For decades, the surest route to international success for a Latin artist was to record in English. At Taiwan’s 2026 Golden Melody Festival, Latin Recording Academy CEO Manuel Abud explained why that logic no longer holds.
Held ahead of Taiwan’s Golden Melody Awards, the annual Golden Melody Festival conference brings together music industry leaders from around the world to discuss global trends, innovation, and the future of music. Speaking to delegates in Taipei, Abud opened the conference, titled “The Rise of Latin Music: From Regional Niche to Global Force,” by pushing back against a common misconception: Latin music, he stressed, is not a single genre. Drawing a comparison with Asian music, he argued that both are umbrella terms encompassing a vast spectrum of cultures, traditions and sounds. Today, Latin music – performed primarily in Spanish and Portuguese – reaches nearly 900 million people worldwide and generates billions through streaming, making it one of the fastest-growing sectors of the global music industry.
“For decades, sounds and rhythms have been transcending borders,” Abud told Variety after the event. “The evolution of Latin music from a regional genre to a dominant force on the global charts has been driven by milestones in various eras, including geopolitical history, propelling its growth as well as distribution technology such as downloading and streaming. Social media has also played a central role in accelerating Latin music’s growth.”
