Live Nation Continues North America Latin Music Touring Expansion With New Hires

The popularity of Latin music continues to grow and sold out tours around the world have become a profitablle expansion opportunity for Live Nation. So much so, the global entertainment company launched a Latin division in 2017.

For a second month in a row, Live Nation has hired Latin music industry pros for North American touring. Today, the company announced three additions: Ricardo Taco, an independent promoter who was worked with and marketed artists such as Wisin y Yandel, Ozuna, Maluma, J Balvin, Farruko, Arcangel, Jerry Rivera, Rosalia, J Quiles, Juanes and Grupo Niche, among others.

Taco, who has previously partnered with Live Nation, will lead Latin music strategy for the company’s concerts division across all of Canada. He’ll be working closely with Riley O’Connor, Chairman of Live Nation Canada and act as the liaison between Hans Schafer, Live Nation’s SVP of Global Touring, and the company’s Latin booking team across the globe. He’ll also help develop Latin touring shows that will soon expand into festivals and outdoor properties.

Claudia Valencia has been tapped as tour director based out of Guadalajara, Mexico, will be tasked with building and executing business strategies for Latin tours run by Live Nation, including artists such as Pepe Aguilar, Sebastián Yatra and Los Ángeles Azules. Valencia started her career in the industry through working closely with best-selling Mexican rock band Maná for over a decade, handling everything from road management and coordination to PR and promotion. She has also been a tour rep for Live Nation Touring where she worked with Romeo Santos, Aventura, J Balvin, Marco Antonio Solis, and Luis Miguel before becoming an independent talent manager at Vibras Lab.

Maritsa Restrepo joins the team as a ticketing coordinator, based out of Los Angeles. Restrepo, who has a Masters Degree in Global Business, will assist with tour set-ups, facilitate promotions and aid in the communication between artist teams and venues.

“We have steadily grown our Latin division at Live Nation with experts who understand the music and represent Latin fans, allowing us to better service our artists,” said Schafer. “Canada is a strong Latin music market, and our new key touring hires will help set the strategy to continue building on our expansion to reach new audiences throughout North America.”

In June, the company added four women to the Latin Tour Marketing team: Daryivett Romo joined as director, Katrina Rodriguez as Manager and Stephanie Rodriguez as the new coordinator. Nadia Hernandez was brought on board as the new director of Latin Communications for the concerts division overseeing press initiatives and building out Latin media strategies for all of Live Nation’s tours and touring artists.