
co mp rise about 35- 40 percent 0 1 the total. Despite thiS mcrea se , the mUSI.
cal hn cup co ntinue.. to emphasize Larm pop-rock mUSIc.
H ow the n doe.. a "alobal" form at like M1V Launo clai m to provid e po pular and cu lturally rele van t "loc al" offeno~s i' .".IT V Latino "ad hc res to th e
overa ll sty le, prograrnrtung phi losophy, and iotegrity of th e J\lTV trad emark
wh ile: prom cung loc al cult ural tastes an d mus ical talent" (J\IT V Mu..ic Tcle ,
VIsion Gl ob al Fact Sheet ). A<; Fnend ( 199-1) ela bora tes
th e form at" ulohal aft er th at is everyrlung is lo cal. The o nly
reason why the format is g lobal is bccau-a- . music transcend..
cul ture It trans cends Just about every socioeconomic bou ndary
o r nic he you can find . So mUSIC is sort o f a un iversal l al1 ~ u a g e
and we arc a music channel hrvt and forem o st, in spuc of what
you read . That's the glohal position and th at I'lves uv glo bal
stre ng th , obvio usly, in doing any type of global promotions or
global tie -ins Obvi ou sly, the music video music awards is a gloh a! eve nt now an d that's something tha t's fed to all the athhatc..
We can htc rolly reach all o t o ur subsc nbership with th iS on e
evcn t.;. l thmk wha t dlst inguishcs us on the lo cal side is that we
In March 191J6, MTY Net works In ternat io nal an nounced a new stage in
ItS intematron al d evelo pment , one th at sug~ests a limit to MTV's pan- Laun
ambmons Accordmg to Bill Re ed y, "J\ITV ha s be e n a great u nifier. Our
resea rch sh ow s th at yo ung people like to he ar about o th e r cou ntries. travel
more th an th eir parent s and are much more o pen -minded . Still, t here's a
tremendous passio n for cult ural drversuy" (Reed y qu oted in Whi tef ield ,
1996b ) Acc ordingl y, the network plan s to "regro naliz c" its prog ramming
model in Europe, Asia and Latin Amcnce b y crcann g new local pro du ction
ce nters, unlizmg mo re rq.~io n al talent and Vls , and "lo caliz ing" olevhsrs.
D ig ital comp ress io n tec hnology and an Inc rease d supp ly of satellite
transponders e nables an affiliate to mamtam a core of interna tional and pan reg ional p rogra rnrnmg and to prov ide more local o fferings . 13 H owever,
Re ed y also acknowledge, that rcuionah aanon will b ring each affiliate closer to part icular regional and nauona l market" So, on June I , 1996 , MTV
Latino bega n the prolC"" 01 ' p l l tt i n ~ Into a northe rn service based in M exico C ity, providing progrnmnung tailore d to Mexico, Central America, and
the Ca ribbean , an d a southern vcrvrc c . based in Bue nos Aires, whi ch will
focus on South Amcnca As Bcpnst e ( 1996 ) comme nts : "O ne o f our initial
goa ls was to unite the area 111 mus ic a.. much as possible . Wc 've acc omplished
tha t with some th ings wlulc al..o uncovering the d ifferen ccs between the
two markets. So metimes It's a qucvuon of timin g, somet imes it'o;. a qu esti on
of taste, so me times It'S a question 01cult urali oflue oces. And thi s just pe rmi ts
228
Locatioll al1d Movement
III
the Spaces of Popul.u A1usic
us to go in there and, instead of trying to make the who le area one .. _, J think
t he ded ication to rea lly com ing up with programming t ha t works - mo re tar-
geted - is even a better idea" So MTV Latino moves into the futu re by
recovering the original meani ng o f market ing, refining its ran-Lat in programm ing mod el to adapt to regio nal t ime zones an d to provide a te lcvisu-
al environmen t that would also attract advertisers bound by nat ional creative
l ice ns ing agree men ts or whose budgets arc allocate d to ac h iev ing regional
advert ising goals. 14 Goodwin ( 1992) has suggested that I'I.'I TV US, in order
to successfully d el ive r vie we rs to advertisers an d record companies, "must
promo te countercultural and antiestablishmen t po ints of view" ( 154). T h is is
not the place to assess the polincal stance of MfV Latin o ; it must suffice to
say that the cen tr al issue is not "counrcrcultural" c re d ibility but how to program a credible Latin structure of feeling and sou nd/vision mix - one tha t
allows for yo ung viewers to iden t ify with Latin American Vjs and rock stars
PRO GRAMM IN G T HE "L AT IN A MERICAN " F EEL
One of the obvious ways in which l\1TV Latino constructs an imaginary
"Lati n America" is by employi ng Span ish-s peak ing VJs T h e origin al VJs
were 25-year-old Alfredo Lewin . fro m Sant iago, Ch ile, 24-year-old Ruth
Infarinato , from Bue nos Aires , Argentina, and 27 .year-old Gonzalo Morales,
from Mexico. Cuba n Ame rican D aisy Fuent es hosts Top 20 MTV, as we ll as
cohosttng MT V US programs like Bfl-lch AtTV and Rock N· .lock , making h er
the only VJ who ap pears o n both networks. 15
A sign on one of the MTV Latino sets reads, "Span ish Spoken H ere . Se
H abla Espasol." MTV Lat ino VJs arc not re qu ired to ch ange th e inflection
of the ir native dialects, although the re is an effort to avoid id io ms that could
be co nfusing or obscene in other parts of Lat in America . T he VJs use Spanish to int roduce videos; ho wever, whe n speaki ng to Anglo guests, th ey usc
Eng lish, an d Spanish subti tles are added , since a large percentage of MTV
Latino's v iewe rs arc assumed to speak Eng lish.
Wh ile Lat in music videos are inte rspe rsed throughout the m usic programming schedule, the network's Latin music feel is most strongly
ex pressed in shows like /11 Situ, a o ne-hour program of "all the Latin m usic
th at yo u ca n ask for," an d Raisol1ica, a twice-weekly half- hou r program devoted to rock CI1 tspaiiol. 16 The promotional spot for 111 SHu an nou nces that th is
pa rt icular pro gram is MTV Latino's ans wer to the dilem ma o f tr aditio nal and
Yo Q uiero Mi MTVI
229
m ode rn so und s o f Latin music. Du ring /11 Silu, Lat in music th at may not go
into "he avy rota t io n" w ill ap pear , includ ing the occasional sa lsa or mer en gue
music vid eo. 17
C omparing MTV Lati no 's programmi ng grid for Ju ne 27-J uly 3, 1994, to
the grids for June 199 6 , we get a better idea o f the net work's prog ram ming
flow at th ese two poi nt s in the net work's d evel o pme nt , The former pro gramm ing flow resembl es MTV US d uring th e first stage of its his to ry,
w h ich was b uilt upon narro wcas ting and flow. H ow ever, it is ev ide n t th e lat te r tha t MTV Latin o is not just a 24 -h our flow o f music videos, bu t th at it
exh ib its the "dayparting" and "strip ping" prac tices tha t 1\1T V US turned to
in 19 88 (G o odw in, 1992 ). Regular programs incl uded (,,"eXiol MTV ("Mo st
W anted" vid eos); Hwdbm-tgm (h ard rock an d heavy met al ); /11 Sllu, Lado B,
MTV Claslco ("class ic" music videos ), Rodummlal t'Rocumentary"], Top 20
MTV (To p 20 video countdo wn ], Ull pluggra (racousuc" co ncert series) ; an d
XPO (premieres of new videos and new acts), By mid - 1996 , the sc hedu le
also inc luded AuJna (a d aily "road tri p" throu g h Latin America ), Fashiol1 MTV ,
Guslock (coo king an d video show hosted by rocker Fab ian Q u intero ), Hora
Pnma {spotlight ing live perfo rman ces fro m MTV Lat ino's stud ios, as we ll as
interviews, news, sports }, Alaslwnix (dance music ), N<l(l611 Alttmarlva {"alter nauve" music from es ta blished and brea k ing bands}, Ralzollica (rock til tspaiiol
from "underground" and esra bhshe d gro ups) , Srmm1<l Rock (weekly news and
re ports on music, pop cu lture , fashion, concert to urs , "up-and-com ing"
ba nds, po litics , movies. and socia l issues ), and Top Trn US (b est o f MTV's To p
20 fro m the U nited States ),
MT V Latino's play list would be fami liar to N o rth Amer ica n viewe rs o f
MTV U S, but it is no t a rep licat ion o f the MTV U S playlis t . Gabriel Baptiste, di rec tor of music programming, report s that 4 5- 50 perce nt o f th e
playlist is in fluenced b y U S charts, 25 perce nt is in fluenced by European
charts, and 25 perce nt is influenced by releases in Latin Ame rican market s
(Baptiste, 1994 ). The network's musica l emphasis is o n rock, Ang lo -Ameri ca n and Western European performers, "superstars " like Bon jovi , Mad on na,
and Aerosmi th, or internat io nal sta rs like Green D ay, Red H o t Chili Pep pers, or Ace of Base . As for the predomi nance o f Angl o performers, Bapti ste
( 1994) explains, "I th ink the one thing that the re's perhaps a m isconception
about is tha t it wo uld h e a lot mo re Spanish than it is, bu t th e problem tha t
we have is th at the international stuff _ th e Gu ns N ' Roses, N irvana - is the
glue that h ol ds the whole reg io n together. There's a com mo n d eno m inator
230
there m terms o f rock radi o . They're playin g th ose ani' h , The thing tha t ha s
not sp read from o ne place to an other arc the aruvr s fro m anyone part icu lar
coun try Like Argen tina , the an ists ha ve trad itio nally no t got te n a lo t of pla y
in r-IcXKO, and vice ve rsa " Salsa and me rengue. w lule un mensclv po pul ar
fo rm.. of Lann musi c , are reg arded a.. mcompauble .....uh .'lT V Lallnu'\ core
cou nd A<; Baptist e ( 1994) e xplain.. 'The problem is th at it c1a,hc-v w nh w hat
h:nd'> to be th e unifyinl<{ factor there , ",'h lCh is N irva na and C uo .. N ' Roses
and Ace of Basc Ac rosrnnh lo r exa mple . I me an . .yo u can't go from an
Acrosm uh, wh ich i\ really the ce nte r o f the c h an nel, to meren gue o r sa lsa.
and e xpec t not to have a train wreck " S mula rly , there I" very hule AfroC an h bean p resence in the mU\ IC programmmg , e ve n tho ugh m us ic vide o ,
by UB40 an d Big Mountain arc presented . a.. well as Bob or ZI~Io:Y Marley
Ac cordmg to Baptiste, 1\ITV Latin o would program mort: reg,l(ae "hut the
video'> arc '0 atrocious" and "they're not the cen ter 01 ancntion 01 powerful ,
to p -rate d radio stanon," ( 19 9 4),
In lilo:ht ot th ese exclusio ns. It a ppca rv that particular Latin mu vic ian s and
arc ge tti ng he avy ro t unon and bcg mnmg to tYPIfy MTV Latino 's
V I.. IOO o t pan -Lann popular mU\ IC These are grou ps hkc 1\1ano N eg ra
(w h ich h rvr gamed inte m a no na l ex po..ure th rough MTV Euro pe ), 1.0\ Fah ulo..m. Cadillacc, Lo , Per KO'> , and Sod a Stereo fro m A r~e nt ma ; La Lcs, Los
Tre\ , and l.ucvbell fro m Chile; L o-, Cad anes , C aic Tacuba and ~ Ia na lro m
MexKo ; Los Aterciopelados lro m Colombia; or Heroc.. del Srleoc:o and
Marta Sanchez tro m Sporn . /\1m ! n t t hese g roups and pe rformers arc on
major rec ord labels . Bapn ..te al\fl oh..e rves that band.. Ilkc Paralamas from
Braz tl are: vel)' bIg in A rgcn nne ..0 thai "II you take somebodv lrom ourst de
tbc rcgro n . you have a better chance 01 mak ing them wor k auO\\ borders
tha n eorn ebodv ",'ho'~ msid.... th e region" {Ha pncte, 19 9 4 l. 17 So while t'>11V
Lau no ma y gIVe US, UK , or we stern European- based perf o rmers the abiluy
10 penetra te Lat in Arm-nca musrc markets, it a!..o otter , l.a nn pe rfo rme rs
so me capac:ity to penetra te m to th t, everyday Ide ot yo un g Lat in Amt:ric,lIh
\1I1,1(t:T\
It i,> nol po\\i hk tnr me to o ffer textual or ethnomll\icoloHical analy\i\
o f Latin OlU\1C Video clips here, hu t ha..ed upon my vie..... in~ of pro~ ram ming
fro m June 19'J4 and April 1990, I <.:an o ller a lew ob ~e rv at io n\ . The vast
ma lo nty III LatlO mu sic videos Icalun: male pertormt:rs and all · ma le hands.
Vidc()<, lea tuTlng !ema le perlormel"'> and smgel"'> (c .g, Alajand ra Cuzman ,
C t'c llla Tom\ an t, Claudia PUYOI . Mana Sa nchez, So raya ) are: d irec tt:d by
men . As one mi~ht expect, love: and ma le -Iemalt: rdat lOmhips are a stan d ard
Yo Qui ero I\ li l\11V!
23 1
rhcme, it is also evident that so me m usic: videos em ploy th e codes and conve nnons fo r rc pre xc nn ng wom en as part o f an ad olc..cent male "d reamwo rld "
(..cc jhally, 199 5). There is a ran ge o f moods . th cme... an d styles, but there
I" a tendency towards pe rfo rm ance-cente red choreogra phy, mtercut with a
pa stiche 01 Images th at emphasi ze the central pe rfo rme r. The visual sty le
may ran ge from soc ial real!..m 10 romanticism to su rreal ism or parody. While
ma ny Latin videos fea ture urb an setti ngs , some h ave fea tured perf ormers in
natur e setti n g~ , rn tcrc utt mg \ ho l<; 01 performers With panoramic sh ots o f the
landscape .
A tew musi c vrde o-, In the Lann mix have vxprvv..cd vocropcli nc al themes
o r can he see n to addrc.... ..pcc tfrcally Latin Amcncan rvsucs. Ma no Ne gra 's
"F.1 Senor Mata nza" (M r. Killer), one of MTV Latln o'\ nomi nees to r Latin
Video ot the Year, 1\ a cacc in poin t , Shot sur rcp nnou ..lv in Bogota, it is set
10 the c uy's main ..q uare, and is composed o f sh ot.. of Ind ian and African
ch ild re n, urb an adult migrants, and the central perf ormer, juxta po sed with
..hots of pare -rr uluerv fo rce s T he video fo r "Matad o r," by Los Fabulosos
C adrllac s. "is dehmtelv ad dr escm g the same k ind 01situauo n as a (EI) Se no r
.\ Iata nz a, a t som e ot the people wh o were killed and dis appeared in the
Arg cn nn c vrtuano n" {Hap ncte, 1994 ). Even wh en mucic video.. do no t speed really reterence Lat in Ame rica n pchncal affairs, th e co ntem po rary urban life
o f Laun Ameri can ci tle\ comprises the m ise -e n -scene of so me music vide os
Fo r e xam ple , the VIdeo for :;0 1 1O~ by M ald ua Veci ndad (bad or cursed
neig hborhood) an d l os Hues D el 5to Pat io mte rcuis concert footage .....ith
scenes o f neigh borhood street 111e.
A mo re deta iled an aly,>is of the Latin music video texts remains to be
done ; It d ocs appear. however, that so me directors who have ado pted th e
visual aes th euc o j M1V ha ve nut had thei r cr ea tivity stult ified. Nor does it
mean tha t muvn, vid eo .. k alUrinJo: Lat in ro ck ~ tars ca nno t serve as a vehicle
for popula r memory, an cxpre....ion 0 1soc ial con\cio usness, Dr as a means o t
or/o:anl zing popular ple a..ure\ and/or de"lre.. lndt:ed , the rapid ed it ing
rhythm may IOhlhlt any preferred decoding 01 tht: ,> Iream o f visua l images,
the reby pn vilegi ng mu,",c, no i\ e , and co -motion over lin ear narrati viza tio o
and closurc . A.. Walter RenJam Hl , rcHecr ing o n th e Da daist qu alit y of motio n
p il.:turt:s, wrote, 'The \ peCIJtor's proces\ of as\ociation in vie w of th ese
images is indeed IOtermpted by their co m tant, \udde n c ha nge" (Be njamin,
1969, 138 ). Latin rh yth ms and ~ Iylt:\ thus pro vide a so noro us counterpoint
to, and fou ndatio n for . th l' tragme nted tlo w o f images.
232
Yo Quiero 1\11 I\-ITV!
B EYO ND T ilE REFRAIN
For all of the ambiguities and contradictio ns that appear In Impleme nti ng a
~.trategy 01 "locahzanon," it appears that I\\1V Launc serves ma inly as a
ve hicle lor prom ot ing U S. U K, and weste rn European mternauonal roc k
muvrc an d as a one-way vec tor of trans national adverusmg ca m paigm . Fro m
the perspecnvc 01 US polit ical economy, it has been argue d that t.. ITV Net works' ncar-mono poly o n music televisio n and ih prog remmmg emph asis
may "mtcnctty the one way flow of music and po pular cultu re from these
Wc\le rn nations to other countries, eclipsmg and margmal,zlOg rndtgenous
music" (Banks, 1995: 43). Bank.. ( 1995) concludes tha t "I\IT V'.. prog ramming
.s pe rme ated by a releru le.... coru merciahsm that attcmpt-, to nu rtu re internati o nal youth culture ba sed o n iclloals of concumc nv rn contributing to an
crocion of ind igenous cu lture, values, traditions" (4 9) In thi \ refrain , MTV
l.auno d oes not ap pear to ar ticulate With anything o ther than co nsu mer cul.
tu n: an d conscrousnevs. The new language o t I\ITVoeven It it spe aks or <;i ng s
in the nat ive to ngue , i... reg arde d a\ the sa me ol d rrnpcnaliaing o ne , producing a convergence 0 1 mterna nonal musical taste th at ma rg inali zes Latin
mU<;IC. or st andardizes rock (II (Ip" liol as a ...egmcnr wrrhrn a homogeneous
mt crnatrona] style of popular m U\ IC.
One could easrly extend thl\ general argument h y dra ....·lI1g upon Attali\
( 199 2) hisronca] an alvs is 0 1 the production of \'{'estern music, and contend
that l\I1V is an ex tencion 0 1 the rec o rding tcchnol ogre.. that made the m ass
product ion and consumpnon o i muvrcal commoditi es po<,<,iole .ln the "age 01
repeunon," ,'-lTV opera tes 01\ a tclcvrv ual model tor rephcanon - "th e mold
WIthin w hic h re prod uct io n and re pe tit io n ta ke ...hape" (At tall , 1992 : 118 ). A..
a form of musical rep roducnon and repeti tion . l\lTV Lat ino functions as a
mode of accom modanng latin po pular music to the co nt rol of Wa rne r,
So ny, MCA, BMG, EM !, and Po lygram {see Burnett . 19( 6) , In thi.. ge ne ral
argu ment, th e mo lding 0 1 mus ic and musi ci ans accordmg to th e log ic 01
commod ification and ideol ogi cal normaliz at ion result s in a homogeni zed ,
EUTU .America.nized po pular music cu ltu re , eve n th ough th e prof its from
these perf orm ers now flo w to U S, j apcnc... c, We..t Germa n, D utch o r British
vroc kholdc r-, Along with th e l os~ 01 m usical variety, the cornmodrfrcano n o f
musica l d esires and pleasur e re"lIlts in silence, fo r people only "hear the noi \es of commodities in to whi ch th eir imag inary is collectively channeled ,
w he re thei r dream s o l ..oci ali ty and transcende nce dw ell" (An alI, 199 2: 12 2 )_
It is undeniable that MTV Latino represents and re produces a po pular
music culture that no longer means what
ell/lllr"
popll l"r me ans in Spa nish or
233
Portuguese, which IS the "cult ure of the people" (Lull, 199 5, 72 ). At th e same
time , the inadequacies o f the cu ltu ra l nn pe n ahsm thesis (see Tomhnson,
1991 ) With re ference to popular music (sec Laing, 19 86; Good....-in and Core ,
1990 ; Robmcon , Buck , and Cuthbert, 199 1) have become appa rent. It see ms
to me , the refo re, that the questio n of r..ITV Lanno'.. cultu ral cflecnvuy must
move beyond th e cultural im pe nahsrn re frai n, With II<; te ndency towards
reducno mvm, ethnocen rricism, and Ietah..m. Fo r 111 thIS re frain, all cult ural
tlow between the transna tional corporation and th e nat ional are o ne -way
and a ny h isto ry 0 1 cultu ral mixing is e ithe r dis rega rded or only regard ed as
a fo rm ot desecrat ion or dcformanon o t some authen tic , ind ige no us m usic al
fo rm . Recent work o n worl d music reveal... jtl\t ho w problematic such a
standpo int O il au the nt ici ty ha s become (sec Davies, J 99 .~ j Barret t , 1996; Erl,
mann, 1996 ); in th e de- and ret emtonahaanon 0 1 musical styles and ge nres
co m posing popula r music today, there is no singula r mom ent of aut hen ticity in te rms of sound . mstrumc nta no n. or IYTIcs (D aVies, 199 3).
In the Laun Amcncan contex t . t he cult ura l im perialism ref rain ignores
the lustoncal specif icity 01 the consntunon 01 the "po pul ar" and the com plex
and ambrgucus rclanonvhrp bet ween popular das~s and m ass cultu re. To
usc Barbero'.. ( 1 99.~ b) ....'ordv, "I\- Ia<;s culture doe.. not occupy a single position
in a system 01 ..oc ial da\\e\. out simultaneously e mb races heteroge neous
practices and product-, 19 ). H isto rically. popular cultu res in Lann America
have had an "m tcrpe m-rranv e relanonchrp" WIth mass culture, so the space o f
the popular I.. o ne 0 1 drvpcrscd Sites , rather than a homoge nous space o f
Euro pe an , bourgcor, hegemony. or US capnahst hegemony. As Rowe and
Schell ing ( 199 1) al..o observe , "Almo...t all cultures In Latin America are now
medi at ed to some ex te nt by th e City, bot h 111 the se n..e of the ma ssihcancn
o f social ph e no menon and 01 the communicati on tec h nologies wh ich ma ke
it possible" (9 7), So wu hm an m tem auonah am g . ncoh bera l Latin Ame rican
poli tical contex t the Laun urban popular IS a complex site of h ybridiza tio n
and dctc rru o nnlrzauon 111 whi ch cultural forms ca n be "separated from exis t ing pract ices," and rccomhmed "with new to nu s in new prac tices ," and ca n
be transla ted (i c., travel) trom o ne locat ion to another. So whi le MTV N etworks' cxpanvion beyond th e U nit ed 5 ta.tes h a. ~ been read as a "sy m pto m o f
an expanding American media wo rld order" (G oo dw in, 1992 : 179 ), fro m the
pe rspect ive of th e <:n ntIJ1UOUS histo ry of tra nsculturiz ation . it beco mes problema tic to descnbc the cultural im pact 0 1 MTV Latino o nly in terms of a
na tional d isc ou rse 01 Imposition and avsumed acculturati o n to US consumer
cu lture. This di sreg ard.. the process o f "m a\\ i f. c a t l on~ 3<, wel l as Latin fo rms
of social modernity. Notwnh..rand m g th e economic facts o f the Latin AmerW
(
2H
Loca/,o"
,md M outlll ffl /, n /h( Spam
of Pop14 l", Al14S1c
ican gcoeconomv, it becomes pro b le matic to see th e e lfCl.:h of o ne -way tlow
01 Anelo -Ecro.Arnencan popular music as a di splace ment o r de gradati on o f
indigenous latin mu sic wh en
ffl tsf'>lIi ol, a tr adr no n Invented in the 1960s
In response to imported American roc k 'n' roll , i<; an mdrg emaed [orrn of
popular music.
,,,,k
The cultural et fccnvrtv of MTV Lat ino will rema in an open q uestio n
u ntil the d ynamics 01 MTV Latin o's uses and interpretanon.. arc mvesngar.
ed Beyo nd the mcdracenrnc framework of re ception enal y..... , Barbero calls
our atte ntio n to the places of "me drano n." suc h a<; eve ryd ay family life ,
"where the social ma terialization and the cultural cxpn-...vion 0 1 telev ision are
del imited and conf igured" (Barbero , 199 3.1: 2 15 ), In thl " approach , the d aily
h ie of the family is seen as a pr imary place of transactio ns With televisio n
an d a space 0/ nego tiatio ns with, and rcsrg rufrcatrons o f, Latin relev rsual
genres So in cont rast to th e lrltnourlll and ItS melodramatic em phasis upo n
kinship identity. we may assume thatl\ITV Lanno Will draw its young viewer'> into the in te rnational wo rld o t rock music and its les.. fami lial. youth cultural re pertoi re of o bje c ts. practices , and m csvages
Beyond the fram ework of television 10 eve ryday life, an y further analysi.. of the dynamics of conc um pnon must also conside r how "lTV Launo's
toreign mus ical o r iccnog rap hrc dements may en cou nter cu ltural conve rsio n
o r resistance . Gonzalez ( 199 4h) comme n ts that "the re IS a rich htvtorv in th e
contine nt of stu rd y IIXal cultures res tvnng . rec ych og and subve rting fo re ig n
clem ents, rem aking them 10 the ir own image." This local culture , With ItS
pre -C ol umbian roots, remamv rc..rhcnt in the lace a growrng number of
N orth American network... that arc providing foreig n cu ltural mtorrnanon
and read y -made popular culture ICOns
The enduring populamy 01 regional musics and the in flue nce o f radio
broadcasti ng also render any general propos itions about rhc impact 0/ MTV
Lati no upo n Latin Ame rican po pular music u ndeci dable . John Lannert, Lat in
Arnenc an/Canhhcan bureau ch id for BillbOdrd M'I.qilzl ~r. observes that, "the
tlag,h lp act s that really sell lor the lab els in M exico , fo r ins ta nce. are m uc h
too regional in ap peal to mak e it in, say, Arge nt ina . You're talking abou t a
market that is st ill do min ated in large part by rural , domest ic, folkloric
groups that often do n't meet MTV's hipness q uotient" (q uo ted in Faiola,
1994 ). The populanty of regi onal mu sics expl ains wh y latin Ame rica n
record compan ies, whose global strategies have even greater reach into local
Yo Quie ro M i MTV!
235
music than musi c televisio n , woul d like to 'ice MTV Latino accommodate
sa lsa, me reng ue , and o the r regional ge nres even more {Lanne rt , 1994 ). As
Baptiste ( 1996 ) observes in retros pec t 'There an: certam artists [fro m
Arg entina ], try as we might to make them po pu lar 10 MexICO. that just
haven't broken through." lnteres n nglv, MTV Lau no executives claim th at
the network ha s begun to sho..... signs o f m tluenc m g radio programming .
Bapt iste ( 1994) observes that : "O ur Top 20 is becoming , because we publ ish
it, we se-nd it o n in fax, bas ically to anyone who asks for It, the de facto
To p 20 fo r the area ~ To ....-luch C o rco ran ad ds: "T h ro ugh o ut the regton ,
artist managc r-, tell u-, that they're gettlOg added to radio (playlists) be cause
th e radio programme ..... arc watching the n- music on MTV Latino . And ra d io
station DJs in Sant iaj.to, Buen os Aires , .\ k xico C ity an d M iami co nfirm it"
(quoted in biola, l tJ<J4h ). lndicanons arc that MTV Latin o program ming
ap pears to extend the move ment o f h om ogeni zati on that alre ady exists
wrthm the Latin Arncncan rad io an d reco rdi ng industry, a movement th at
began over three decades ago (Rowe an d Sc helling . 199 1). Today, eac h
Lat in Ame ncan coun try's popular musi c charts ma y he read as feat uring the
"same, top 20 arnc tv," and thus . a "co m mo n mus ical g ro und" (Saralegu i,
1994 ). But th is d oes no t mean that "lTV Lat LOO'S select io n of Latin popula r
music is umtorm in m usical moti fs, sty les , rhy t h m~ , and preferred genres. To
the contrary , av Barbero ( 199 3b) w rit es. the "stand ardrzano n o f products and
the u mforma nza uo n 0 1 ges tu res req uire a const ant struggle against entropy
and a pcnodrc rcnovanon of patterns o f drtterenna non" ( 19) .
Rock (JI rsp" iiol ,s clea rly an evolvin g hyhnd cu ltural fo nn of expressio n ,
As Gonzalez ( 19'::14a) notes. a new ge ne ra tio n o f musicians, respondmg to
Angl o -Am eri can roc k and ins pired by such int ernational superstars as Bob
M arle y, have been recreating the so und of Latin popular m usic . Fashioned in
their own imag e, th l'i new music is '·w o rld ly hut rooted in local tr adi tio n . It
takes its attitude from rock 'n' roll b ut its sound from a neighborhood party .
lr comes MTV. lflcndly but speaks the language of hom e . And it is find ing a
sur prisingly large . avid aud ience" (Gonza lez . 1994a). As part of Lati n Ame rican "mass" cultu re. rOt k m ~s p,nlo l is a rem ix of the fo re ign and the natio nal ,
made by young muvicians that arc nor o nly b ilingua l bu t bicultural
(G o nzalez. 1996 ).
Lat in Am e rica n mu sic ians ha ve been working o n thi s re m ix for some
time howeve r. "For 30 yea...., tw o generanons of musicians and audiences in
latin America have been re inve nting rock, mixi ng Delt a b lues an d C h uck
236
Locah o~
,mJ Alovtmtll! ;11 ,hr Spares of Popul<lr AliHic
Berry wuh comdos and aembcs. rnurnckmg high -tech means with low- tech
Ima g ination , inv enting their ow n fac e.. ou t 0 1 o ld family pho to'> , H ollyw ood
mo vies and MTV clips" (Gonzale z, 199 6 ). Ri"ing , and someumcv falling ,
local rod trl ~ pmjol '><;COC\ ,11..0 have rherr own geolu..to n cal specrhci ty, For
example . in rcs pon..c to the sounds o f Imported Ang lo US an d UK-based
roc k, I W O types at new roc k appeared in Chil e. lrmta nons of Anglo rock
were su ng in English lor mi ddle.clas.. consurnpnon, while "roc k natio na l" or
"rock sub rerran eo" was sun,ll: In Spa nish and produce d in the urb an pcn ph cry (Rowe and Sc h ellmg , 1991 ; 121 ).
Fro m the pe rspccuve (II Laun mmician s, it is importan t to note , as
Rob inson, Buck, and C uth he rt ( 199 1) have pointed o ut, th at imitation is
o nly the f i r~ t staRC o f react ion to the dom inance of Ang lo-America n rock
(eg .. English covers of Chuck He rry and Little Richard, or Spanish rema kes
of Elvis Presley ~()nlot ~ ) , T heir research sho ws that a vanctv 01 facto rs lead
musicians to pass from the stag e 01 imitatio n to the stage to indrg enization,
writi ng and recording ongmal mat er ial m Spanish in a way th at preserves
trad itional musical ..t yl e~ Dunng thi s stage , imp orted m U~ I C I~ not Just a format for repet ition , rather , "sound and textual mo nt... arc rewman ncrzed in
term s of the local" (Ro we and Sc helling, 1991 _ 12 1). Thr ... new fonn o f po pular music hrst emerged 111 the 197Ck in Arge ntina wit h hgu rcs like C harl v
Garcia, and in MexKo 111 the 19!1Ck With ban ds hke Lex Carlanes . Maldua
Vec mdad, and Cafe Taceba In Argentll1a , the re wa... a greater recept ivity to
nat ive rock [ollowmg the Falklands W ar wn h Bntall1 111 19 H1 tha t allo wed
ban ds like Lo, Divrdodos and Los Fabuloso s Ca dillac .. to become establi..hed
[Mo o re , 1994).
Tran sculturahzanon, wrues Lull ( 199 5), "p rod uce.. cu ltura l h ybrids - the
fusing of cultural [orms" that a re "po pular almost by dejmuion" ( 155). Fo r
example, the Mexrcan ba nd Lo , C adanes release d Ih fiT\t album in 198 1;
th eir hit stngle "La Negra To mava" was an u pd ate o f C uban r llmhid musi c.
Today, they blend ska, rock 'n' roll, and Mexican tolk rhythm ... , l!l Another
band, Ca fe Tacuba, mixes inl1uences as d iverse as c1assil l\1cxican boleros ,
~ortrlio , ska, punk , and o thers So the term rock rn n paliol refer; to many
so unds; it fail.. to c harac terize and to clas<;ify the vastly hete ro ge nous popu lar music of Latin Ameri can recording artists, Fo r examp le, contrast Domini can singer-songwriter Juan Luis Guerra, who ha s reinvented mer engue and
b.1C b<lta by u..ing jazz harm onies and bo rrowings from Sou th Africa n cho ral
singing, with Fuo Paez , a band that could o nly be from Bueno s Aires with
Yo Q uicro M i MTY!
237
therr allusio ns to the Beetles and nue vo -tan go Rock t'Il rspaliol, like Amencan
rock 'o' ro ll ..ee n lrom a multicultural pe rspective , is a h ybrid fonn o f music
that may be: mo re dralogr c th an deri vat ive (see Lipsua, 1994 ).
'While much o f this music may never e nte r MlV Lati no's playl ist, th e
network d oe s o pe n up a new and impo rtant space lor th ose who are successful in ge tn ng "heavy rot ati on ." As musrcianv contin ue to work on th e
Latin mix and extend th eir praxis to the maki ng o f music vid eos , they ga in
access to an impo rtan t mea ns of representing the "rock and ro ll apparatus"
(C rossbe rg. 19 84 ) and are able to achi eve a kind o f affec tivity they cou ld
not otherwis e have . The practice o f makin g music vide o s is a n aesthenc ,
expressive pracncc of translating th e in fi nite poss ibilities of mutati ng,
h yb rid sou nd, into images th at travel acr oss tim e and space , Los Fabulosos
C ad tllacs, Lo-, C aitanes, Cha rly Ga rcia, [ 1 Tr i, Los Trcs. Cafe Tacuba, Sod a
Stereo, and Hlva Kurya ki y los Valde rra ma.. exemplify th e mix of transcultu ral sounds an d Visio ns that arc crossi ng e th nic, cultural, and national
boundari es to cre ate a new c artog ra phy o f Lan n popul ar taste.
MTV Lann o's 1994 Latin Video of the.' Year "Matado r" b y Los Fabulos os
Cadillacs no d ouhr helped th e group's Japanese -owned record company
So ny, wh ose Lann Amer ican division is ba~ed 1O Miam i, sell 400 ,000 record.
mgs by the Argcnn ne "alternative music" band As their music vide o indi ca tes, rhrs band has not abandoned poh ncs . N or doe s it sound like they o r
some of the o ther featured Laun ban ds have aban done d the more comphcared rhythms o f the ir own mixed cultu re . In [he long history o f interaction
with Amer ican rock 'n' roll , they arc rcc on ..lItullI1g a dy namic dialogue o f
Latin mu..lCs and Ame rican rock wu hm a ne w, tcle visual and tr ansn atio nal
space . This space may be occ up ied by vanous bands and performers, so as
to art icu late co mmo n soun d s in vario us d irec tions; for exa mple , th e
Ul1p lllggrJ perf ormance o f lIIya Kuryaki y los Valdcrremas constitutes a d ialo gue o f Arge nt inean ruc k and African American rap music whi le th e per formance of C afe Tacuba reso nates wit h traditional Mexican musical sty les,
Ye t, as Lipwtz ( 1994) has pointed ou t about wo rld music and global co m.
rnerce . th e paradox is that many Latin performers may o nly gai n access 10
bro ade r audience , when th ey conform to Angl o rock 'n' roll and its Euro American scales and tuni ngs, harmo ny. electronic inst rume nts, dance
rh ythm .., and musical int onations [ Lips rtz, 1994 : 62 ). The exclusio n of o the r
local mus ical srylcs reveals the hm it-, of J\ITY Latino's vision of pan- Latin
238
rna. Paraguay. Urug uay. a nd Venezuel a Produced In the Llruted Sta te,
(curre ntly at the South M iarm Beach stud ios o f Povt Ed,.-::el. the weekly
Spani..h- la n~ lIage h our-l on g program o f mo..1C vidcuc , interview.... and
new.. wa.. and co r mnue.. to be hos ted by C uha n American D a l ~ y
Fuent es By Augus t 199 1. the prog ram - whu.h bcg ao playing 70 perce nt Engll..h and 30 percent An~ l o but ev olved mto a 50- 50 mix - was
reaching 10 6 nnlhon horncv ( Ilan k~. 1'ol95 ), The program ha d a twofold
purpo~e fir... t, to changl,' vouugcr Latin viewe rs' percept ion .. of tc lcviston as a mcdrum only o! interest to older audience... and , second , to
reach you ng, vccond-ueneranon H ispanics rai..cd in th e l.lmte d State ..
who ma y be mor e fam iliar wit h LIS. U K. and we..tun European popu lar mu..ic t han Lann Arnenc an (Spcru..h ) po pular mu..ic. For some
o bservers. ,\IT\' /nfrrn..lC!QIl,,1 became the mo st po pular mU'iIC video p ro gram III Spamv h bec ause ot lIS h ost Daisy Fue nt e.... "neutral accen t" and
"hard -to -place" looks enabled d iverse audie nce.. WIthin latin Ame rica - you ng l\ \cXIGlIl'i, Ve nezuelan.., Paraguayans, or Braz rlrans - to rden ufy With her {Rodnguea. 1993a ). However k-.... vI"lhle to vie wers , wa..
how th e p rog ram inc reased th e: awarene.... among Laun label.. o f the
importance oj mucic Video as a prom ouunal to o l (Sl·ralegui. 1994 ), And ,
as Jo h n Duff. ,~'l TV Latino's atfillate vale... director P()JnI~ ou t. by th e
time the network wac launched. "local di..tributor.. and viewers were
already Iarruh ar with th e prod uc t. a... were loca l gllve: rnme nt ~, whIch did
not flinch at f-1TV '~ som etimes ...cxuallv ..uggc..nv e content" (quo ted in
Silver, 199 .3: C6 ,n )
popular mUSIc. To empha...rae o nly cc nfornnry and co n...tramt however
would be 10 den y Lann Ame nc an rec ording aru ...ts so me agency to make
their own roc k muocal his tory, eve n It Anglo-America n music is the d ominant mfhr c ncc and th e rela nonshrp b etwee n the US co re an d the Latin
Ame rican pcnphcry IS beet summanzcd a... one 01 "ew cun ctnc al interdepen,
deuce" (Coh stn and Leshner. 1996 ), In reflecnng on the tc mtonal asscm,
blaze 01 th e Latin mar gin o f an Analo. Euro .Arne ncan-cenrered music tel evisio n network. we nee d new way ... 01 mapping the Lann beat . wit hou t
ncglccnng th e political economy 01 glo hali zlllg mu-ac televisio n, or reverting to cultu ral popuhvrn and rcrn ...<.:nhmg a romanticized cultural aes thetics.
The challeng e i.. 10 dose nbc MTV Lanno's d r...nncnve latin sound/vrsmn
oasuche and to map a new kmd 01...pace, o ne in wh ich the juxtaposuion and
the coexi..renee u l "tolk." "popular," an d "wo rld mu... lC - refrain s remai n "tied
to the son g 01 the people according to variabl e rela nons of c rowd ind rvid u anons" so a ~ to "b n ng Into plav alkct 'i and natmns" IDcleuze and Guatt ari.
1991. 34 7).
NOTES
l.
2
Tim c hapter wou ld not have been po svrble WI th out access to fl.tTV Lenno cxccunvcv I am grateful to RIC h ard Arroyo. se nio r vice preside nt and
rnan aai ng dir ect or, for allowing me to arrange interviews. Perso nal
intervi ew.. were con d ucted hy the author with Bruce Friend. vice prestdent o i ~ t r,ltegK pla nnmg and research , an d Gabriel Ha pn..te . directo r of
mu..t<.: programrmng Additional media relauon.. mat erial was provided
by NeI ..o n Bencd .c n, vrcc pre"lde:nt 01 markeung co mmun icatio n, Earlier v ef\l() n ~ 01 thl ' ch apter ...·ere: presented at the 12th An nual ln tercu ltural ,1nternat lnn al Commumcati on Conference, February 2-4, 1995,
....lIanll . Flo n d a. at the Drake Conference on ~'opu l a r Music, Marc h
29-W. 19Y6. Des f-IOlne... . Iowa, and at the Internatio na l Communication A~~(lClallon Convt"ntion , l\ lay 23-27, 1996 . C hica ,lo1o. This chapte r
also hem' hled tro m th e tho ughttul com me nts of Tom Schumach er and
edI torial gUIdance from TIlOll1 Swiss and l. Delana Browning.
MTV's tirst fo ray into Latin America came in the form of an hou r-lo ng,
wee kly pro gram called AlTV /Illcrn" l iolla l. launched o n July 15. 1988, it
was 'ieen III the United Statc'i (d Istribu ted by the Tclemundo netwo rk)
and sold by MlV Networh Syn d icatio n Sales Worldwide to Argentina, Bolivia, ChIle, Costa Rica, th e Dominican Republic. Ecuador, Pana-
3,
Vraco m Intern at io nal Inc. h an cruertammc nt conglome rate th at 011..0
owns cable network s VH -I . Nukelodeorvf-l.ck at NIle, an d halt 01
C omedy Ce n tral, a... well as .' ladl...on Squ are Ga rden , Paramo unt Com ·
muni catlons, and Blockbu ster Entc:rtammen t Corpo rat ion_ For th c:
April-June quart er o f 199 4. Vla<.: o m anno unced $2 44 2 million III earnings , up from $416 mill io n from th e pn'vlo us ye ar Th iS e no mlOU"
growth in proilts was led by i t ~ cah le networks . whKh saw a 20 peRe nt
increase in reven ue ( M c Ca~ h. 199 5). H oweve r. MTV Lllino had yet to
turn a pro fI t hy the e nd of Ih fir..t year o f operation (Fa iola. 19 94b ),
4.
In March 199 5, Post Edge wa.. plln:hased by th e post -product ion <.:on glomerate Internatio nal Po ..t lI mIte d (l o re nte. 199 5).
5.
Due to diff iculties 01 audience measurement in Latin America. Friend
.( 1994 ) adm its that the num be r 01 subscnbers is routindy doubled for
advertislllg sales purposes. Only Mexico . Chile, Arge ntina, and BraZIl
Yo Quiero tsb MTV'
2'0
have ratings systems to assess viewership "''h itchd d ( 1995d) reported
the [ormanon of an industry group o f 15 cable c han nels, mcludmg
MlV Lat i no , t o sta nda rdize audience research and rat lOgs for the Laun
American cable market .
6.
H ow ever, by 1995, it was report ed that G EMS , wo rld wide audience
made it the number om: Spcms h-langucgc cable net work, MTV Latino's
US audience of 570,OUO subscribers is abo ut o ne quarter 01 C El\lS' US
aud ience (Rabin, 199 5).
7.
CCI1(XlOn j\ITV , J program hosted by a Mexican Vj , IS a coproduct ion
betwee n the network a nd S e rvices Ecpecrahaados de Television Por
C... hle de Mcxu..O .
R
9
Subscribe r cha rge s range fro m $28 00--$-1 5.00 10 Argc nu na, to $ 15 00
lor basic c able service In Mex ico (Vanc tv, 1994 ). Acccrdmg to the Ii!"'>!
major survey 01 cable television In lat in Ame rica, rclea..ed in Feb ruary
1995 b y N c...1 Y(Jrk -ba ~ ed Aud it<; and Surveys , -1 7 million co nsumers (or
13 4 millio n ho uvcholds] ha ve access to cable pr oaramrmng Wh,te hel d
( 199 5b ) note.. th at th e intern at io nalizat io n of l\li a l1l i '~ Lati n media
md usrry e ntered a new phase in th e early 19 90s bccau..c o f fou r fac tors
( I) mo re ~a tdl,t e capacity. (2) US government pre....urc to sto p the
p irating 01 vatelhtc "gnal ~ . ( 3) the op ening up o f Latin American cabl e
compa n ies to US mvcsrors . and (-I ) th e ra pid co nstruc non o f cable sys te ms in Latin Amcnca
Total revenue 10r !\tTV Latino br eaks d ow n av 1011 0w s ( I) about 60 perce nt fro m adve msmg sales [co mme rcial s. sponsor..hl po.). (2) about 40
percent fro m atlll'ate sales (cab le systems and ..yn drca non ), and ( 3)
ab out 2 perce nt from new busi ness, ....·h ich mcludcs Unplu.J:1d IlCen'iln/<:
and mercha ndise In ad d ition, local cabl e syste m ope rator- an: o ffered
two rnmu tcc 01 tim e every hour for loca l advc rucm g
10 "Sy ne rgy" is a term used in the media industry, and by so me med ia
scholars , to descnbc the possrhle hem: hts tha t might accrue to med ia
conglomerate.. thro ug h the greater coo rd inatio n o f ac tivities (see
Turo ....-, 1992 ).
II
l\ tTV Lanno I'> not th e o nly provid er o f mus ic televrsron III Larin AmcrICa ; in Arg entina II competes with Canadian music vide o net .....ork
l\luch!\tusic and d om estic channel Music 21 , and in MeXICO, it com peres .....ith Tele -Hu , o wned by Tele vrca (Lan nert , 199 -1).
241
12. A Forlulir feature art icl e provided to me by Bruce Fnend sum~ up ~ITV
Lannos VICW o f lis teen viewers-a...con..umcrs . as a valuab le portio n o f
"th e most global market o f all", "[n a wo rld drvrded by tra de wars and
mbah..m, tee nage rs . o f all peo ple . arc the ne w u mty mg force . From the
ste amy p layground.. o f Lo .. Angdes to th e sta te ly boulevards of Singa pore . k ids show ama zin g ..imilaritl c<; in taste , lang uag e, and attitude.
African American, and Asianc, Latinos an d Eu ropean.. arc zi ppin g up
their Levi's, dJ llc ing to the Red H ot C hile Pe pp ers, and punching key board .. of th eir Macmroch PC s Pro pelled by migh ty cou riers like MTV,
tre nds spread with so rce re.... speed Kid.. hear dru mbeats a co nti ne nt
away. absorb the rh yt hm , a nd ad d the ir o w n licks . Fo r the Coca-Colas
and the Nrkes. no marketing challen ge i.. mo re hacic th an c apturing that
heat. There are lulhons to be earned" (Tully. 199 4 90). In such [ormu lanons. we ..ee h o....· advertisers o f you t h-onen ted global bra nd s are ut iIIZlOg rock mu..IC Through market re..earch , tee nagers are produced a..
valuable global co rnrnodines and ruck'.. umvc rcal beat and its affect ive
pow er arc harnc....ed 10 the cxpa uoon and u nifica tio n o f internat io nal
mar ke ts
I ,~
For So uth America. a new setclluc becam e o pera tional in March 1996 ,
allo wing ,~ l TV Latino to move to It<; o wn transpo nde r and to uti lize up
to eigh t different ch annel...
1-1 According to B.l pt i ~ t e ( 1996), th e proc c.... o f ..plitung the se rvice began
on Ap ril 15, 1996 , WIth the ab rluv to deliver co mm ercials Ihal abi de by
rhe creative IlCe nslllg agrccrncrus of ,t ~ adve rn ..ers O n j une I. 1996 ,
th ey be gan Spl,UlO g up the prug ramrrung for a ..ix-hour period Monday
through Thursday to add ress th e problem o f pr ogramm ing across
regi onal ti me zont.... and 10 be gin 10 customize the play lish for northern
and so uth e rn wrviccc So fro m MTV Lat ino 's operation al time of TOO
p.rn . to 1:00 a m. thfl~e two serv ices ca n opera te Ind ep ende ntl y of each
o the r. j\ITV Latino plan-, to co nnn uc to expand the h ours within which
the netwo rk call reg io nalize i t~ music and no nmustc pro gramming .
Among the program.. deemed "localiznblc" arc Top 20 MTV , Aufn<l , a
daily show h om i\lcXI CO o r Argcnuna, and a possiblc se ries o f wee kly
vhow..
IS. In Ma rch . 19'J6 . rhe onamal Vj .. were joined by four o thers : 29-year-old
Javier Andrade of Trcn quc Lauqccn. Arg cnnna . 24 .year.old Alejand ro
Lacro ix o f Bue no-, A,res, Argcnuna . 2 5-year-old Arturo H ern andez of
Yo Quiero I\.li MTV!
141
MexICo Ci ty, Me xtco , and 25-year ·old Eduh Serrano of Veracruz , Me xIU l .
16 O rig inally, 111 5.lu was a h alf-hou r program ho sted by a gues t Vj , usual ly a Latin Am erican musician . As Baptiste ( 199 4) expla m s "Bec ause th e
mu sic is so radi call y diffe re nt fro m wh at we do , we d idn't feel c o mfort able att aching any o f our 24-ho ur-a-day V) s to the sho w" The curren t
ho ur-lo ng version doc'> nO I ha ve any hos t.
17. The ~ tTV Latin o plavbst has four ca rego ne... whic h determine'> how
freq ue ntly, and what posi tio n in the hou r. m U\ 1C videos a re a ire d . WhI le
plays a day may be affected by spec ial prog ramming or t he ro ta tion
they aTC m, the "Buzz Bi n" c a te g ory (fe r new videos ] IS live plays a da y,
th e "Power ' category is five pl ays a day, t he "H ea vy" cat eg ory is four
143
- - - . 1996 Tele pho ne interview, Ju ne 25.
Barbe ro , j -Mamn . 199 3a. (ommIiPlicaIIO tl. ( 1Ilfllrt <lPld HtgrmoPlY, From the Mtdi'" 10
MtdJ<llrotls. Lon don : Sage .
- - - . 199.; b Latin America C ulture s in th e C o mmunica t io n
JOllrnal oj COmrn UtllC<Ttion 4 .~( 2), 18- 30 ,
M l' dia . ~
Barret t, J 1996 "\'(;'o rld M usic , N at io n and Postcolonialism." Cultural SIIiJ irs,
10( 2), 237-4 7.
& 11, M. 1996. The H ..pamc H ollywood At.", mi Hrr",/J, March l 7, IF, SF.
Benjamin, W. 1969 . "Th e Work of A rt in th e Age 01 Mechanical Reproduc non." In IIIl1min",lrons, ed ited by H Arend t (trans H Z ohn), 217- 51.
Ne w Yo rk: Schoc kcn Ro oks
Hcrlend, J 1 99 ,~ "Sound, Image an d Socia l S pace: M usic Video And Media
Rcconstrucnon' In Soulld 'Ill d VIsion, Tht A111sic Vidto Rradrr, edited by 5 ,
Frith, A Goodwin, and L. C ross bc rg , 25-4 3 Lo ndon : Routled ge
plays a day , and Ihe "Medium" category is th ree plays a day, T hese cat ego ries relate 10 MT V Latino's tc mtortcv In the follo wing way, 'T he
h i/olhest positio n.. th at we ha ve arc reserved for th e dungs that are wo rk IIlJo: across the board The n the mediu m cate gory are for thm gs that are
work ing in q uuc a lew of the tc rmo nec, but not all o f them , And then
th e category rha t come'> up thre e times a day are th ings that are wor kIng In any o nc area that we th ink ha ve an o pport unity to break th rough,
that sou nd and look goo d, but aren t proven successes yet" (Baptiste,
1994),
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free !ro m gove rnment d fort s to ce nso r their live per form a nce , ("BraZilian Roc k Band Ce nso red for C ritic izing C o ngr ess." 1995).
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cat ion Avcocianon , Ch icag o, IL, M ay 23-27.
19. Reeves ( 199 3) no tes that while modern and commerc ial forms have
been used for soc ial cr it icism and poli tical mo biliza tion, th e re is also a
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