Sony Enters Historic Agreement to License Egrem's Catalog of Cuban Music

Billboard News
 

By Leila Cobo | September 15, 2015 4:30 PM EDT





Omara performs at the Portuondo Orquesta Buenavista Social Club Adios Tour Concert, Teatro Circo Price, Madrid, Spain on July 21, 2015.

Rex Features via AP Images


The most extensive catalog of Cuban music in the world will now have global reach.


More than 20,000 recorded tracks by the likes of Irakere, Los Van Van, Bola de Nieve, Ibrahim Ferrer and Omara Portuondo, among many others, will get new life thanks to a global licensing agreement struck Tuesday (Sept. 15) between Sony Music Entertainment and the Havana-based Egrem (Empresa de Grabaciones y Ediciones Musicales, or Enterprise of Recordings and Musical Editions in English).


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Egrem’s catalog, the most extensive catalog of Cuban music in the world, encompasses audio and audiovisual recordings produced since the 1960s.






Cuban "son" star Ruben Gonzalez, waves to the crowd as he performs traditional Cuban ballads at Salon 21 Sunday, March 7, 1999, in Mexico City. Gonzalez and Ibrahim Ferrer (not seen) leaped to international attention last year with release of the "Buena Vista Social Club" album that rescued from obscurity a whole generation of elderly Cuban "son" musicians. AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana

Although portions of the catalog have been licensed before by various labels in different parts of the world, this marks the first time a multinational has access to the entire stable of recordings for the whole world as part of a multi-year agreement.


“We are delighted to be partnering with EGREM to share for the first time one of the largest and most acclaimed catalogs of Cuban music with fans across the globe,” Sony Music Entertainment CEO Doug Morris said in a statement. “This landmark agreement will help expand international awareness and appreciation of Cuban culture, Cuba’s rich musical heritage and its many wonderful artists.”


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lthough the deal between Egrem and Sony had been in the works for over two years, it was only signed Sept. 15 in Havana by Afo Verde, Sony’s chairman and CEO for Latin America, Spain and Portugal, and Egrem managing director Mario Angel Escalona Serrano. Edgar Berger, Sony’s chairman and CEO, International, was also at the signing, which took place at Areíto studio 101, the fabled Havana studio where legendary Cuban and international artists have recorded since the 1940s.

“We see these agreements as an opportunity for the joint management of our catalog over the coming years,” said Escalona Serrano.

“We are working on the release of this treasure of Cuban music so it will be available on all possible music and video platforms for music lovers to enjoy as soon as possible,” said Verde.

Although the U.S. and Cuba have been in a process of normalizing their relationship since December 2014, and the two countries restored diplomatic relations this past July, the Sony-Egrem deal was subject to many required steps.

Sony entered into the transaction pursuant to the “informational materials” exemption under U.S. sanction rules for Cuba administered by the Office‎ of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). This exemption applies to music and other works of art, and is intended to promote the free movement of information and artistic expression by the Cuban people.


For Sony, the Egrem license, at a time when relationships between Cuba and the U.S. have finally opened up, is a major coup.


“Sony Music is honored to bring this iconic music -- representing over five decades of Cuban culture -- to all corners of the world,” said Berger. “We are thrilled to introduce these extremely talented artists to the global audience they so richly deserve.”

What the U.S.-Cuba Breakthrough Could Mean for Music. Text by Judith Cantor on Billboard about the prospects of U.S.-Cuba announced changes for the bilateral music scene.

Originally published by Billboard

By Judy Cantor-Navas | December 17, 2014 9:43 PM EST

Descemer Bueno and Enrique Iglesias. Alan Silfen

Could Obama's 'fresh approach' strengthen both Cuba's draw as a music destination and Cuban artists' popularity in the United States?

How could restoring diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba impact musicians in both countries?

According to information released by the White House on Wednesday (Dec. 17), after President Obama announced the historic détente, his "new approach" to Cuban policy will make it easier for American artists to travel to Cuba to perform. Cuba could even plausibly become a profitable touring destination for the first time in five decades if as yet unspecified amendments to regulations of Treasury dept regulations under the U.S. trade embargo are made, allowing U.S. artists and promoters to profit from concerts in Havana.

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Questions remain as to whether American artists -- who under current U.S. regulations can give concerts legally in Cuba only under the guise of a non-profit -- will be allowed to be paid directly as commercial performers. And, if that is the case, it's unclear who the promoters for such concerts might be. 

The White House also announced that travelers to Cuba will be able to use U.S. credit cards there for the first time, and that new regulations will facilitate transactions between U.S. and Cuban bank accounts.

New regulations will also support the flow of information about music being made in the two countries by aiding the increase of Internet providers in Cuba, and allowing for the export of hardware and software to the island.

Obama’s move to drop Cuba from the list of terrorist states (if successful) will abolish an arduous and unpredictable visa process that has for years challenged Cuban artists wishing to enter the United States to perform, an activity that is now only allowed as a cultural exchange, with artists legally receiving only a per diem while on tour.

Before the announcement of renewed diplomatic relations, the artistic relationship between Cuba and the United States had in 2014 gone to a new level. Rent will debut on Christmas Eve in Havana, the first Broadway musical to be staged there in 50 years. The show is being produced by heavyweight promoters Nederlander Worldwide Entertainment, in partnership with the Cuban National Council of Performing Arts. 

This week, Enrique Iglesias' "Bailando" which features Cubans Descemer Buenoand reggaeton group Gente De Zona, set a record of 32 weeks at No. 1 on the Hot Latin Songs chart. As Gente De Zona travel regularly back and forth between Miami and Havana, the spectacular global hit marks the first time that a song featuring Cubans who have not abandoned Cuba has been on the top of the chart.

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Bueno has lived in Miami since 2000 but is also a star in Cuba, and says he struggled for years to gain ground as an artist in this country.

"For a long time, the Latin market in the U.S. hasn’t supported Cuban artists," he told Billboard previously. "But with Enrique by our side, Gente De Zona and I broke through with 'Bailando.'"

Obama’s new Cuba policy “totally changes everything,” Pierre Hachar, an attorney who represents Gente De Zona told Billboard. “When an artist puts out a record today it’s for the world to listen to. And if it becomes a hit, a Cuban artist can be heard around the world, though they may not know the success they have because they can’t leave Cuba. And if they do leave, they’re restricted. They can perform here with a P1 visa but they can’t get paid in the U.S. That’s why a lot of Cubans go out of Cuba into Europe. They can’t flourish with a career [in Cuba] through your typical platforms of distribution. They have to do it through another country.”

Gente De Zona’s solution was to apply for U.S. residency, rather than enter the States as performers. “Now that their residency is granted, they can move forward and get paid,” Hacher explains.

Cuban music had enjoyed a boom in popularity in the United States after Washington exempted Cuban recordings and other "informational material" from the trade embargo in 1988, and later allowed Cuban artists to perform stateside, although under the condition that they receive no more than per diem payments. By 2000, hundreds of musicians from the island had performed in the States, most prominently Buena Vista Social Club, whose 1997 Ry Cooder-produced album on Nonesuch went on to sell more than 1.8 million U.S. copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

After 9/11, the Bush administration banned the Cuban artists. The U.S. Department of State did not authorize any such visits between 2003 and 2009. That year, Obama loosened travel restrictions for Cuban artists and other Cuban nationals. In 2013, Cuba relaxed travel restrictions for its citizens.

“I think with Cuba, for the first time what was impossible is starting to happen,” Bueno says. “I’ve been able to perform in Cuba in spite of the fact that I’ve been living in Miami since the year 2000. I’ve done it in a respectful way, I’ve just asked for what’s my right as a Cuban -- to go to my country and play for the Cuban people.”

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While it seems that now a perfect storm of artistic and political events could strengthen both Cuba’s draw as a music destination and Cuban artists’ popularity in the United States, Obama’s “new course on Cuba” will not totally take down the embargo -- that power is in the House and Senate. As well, these first stabs at diplomacy cannot instantly smooth over complicated relationships between Cubans and Cuban Americans, nor will they erase the impact of Cuba’s decades of isolation and distance from the U.S. and global music economies. 

“This is still a work-in-progress,” cautions Bill Martinez, a Bay area attorney who has handled the majority of visa paperwork for Cuban artists who’ve performed in the United States and for American artists who’ve traveled to Cuba over the past two decades. “We’ll soon find out how this plays out.”

Martinez revealed he is working on events for 2015 that could be test cases for the new regulations. 

"A happy day has arrived," Silvio Rodriguez, the singer-songwriter who's often called "the voice of the revolution," wrote on his blog from Havana after Raul Castro announced the talks with Obama and the release of Cuban political prisoners on Wednesday. "I vote that this attitude of dialogue continues on both sides, so that we can live in peace like the neighbors we are."

But no such elated message came from another famous Cuban artist, Gloria Estefan, who said through a spokesperson that she would have no comment on the matter at this time. Estefan made no mention of the historic news about her native land Wednesday on her Twitter account, either, only commenting that she was taping a guest spot on Glee.

It can be supposed that Estefan, a supporter of the U.S. embargo against Cuba, was not thrilled to see images of the U.S. president sitting down with one of the Castro brothers.

Pitbull, who in 2006 released a song contemplating the death of Fidel Castro, and once reportedly hinted lightly that he would run for president of Cuba; and other Miami-based artists who through the years have been outspoken critics of the Cuban regime were also silent on social media. 

A Florida International University poll on Wednesday found that 68 percent of Cuban Americans supported restoring diplomatic relations with Cuba.

"This something so many people have been dreaming about," says Martinez. "I even thought it was a dream when I got the call. It's tremendous."

--Additional reporting by Leila Cobo.